Pablo Quintanilla showboats during Dakar 2020
The Chilean Dakar racer took a moment during his special stage to perform a rather sweet trick for the chasing helicopter
THE Dakar Rally is renowned as being one of the most arduous and dangerous motorcycle races on the planet. The racers travel nearly 8000km during the event, in what is effectively a non-stop special stage.
During the rally, the riders must not only navigate themselves to the next rest or service stop, but they also have to avoid hazards like errant wildlife, locals and the more obvious dangers on the route like deep sand and crevasses.
With all this going on in a rider’s head, you’d think they’d have zero mental capacity to play up to the chasing helicopter, wouldn’t you? Well apparently not, as Pablo Quintanilla so flamboyantly shows us!
The Chilean rider is currently sat in 4th place in the rankings, one place behind Red Bull KTM Factory rider, Matthias Walkner. During one of today’s stages, Quintanilla is flying over the sand at speeds of over 100mph when he clocks the TV crew in their helicopter, doing their best to keep up with the rider on his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna machine. Rather than just get his head down and press on, Pablo decides to treat us to one of the best, and probably fastest, wheelies we’ve seen on dirt so far this year!
Quintanilla is one of the top riders in the world, quickly joining the list of potential Dakar winners for 2020. In 2019, he finished just off the podium after a crash on the final stage resulted in a fractured ankle. After seven months recuperating, he returned with a win on the Atacama Rally and a second-place finish in Morocco.
Good on you lad, more of that please fella!
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
