Check out RacerXOnline social media for the next two weeks for daily reports from the Dakar Rally, as we get inside access to the Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally Team. This is a team running three Americans in the event, Ricky Brabec (two-time winner), Skyler Howes (former podium finisher) and rookie Preston Campbell.

Here's the Stage 9 recap, penned by Pat Schutte.

Dakar’s Rally2 class still dominated by American Campbell; Monster/Honda teammate Brabec back into 2^nd o/a
Dakar’s Stage 9 pays dividends to consistent American racers as Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Preston Campbell podiums (3^rd) and extends class lead

WADI AD-DAWASIR, Saudi Arabia – Quick update out of Saudi Arabia’s central Riyadh province as the Dakar Rally racers are holed up, without communication, in the Bivouac Refuge outside Wadi Ad-Dawasir. All of Dakar’s racers are now hunkering down for the night following a successful Marathon Stage 9 that saw Preston Campbell (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally) extend his Rally2 class lead to 17:28 over KTM’s Toni Mulec. And in the premier RallyGP class, Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Ricky Brabec moved back into 2^nd place overall, placing 4^th on Stage 9, behind a great run by teammate Tosha Schareina (1^st).

Beginning with Campbell, reports from the Wadi Ad-Dawasir bivouac indicated that the lead Rally2 pack of riders, which included Mulec, got lost in a valley section. And Campbell was about to follow the tracks into the same valley when he saw RallyGP racer Jose “Nacho” Cornejo (Hero Motosports, powered by Monster Energy) coming back out of the valley. Campbell then quickly adjusted his route back to the proper course. And this quick-thinking move allowed the Californian Dakar rookie to gain some six minutes on the 2^nd place Mulec.