BENDIGO motorcyclist Michael Burgess recovered from an early mishap to finish the seventh stage of the Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia in 38th place.
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The seventh stage was the first of the two-day marathon stage, combining a fearsome sequence of sand mountains with 100 km of up-and -down racing, almost without interruption.
Time assistance vehicles are prohibited during the marathon stage, which aims to eliminate the difference between the generously resourced corporate teams and the private or individual competitors.
Burgess, who is ranked 38th overall in the bike category, described the stage as mega-tough, but was ultimately pleased to have worked his way back into proceedings following his early spill.
"I didn't have a real clean run, I had a little crash early on in the stage," he said.
"It was really sketchy at the start - it rained, it was heavy, heavy sand, (and) camel grass everywhere. It was bloody hard work for the first hour and a half.
"It took a little bit to recover from my little stunt that I did, but I worked my way back into it which was good.
"We sort of went through heavy, heavy sand and there was this mega-dune there and I struggled to get up it, actually.
"I had to do two attempts to get up it .... I was p...... off with myself about that. I just picked the wrong line.
"We had some dune sections, but a lot of rock .... mega-rock everywhere.
"A few of the boys up the front have a few issues with their bikes which they are going to have to nurse through."
Burgess is making his first appearance in the Dakar rally.
He finished the seventh stage in a time of 05H 53' 25''.
The stage was won by American Ricky Brabac in a time of 04H 37' 44''.
Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo leads the bike category , narrowly ahead of Australian Toby Price.
The 2021 rally finishes on Friday, Janary 15.
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