Image: Supplied.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price is hoping to reduce the gap to the leaders on day three of the 2020 Dakar Rally after losing considerable time during stage two.

The defending champion claimed victory on day one, prompting him to start first on the second day of proceedings with a challenging route ahead.

As a result, he was demoted down the order as anticipated, finishing the stage in 17th for an overall ranking of ninth – 7m34s down on lead and teammate Sam Sunderland (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

“Today was always going to be tough, leading out from the start without having had much time to read the road book,” Price explained.

“The stage went okay, I lost some time to the others but the most important thing is I looked after my bike and the tyres so should be in good shape to close down on the leaders again tomorrow. There’s still a long, long way to go, but the bike is working great, things are looking good and I’m happy.”

Stage three will see riders complete a looped course starting and finishing at the city of Neom. Of the 504 kilometres covered, 427 will be a timed special.

Image: Octopi Media.

Geico Honda’s Jett Lawrence saw his Monster Energy Supercross 250SX West debut hindered by a bout of food poisoning at Anaheim’s season-opener on Saturday night.

The 16-year-old Australian battled the illness as landed a heat race finish of sixth, granting him a direct transfer spot to the main event.

An inability to consume food and liquids throughout the day eventually caught up with Lawrence in the 17-lap final, where he admits fatigue set in halfway through before salvaging a respectable ninth place result.

“Well, Friday started off with getting food poisoning from a Chick-fil-A sandwich!” said Lawrence. “I ended up waking up at one in the morning throwing up and having diarrhea and really bad stomach cramps so I couldn’t make it to press day.

“Saturday morning I was feeling a little bit better but I didn’t get very good sleep. I was pretty tired plus couldn’t eat anything – just a rice cracker and some sips of water so my energy was pretty low.

“By the time it came to the main event I was starting to feel a little bit better but halfway through I started to get some belly cramps and started to feel a little bit lightheaded. At the end of the day it was not the result I was wanting, but I guess it is not such a bad result for my first race.”

The Monster Energy Supercross series visits St. Louis in Missouri this Saturday night for round two of the 17-stop championship.

Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen has revealed the settings on his factory CRF450R were too stiff for the track conditions at Anaheim 1, especially affecting him in the main event.

Roczen knew entering the weekend that he had opted for a stiff bike setting, however, as the track deteriorated into the evening it became apparent a softer set-up was required.

Despite those difficulties and after finishing second in his heat race behind teammate Justin Brayton, Roczen rode to sixth in the 450SX final to salvage a decent bunch of points at the opening round.

“Anaheim 1 started pretty good, but the main event was definitely not the greatest,” Roczen confirmed. “We were a little off on our bike set-up, with it being way too stiff. That really showed in the main because of the way the track deteriorated so much.

“I didn’t feel like I was able to keep a good flow or attack the track the way I needed to. For sure, this is not the position we wanted for the night, but it’s good to get the first race out of the way and leave healthy.

“We know what we need to work on for the upcoming race and have a plan in mind moving forward to implement those changes. Overall we’re not going to let this first race get us down and I’m looking forward to St. Louis.”

The 2020 Monster Energy Supercross season moves directly across to St. Louis, Missouri, for round two of the season this Saturday night, where Roczen is expected to refine the setting with Honda and move forward.

Fan-favourite Toby Price faced a road book malfunction during the opening stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally, the reigning champion striking luck to follow Red Bull KTM teammate Matthias Walkner for the remainder of the route.

Despite the setback, which Price believes debris jammed the rollers of his scrolling road book, he was still able to post the fastest time to top the opening day.

Acknowledging the result looked strong on paper, the two-time Dakar winner admits it was quite a challenging day to start his title defence.

“I had a really good day today up until about 140 kilometres where my road book started to play up a bit,” said Price. “Something had got in there and jammed the rollers and so I was left without a road book for a while.

“Luckily, I caught Matthias after he lost a little time and I was able to stay with him towards the finish. My result looks good on paper, but it turned out to be quite a tricky day. I’m also opening the stage tomorrow, so hopefully that’ll go well, too.”

Racing resumes on Monday for stage two, where riders will take on 393 kilometres, the stage including a short 26-kilometre liaison and a timed special of 367 kilometres.

Australian Luke Clout is remaining upbeat after a largely positive night at Anaheim 1’s opening round of Monster Energy Supercross, where his evening came to a premature end in the 250SX West main event.

The Penrite Honda Racing contender qualified strongly in 11th before transferring directly to the main with a P5 heat race result.

Still adapting to the CRF250R after just a month on the bike, the New South Welshman was positioned inside the top 10 during the opening stages of the 17-lap encounter, however an error at approximately the halfway mark saw him crash out of proceedings.

“My riding was good for most of the day but I am just so bummed,” Clout admitted. “I was sitting in eighth and pushing hard, but I made a mistake and it cost me really big.

“I’m a bit banged up, but there are a lot of positives to take away from the night – it’s been good to see where I’m at over here against some of these guys and I know I will only get better from here.

“I haven’t had too much time on the 250 and the whoops were a challenge for me tonight, but I will keep grinding – I’ve only been back on the 250 for 3-4 weeks and it’s been about four years since I’ve been on one, so its an adjustment.”

The main event was taken out by Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) ahead of reigning champion Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha), while Austin Forkner (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), who crossed the line in third, was penalised for cutting the track and ultimately granted fifth.

Monster Energy Supercross heads to St. Louis this Saturday, 11 January, for round two of the series.