Mason Klein
Skyler Howes
In the closest race in Dakar history, American Skyler Howes has his Husqvarna by 3 seconds… not for Stage 9 after the break, but for after 34 hours in the saddle! The top 6 are all within 15 minutes of the lead, which is basically the one missed waypoint between winning and losing. Despite crashing and losing his route chart and then crashing again into another competitor, stage winner Mason Klein is continuing his quest, even though his wrist is the size of a watermelon and he slid from 3rd overall to 6th.
Howes’ Husqvarna Factory Racing teammate Luciano Benavides became the first racer to win two stages of the tough 2023 rally. After starting two places ahead of his teammate, Howes put in a great ride to secure a third-place result. Losing a couple of minutes while trying to find one particular waypoint meant that the American was soon caught by Benavides, and from there the two pushed hard toward the refueling stop and then on to the finish.
“The stage today was pretty tricky, said Howes from the bivouac. “We hit a section where we were missing one waypoint and it was in a place deep with stones and a lot of mud. It was tough to navigate through there and I knew we were going off the CAP heading a little, so I had to circle around to get back on track.
“Luciano caught up with me then and riding together we really put the charge on, partly because I thought I had lost a lot more time than I had. We did a good job all the way from the refueling to the finish. The ground out there was incredible — there’s been so much rain, in some places it was like riding through giant rivers. It’s been a challenging day and I’m sure there will be plenty more to come as we make our way to the end.”
Now it gets even harder as Stage 10 takes the riders into the desolate Empty Quarter!
2023 Dakar Rally – Stage 9 Provisional Classification
1. Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) 3:18:44
2. Toby Price (KTM) 3:19:46
3. Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) 3:21:41
4. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda) 3:24:56
5. Kevin Benavides (KTM) 3:26:37
6. Toni Mulec (Husqvarna) 3:27:30
2023 Dakar – Provisional Overall Classification [After Stage 9]
1. Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) 33:55:57
2. Toby Price (KTM) 33:56:00
3. Kevin Benavides (KTM) 34:01:06
4. Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) 34:11:37
5. Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) 34:14:21
6. Mason Klein (KTM) 34:14:39
