SO FAR, SO GOOD FOR TEAM DOME BMW
02 January 2005 - BMW Motorrad GB

Team Dome BMW’s Simon Pavey and Nick Plumb have successfully reached Algeciras on day three of the 2005 Telefonica-Dakar rally and are on course to reach the African continent later tonight.

The duo, riding modified BMW F650 GS machines, started the day in Granada along with 229 other motorcycle competitors, following a mammoth 920 km liaison from Barcelona yesterday. Today’s schedule of events started with a short liaison to a 10 km special stage on military terrain in Armilla (just outside Granada), which both riders successfully negotiated.

“It was a short special that didn’t cause any problems,” commented Team Dome BMW’s Simon Pavey, who is riding in his fifth Dakar rally. “It was a graded flat dirt road circuit with a few jumps which served as a good warm up for things to come. We took it easy as we had a long (310 km) trek ahead of us. We’ve reached the port of Algeciras and are now waiting for the boat across to Tangiers. Once on the other side, we’ve got another 250 kms to ride to the Moroccan capital, Rabat, but it’s mainly motorway so it shouldn’t cause us any problems.

“We’re currently on desert tyres, as we decided that we needed to have the support vehicle with us in Africa tonight, so we sent it on ahead to catch the boat. If the team had waited for us to finish the special stage to change the bikes over to road tyres, then they wouldn’t have been able to cross over to Africa until much later. Desert tyres aren’t much of a problem on the road (unlike motocross tyres) so we’re feeling pretty comfortable at the moment. All we want to do is get to our destination safely and have a good night’s sleep before the real action begins!”

Tomorrow’s programme starts in the dark at 6am with a 90-minute road ride from Rabat, followed by a 123 km special stage, before continuing with a 421 km liaison to Agadir.

www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk

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