Zimbabwe: The Zimbabwe motorbike rider Ashley Thixton finished the Dakar Rally by coming in the 35th position at Stage-8 in Saudi Arabia.
Only three more sleeps were left before Zimbabwe’s motorbike rider completed the 2024 Dakar Rally. The 30-year-old rider came home with 35th place and had to clear the last four hurdles to make history.
He would have become the second Zimbabwean biker after Graeme Sharp, who set the record back in 2020, to complete the whole Dakar Rally course in the Saudi Dunes.
Stage-8 on Jan 15, 2024, comprised 220km liaison and 458km special stage from AI Duwadimi to Ha’il and Thixton, came out with a clean bill of health.
Thixton actually wanted to join the Zimbabwean motorsport immortals by achieving the phenomenal feat of full length when the curtain finally came down on Friday in the 2024 Dakar Rally.
The biker just desires to be a Zimbabwean motorsport legend. While going into yesterday’s Stage-8 of the 2024 Dakar Rally, Thixton made a debut appearance at the world’s biggest and toughest motor rallying event in Saudi Arabia.
He managed to clear the first seven stages with some smart rides, which kept him in the top 40 of the bikes section of the Rally.
After an early fall during Stage-7 on Sunday, he survived but dusted himself up and rode his Husqvarna bike expertly to glide home safely as he kept his dream of being among the finishers.
He might have got the gut feeling of leaving the rally early. Stage-7, set on Sunday, was one of the Rally’s longest, and after falling in the early stages of this stage. Surprisingly, Thixton gathered his wits and managed to climb back into the top 30s after being dropped to around 78th.
Whereas Stage-8 was very difficult, tough and slower than Stage-7. According to preliminary calculations, the average speed on Stage-8 was less than 80 km per hour.
Argentinean Kevin Benavides from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rode the best and won the second special stage at Dakar this year.
The winner of last year’s race remained one of the main heroes of this year’s race also. Only a month and a half ago, the biker suffered a serious leg injury and is now struggling for the position in the Top 5, ahead of his teammate Toby Price.
The battle for victory is becoming difficult gradually as American Ricky Brabec (Honda) keeps the lead and has occupied a slight lead over Botswana’s Ross Branch (Hero). He also got an advantage of 42 seconds, four days before the finish.
The pair of leaders is under increased pressure from Chile’s Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda), whose gap has now remained at less than 4.5 minutes.
The interesting fact is that both Benavides brothers, the elder Kevin (KTM) and the younger Luciano (Husqvarna), finished the top 3 together for the second time in a row on a special stage.
The positions for Stage-8 (moto) are as follows:
- Benavides K. (KTM)
- Benavides L. (Husqvarna)
- Van Beveren (Honda)
- Cornejo (Honda)