This time last year, Three Bridges resident Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders was cruising along in his second Dakar Rally, only days away from a massive crash that would rule him out.
In 2023, he is yet to suffer anything that serious but it has still been an up-and-down experience for Sanders.
On Thursday 5 January, he was sitting first overall with a three-minute, 33-second lead over Skyler Howes and looking great value to continue his strong showing.
The fourth day of racing on 4 January in Saudi Arabia saw Sanders open the 425km stage for the bikes and by the time he reached the finish line he had leapt from second overall to first place. The GASGAS rider’s roadbook reading skills were tested by a track that had been drastically altered by the previous night’s heavy rainfall.
“I haven’t really done any opening with roadbooks since the last Dakar. It was really tricky navigation. The rain last night washed away a lot of the tracks,” he said.
However, disaster struck in Stage Five on Friday 6 January, as a bout of severe food poisoning had ‘Chucky’ feeling like he needed to ‘chucky’, forcing him to slow down and cruise through the stage.
Sanders, unfortunately, lost around 26 minutes due to the illness and dropped to eighth overall.
Sanders recovered well over the weekend, making up for lost time, recovering 12 minutes in Stage Six alone. He sits just over seven minutes behind overall leader Skyler Howes, and is one of eight riders within ten minutes of the lead. There are six stages remaining in the rally.
In his 2021 Dakar debut, Sanders finished in fourth place overall and was the highest-placed rookie in the contest.
