Zoom Arnaud Jacquart.

It seems that Stéphane Peterhansel (car), Lionel Lainé (quad) Cyril Despres (moto), TomasTomecek (truck) are set to become the all out winners of the SHAMROCK 2009 competition, and yet the suspense remains in the car category as to who will be next in line behind the two BMW-X-Raid's ?

Frederique LEPAN, had been injured ten months ago, but he is now back”surfing” the dunes on his Sherco 450. He told us “it's the first time on this bike; all I do is look ahead, project myself mentally along the track, don't forget to drink! When things go well on the sand for a biker, it's pure pleasure.”

Arnaud Jacquart was also enthusiastic: “Given the chance, I would have gone back for a second loop!” All the bikers agreed that it was such a privilege to experience these kinds of sensations in these incredible landscapes. The organisers had said it would be the most beautiful leg of the rally. Aptly named “the sands of the Cheggaga erg”, it crossed a vast area of dunes. Poor Olivier Pain fell 40kms from the finish line, thus giving his competitor Marc Coma a one hour lead in this stage. Nevertheless it does not compromise his chances of becoming world champion on Friday.

One big man, Harite Gabari a Moroccan biker who was unfortunate to trip on a hidden step in the sand a few days ago is optimistic : “I had two crushes on Thursday, one today and doctors have given me the green light to participate in Friday's last leg!”

We will all miss Ron Bailey, a regular rally driver, a strong personality and a strong will could not prevent his withdrawal following a direct hit to his car (a big stone, I was told). He did not have all the right equipment to continue so it's: bye bye Ron...hope to see you next year. For any participant the idea of not finishing the rally is a nightmare, luckily there are a lot of competitors on the starting line tomorrow.

Today's stage saw Cyril Despres in third position, behind Marc Coma and Jordi Viladoms. In the overall he has a 7'05 lead over Marc Coma and 15'09 over the Norwegian Pal Andres Ullevalseter. Down the line we have Viladoms, followed by Jakub Przygonski. And sixth Olivier Pain with 1h20'42''. This seven minute advantage should be sufficient to give Cyril Despres the world title tomorrow night for the second time.

In the quad bike category, Lionel laine on his KTM 525, also eying a world title has a comfortable lead. He made it fifteenth in today's scratch time. Camelia Liparoti was 26th, Vincent Albira was 28th and Vladimir Marugov 30th. Laine has a compfortable 53mn lead over Albira on the overall classification.

Still largely in the lead Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret are about to set a new standard by winning every stage. They lead by an incredible 2h26' the other BMW-X-RAID. Today's exploit was Pierre Lachaume-Jean Brucy (Bowler), coming second they may now hope to reach 5th overall. Jean-Marie Davoy et Marc Jourdain (Buggy MD) although 3rd overall, got stuck in sand and François Léthier-Jean-Marie Lurquin (Buggy Schlesser) had engine problems from right from the start of the first loop, not a good day. Lucky for Jean-Noël Julien and Christophe Cresponow hoping for a third place tomorrow

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