France’s David Fr?©tign?© (Yamaha WR450F - Yamaha MF Gauloises Ipone) put in a strong performance in the seventh stage, winning the longest special of the 2005 Dakar between Zou?©rat and Tichit. Fr?©tign?©’s third win, after Barcelona and Grenada, sees him moving to sixth overall. The gap between him and Marc Coma, the new leader in provisional standings is now 8′09.

190 bikes left in Zou?©rat for 669 km, and no less than 660 km of special in the first ‘marathon’ stage of the Dakar. Because of the extremely poor
visibility conditions, keeping nine helicopters grounded, the organization decided to cut down on the length of the stage. Some learn quicker than others and this goes certainly for the 33-year-old Fr?©tign?© in what is only his second Dakar participation. Until now David was mostly known for his dominance in the short super-specials, but in the longest special of the 2005 Dakar he confirmed his stunt from last year in Ayoun-el-Atrous.
Fr?©tign?© rode a smart and calculated race, leaving the lead in the first half of the race to newcomer Kellon Walch. However the young American could not keep this elevated rhythm during the second half finishing 20 minutes behind Fr?©tign?©. The last 263kms, being extremely technical, took even the best riders more than 4 hours. The soft sand of Mauritania was an ideal playground for David Fr?©tign?© finishing with a 3′31 advantage on Coma and 5′22 on Despres.

The Spaniard Coma takes the leadership in the overall with only sixteen seconds on Despres. Halfway through the Dakar rally, the bike event is a
real thriller with the first six riders (Coma, Despres, Caldecott, Cox, Meoni and Fr?©tign?©) all very close.

“Today was really crazy”, said Fr?©tign?© after a 600 exhausting kilometers, “to end the day winning was something I did not even dare to dream. “The stage was long and physically demanding. Until 400 km we were close together with seven riders. We did 300 km together, and when I stopped for fuel I saw that Meoni and Depres were still there. I quickly calculated how long I had started after them and I then realized that I had not lost a lot of time on them. I immediately started attacking after that on a camel track of 100 kilometers. I did the last 50 kilometers out of breath just pushing myself to finish. I gave it everything I had and in the end I took more than 4 minutes on Coma. This was the longest stage of the rally and I’m very happy that I won it. My bike behaved perfectly and I did and extensive check of all the parts in the bivouac but everything is fine.”

Because of the extreme sandstorm in the seventh stage (Zouerat-Tichit), and many participants arriving in the bivouac extremely late, the organizers decided to cancel the specials of the Tichit-Tidjikja stage. On Friday morning 10 o’ clock only 96 bikes, 59 cars and 27 trucks left for Tichit.

The 11th day of the Dakar rally was one of deep sadness after the tragic death of Fabrizio Meoni. Meoni died after a crash at km 184.85 of the stage between Atar and Kiffa. At 10.15 David Fr?©tign?© (Yamaha WR450F - Yamaha MF Gauloises Ipone) was the first at the place of the crash, and immediately activated his emergency beacon. A helicopter arrived at 10.36 and doctors and the doctors treated the champion for 45 minutes. However, the two-time Dakar winner, aged 47, died of his injuries at 11.11. The Dakar rally has been deeply affected by the death of Fabrizio Meoni.

Riders have expressed the wish not to compete on stage 12 between Kiffa and Bamako, and the rally organization has therefore decided, in accordance with the riders, to cancel the special and to take by airplane the competitors and their bikes to Bamako. Coma won yesterday’s stage before Despres en Esteve. Fr?©tign?© came home 11th. Dutch privateer Bas Verhoeven (Yamaha WR450F) rode to an excellent seventh. Courageous Belgian Jeroen Ramon still leads the production 1 class on his trusty WR250F. Provisional standings remain unchanged at the top with Depres leading, Coma is second at 14′50, Esteve is third and Fr?©tign?© is fifth.

David Fr?©tign?© was understandably unavailable for comments after the race, but Jean-Claude Olivier, managing director of Yamaha Motor France and himself a former Dakar rider said: ‘At the same time I’m lost for words and shocked, but this is unfortunately the hard reality of racing. Of course my condolences go to the family and friends of Fabrizio. Meoni was a great champion, a charismatic and talented rider who will keep a special place for all who love the Dakar.”