And it's all over.  Now I have to wait another year.

Coma takes victory.  Great job.  The KTM engines made it.  To be fair, Coma didn't have to push the bike that hard as he had a 16 minute lead, but then again, in the grander scheme of things, 16 minutes aren't a lot.  Yamaha and Honda's also done a great job this year and Aprilia had at least one top 5 bike.  BMW hasn't done as well as they probably would have wanted to, but I think it's been valuable experience for them.  Frans Verhoeven did a great job.

So, congrats Marc Coma.  Consistent pace and very few mistakes gave him a very convincing win.

Next year I want to see Suzuki in this race.  Come on, if Sherco can put a bike in there, then Suzuki can surely get a bit of money together for an entry.  I might even find some time in my schedule to pilot the bike for them.  :)

Stage 11 and Coma's leading by 16 minutes.  BUT, the KTM's are down to their last engines.  They're allowed three engines for the race.  Those 450's just aren't meant to race that far and that hard and add the word KTM into the mix and you have a fairly high strung engine under extreme conditions.  Hey, lets see what happens.  The Yamahas, BMWs and Hondas are doing okay.

Stage 5:  Well done BMW for taking the stage in both the cars and bikes.  First time for any manufacturer to to that in the Dakar.

So, Marc Coma's taken the lead and by quite a bit.  It was almost tickets for him after he fell and damaged his radiator, but he made the repairs to get to the bivouac and take a good lead.  They're also into the dunes now, so it's getting interesting.  Spectacular scenery over the last two days.  What amazing countries.

Loads of carnage as well, with 33 bikes not finishing.  155 bikes starting the stage and only 122 finishing.  So, from 170 bikes starting on stage 1, down to 122 and we're only on stage 5.

Up to stage 3 and Marc Coma seems to be catching up with Despres.  Good stuff.  Last year Coma had bad luck most of the way, getting penalties and punctures, but this year he seems to back on board and giving it some.  I'm keen to see where things will be around the middle of the race.

Those 450's seem to be handling the pace.  I quite liked them last year and fully support them using 450's instead of 690's.  They're lighter and I think the biking public can relate to them more.  It's like a trail bike on steroids.  Serious steroids.

The first few stages have been quite docile, but these guys are reaching insane speeds.  According to Ultimate Motocycling the top speed reached by Quinn Cody on his Team Honda Europe 450 was 157km/h.  I must say the roads are really helping these guys reach these speeds.  Nice long, flowing and open.

It's on!

Merry Christmas everybody and a happy and prosperous new year.

As always the new year will start with the greatest sporting event on the calendar.  The ultimate test of mental, physical and mechanical endurance:  The Dakar Rally!!!  Yes, I got my official email yesterday announcing that the rally is upon us.  Check out the video.

I can't wait!