Stage 10 - Dakar 2025: Schareina 2nd, Van Beveren 3rd

Racers in the hunt for the overall victory and podium purposely sandbagged in order to get a later start for Thursday’s all-important Stage 11 – where the final top three positions will ultimately be settled. 2^nd place overall Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally) and his teammate, Adrien Van Beveren, currently 3^rd overall, are Monster Energy’s only racers with a legitimate shot at overall Dakar motorcycle division leader Daniel Sanders (KTM).

In a nutshell, Schareina will have to make up 16 and a half minutes on Sanders, predominantly in Thursday’s Stage 11, but also a bit on what’s set up to be a victory lap stage on Friday – the short Stage 12 that starts and finishes (as does Stage 11) in Shubaytah. Van Beveren is in a similar position, only further back (22+ minutes). Good news for Van Beveren (and Schareina) is that the 4^th place racer, KTM’s Luciano Benavides, is nearly seven minutes back of Van Beveren. So, short of a miraculous victory over Sanders, the two Monster Energy the /Honda HRC Rally teammates are pretty much insured of overall podium finishes. Which, at Dakar, is a pretty big deal.

Defending Dakar Rally champion, Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally), sits solidly in 5^th place, three minutes back of Benavides and four minutes up on teammate Skyler Howes (6^th).

LOOKING FOR A VIDEO RECAP? CHECK OUT STAGE 10 HIGHLIGHTS HERE!

The lone Monster Energy bright spot from Stage 10 was the work of Sara Price (Can-Am Factory Team) and her co-driver Sean Berriman. The Californian duo, who’ve been all over the scoreboard since the start of the Dakar, nailed their fourth consecutive top ten finish – and second podium with a 3^rd place run on Wednesday. Price and Berriman are currently in 28^th position overall in the SSV class.

The penultimate Dakar Rally Stage 11 is what it all comes down to – 275 blistering Special kilometers through the Empty Quarter desert. This is where a leader can go from 1^st to 5^th by just misjudging the backside of a sand dune. Teamwork will be paramount here. And three separate courses keep the dirt bikes separated from the cars and trucks. It’s Schareina, and maybe AVB, vs. Sanders for all the marbles. Go time one more time.

Said Schareina: “I had arm pump because it was so cold after 500 ks of Liaison. But once we got into the dunes, it was a good warm up for the next two stages. I tried to push at the beginning, but I think everybody tried to go smooth for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the big goal, 300 ks of dunes. And that’s all. We are all in for tomorrow.”

Said Van Beveren: “Today, we had a really long Liaison. Then, the small stage was a good warm up for tomorrow.”

Said Howes: “We had like eight hours on the seat today, then only 100 kilometers of racing. So yeah, it was a long day. It’s good to be down here in the Empty Quarter, though. The dunes are much warmer and it’s fun ride. I didn’t really push today, didn’t want to make any mistakes. Just wanted to make sure I got through the stage. Good day, no incidents. No games for a better starting position. Is what it is for me and I’m looking forward to a nice, clean stage. And afterwards, we’ll see how we go.”

Stage 10 Notes:

The Empty Quarter, or, officially, Rub’ al Khali, is a massive body of sand and some random oil lines that covers parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The dunes, reddish/orange in color, are, well, biblical. Up to 250 meters in height. A perfect ending for the ‘press on regardless’ spirit of Dakar.
“There’s a lot of people stranded out there from the marathon stage I just finished because they didn’t have BFGoodrich.” – nice post-stage tire endorsement this week from Monster Energy’s Sara Price (Can-Am Factory Team).
‘Cards were kept close to the chest’ was inferred a lot when discussing the unique Stage 10 results that had racers from the back of the pack populating the podium, top five/ten position. In fact, there were no major factory-supported bikes at all in the top ten (Howes was 6^th, but carried a time penalty that put him outside the top ten). This sets up the penultimate Stage 11 to decide the winner, podium, with the final Stage 12 on Friday being a victory lap of sorts. We think.
Reports from near the finish of Stage 10 had the Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally racers, literally, parked and waiting for the privateers to finish – in order to insure the best starting positions near the rear of the field on Thursday’s Stage 11.
308 km Special on Thursday, the vast majority of which will be run through sand, according to the Dakar Rally race director David Castera, adding that Wednesday’s Stage 10 was a “rehearsal” for Stage 11.

Monster Energy Dakar Stage 10 Motorcycle Results

Place/Name/Team/Time

6^th – Skyler Howes (Monster Energy/Honda)
02:06:02 (- minus 00:05:59)

13^th – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda)
02:09:12 (- minus 00:09:09)

17^th – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda)
02:10:11 (- minus 00:10:08)

Monster Energy Dakar Motorcycle Standings (after Stage 10)

Place/Name/Team/Time

2^nd – Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy/Honda)
50:10:30 (- minus 00:16:31)

3^rd– Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy/Honda)
50:16:23 (- minus 00:22:24)

5^th – Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda)
50:26:17 (- minus 00:32:18)

Monster Energy Dakar SSV Class

Stage 10 SSV Results

3^rd – Sara Price (Can-Am Factory Team)
02:12:10 (- minus 00:01:25)

Overall

28^th – Sara Price (Can-Am Factory Team)
133:22:46 (- minus 79:57:76)

Up next…

The penultimate Dakar Rally Stage 11 is what it all comes down to – 275 blistering Special kilometers through the Empty Quarter desert. This is where a leader can go from 1^st to 5^th by just misjudging the backside of a sand dune. Teamwork will be paramount here. And three separate courses keep the dirt bikes separated from the cars and trucks. It’s Schareina, and maybe AVB, vs. Sanders for all the marbles. Go time one more time. For more information, including “Live” timing and scoring, visit www.dakar.com