France’s Despres in the lead after Day 2
A near ace and a big win for Dustin Johnson at Kapalua
Frenchman Cyril Despres of Peugeot won the second round of the Dakar Rally and took the overall lead of the race.
The third-place finisher in last year’s race finished in 2 hours, 56 minutes and 51 seconds for the 195 miles (267 kilometres) around Pisco, in Peru. He finished ahead of two French teammates, with a 48-second lead on Stephane Peterhansel and 3:08 in front of Sebastien Loeb.
Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, who won the first round, ended nearly 15 minutes behind the leader in fifth.
Despres leads the overall classification by 27 seconds on Peterhansel.
Sunday’s race was marked by a series of accidents, including one that affected American driver Bryce Menzies of Mini. Menzies was unharmed by the crash.
In the motorcycles race, Spain’s Joan Barreda Bort of Honda clocked in at 2:56:44 to win the second round. France’s Adrien van Beveren of Yamaha finished second once again, 2:54 back. Austria’s Matthias Walkner of KTM was third, 4:24 behind the leader. Overall, Bort leads with 2:30 on Van Beveren.
In the truck race, Russian Eduard Nikolaev of Kamaz, the defending champion, won with a time of 3:24:23. He finished 3:25 ahead of Argentina’s Federico Villagra. Overall, Nikolaev leads Czech Ales Loprais by 5:38.
On Monday, the Dakar Rally will move on to San Juan de Marcona, also in Peru.
Golf
Dustin Johnson hit one of the best shots he never saw. Not all of it, anyway. The Sentry Tournament of Champions had reached that stage where all that was left to decide was the margin by which Johnson would win. He had a two-shot lead to start the final round at Kapalua, stretched to six shots at the turn and was leading by five when he reached the 343yard 12th hole, where the final 120 yards are down the a steep hill with the Pacific Ocean on the horizon.
That’s where Johnson delivered the signature moment in the first PGA Tour event of the new year.
He knew his drive was good when he hit it. What he missed was the ball catching the right bounce to feed it onto the green, and then rolling straight toward the pin until it stopped just inches away from a hole-in-one.
“I could see it until it landed, but I knew it was on a good line,” he said. “I know exactly where I want it to come down out of the air, and it did. So I knew it was going to be pretty good. I just didn’t think I was going to have a tap-in.”
Johnson made up for his last PGA Tour event - the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, where he tied the worst kind of record by losing a six-shot lead - by turning the Tournament of Champions into a statement that he has been ltahset he last group, he produced an 8-under 65 for the best round of the tournament. He led by at least five shots over the final 11 holes. He finished at 24-under 268 and collected the 17th victory of his PGA Tour career.
Johnson now has won in 11 straight seasons.