American Jonah Street Wins His First Dakar Rally Stage

January 7, 2009 - Street wins Stage at “El Dakaro”. 

American Rider Jonah Street has won Stage 5 of the Dakar Rally in South America.

Jonah gained 15 minutes on leader and Dakar champion Marc Coma from Spain, solidifying his 2nd place position overall.  Jonah leads the Marathon category and he's been in the top 10 since the start of the 2009 Dakar Rally.

What makes today's win even more surprising is that up until about 3 weeks ago, Street was still working at his full-time job and didn't even have time to practice for this year's Dakar!

Stage 5 was a nail-biter.  Early in the stage, leader Marc Coma had a flat, stopping for almost 20 minutes.

Francisco “Chaleco” Lopez from Chile took the lead and stayed ahead of Jonah’s time through nearly every checkpoint except the one that counted: the last one. In the last 25 kilometers, the riders passed through a difficult dunes section.

Jonah says of the other contenders, “ They all went the wrong way, but I didn’t.” Street finished almost 7 minutes ahead of Lopez for the Stage win.

Jonah Street is a privateer and rides for the Rally PanAm team.  The team’s website at www.rallypanam.com has the latest news and information.  (Source: Team Rally PanAm).