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Jan 8, 2005 - Day 9 (Joe Barker call from the Atar bivouac)
STAGE 9 (Photos by T. Flechsig and G. Soldano)
Today marked a pivotal goal for the Red Bull KTM Dakar team, Scot, Chris and Kellon have made it to the rest day here in Atar and we'll now have a time to regroup and plan for the final week of the Rally. The sandstorms that plagued us for the past couple of days are behind us but the the darkening skies are an indication that we could have another visit. It's now past midnight here (12:30AM Sunday morning - GMT) and just about everyone on the team is settled in for the night. I for one look forward to getting a little more sleep.
Today's stage, totaled 399 km, and included a 361 km special test. The camel grass that they guys had to deal with in stage 8 is behind 'em (thankfully!) but the last 20km section of the ride today included a crossing of the huge Erg Chinguetti sand dunes.
All three riders finished well today. Chris Blais #22 completed his ride in 9th place, Kellon Walch #21 finished 14th and Scot Harden #17 finished 27th. The guys will begin stage 10 in 10th, 12th and 19th, respectively. The guys are all in great spirits and our entire team is elated that we're all safe and we'll be able to enjoy tomorrow's (Sunday Jan 9th) rest day together.
The only injury that Dr. Edwards is dealing with now is a pulled groin muscle that Scot suffered during today's stage. The Doc administered to him and we'll see how Scot feels tomorrow. Scot and the Doc discussed some stragtegies along with some of the veteran European riders and agreed that Scot will have to modify his riding a bit to deal with Stage 10's Atar-Atar loop and the monsterous dune sections. (See Scot's report above).