Peter Whitaker
Dave Schwarz drops in on the Iquique Bivouac.
It was Belgian Jacky Ickx, the only person to win the Mans 24-Hour Endurance Race and the 21-Day Paris-Dakar, who confided "If you're going to have a DNF best do it early in the race then you won't suffer all the pain only to feel the same despondence". So whilst there are four days Dakar competition remaining tomorrow is the last marathon leaving hope our four solo survivors can go the distance and avoid despondance after traversing Chile's Atacama Desert and spending over 48 horrendous hours smothered in dust.
Seems Honda rider Jamie Chittick may have missed a way-point and the subsequent penalty has dropped him back to 61st overall. Dave Schwarz also copped a penalty for bypassing a control but having been directed to do so by the policia - a swarthy bloke toting a machine pistol - had his penalty reversed. Dave is running 44th overall and looks set to better his personal best (36th in Africa) and earn his third Dakar Finishers Medallion.
Dean Nuttall remains our best hope of cracking a top thirty position - and Australia's best finish since Dakar relocated in South America - as the 2012 event moves into Peru for the first time in history.
Meantime our solo Auto Division contestant Geoff Olholm refuses to surrender even after spending several hours extracting the Desert Warrior from a ravine after a heavy crash reminiscent of the incident that put Bruce Garland out of the 2011 Dakar.
Bet all these boys will be glad when Sunday rolls around.
