THE BATTLEFIELD IS SET; THE BATTLE HAS BEGAN.

Robby started out stage one seeded in the 35th position. With 34 cars in front of Robby to pass, Robby pulled a "Monster" wheelie off the starting platform to a roaring crowd. By the end of stage one Robby moved up 21 positions and now sits in 14th position, four and a half minutes from the leader Carlos Sainz who laid down an awesome run as expected from the world rally champ. Robby is only seventeen seconds behind last year's Dakar champion Peterhansel in his Mitsubishi that started the day 1st.

The trail for stage one was twisty and muddy. The H-3 worked well in these conditions with Robby behind the wheel passing many of the "seeded cars". Additionally, Robby had performed no testing in these conditions in the new Hummer H-3 prior to the start of the race.

Our other American Racers; Mark Miller in his Touareg was seeded 9th and finished an impressive 10th. He is three minutes forty seconds behind leader Sainz and fifty-nine seconds in front of Robby. Ronn Baily is in 59th thirteen and a half minutes back.

Tomorrow's stage two is also expecting wet conditions in steep hilly terrain similar to Pikes Peak. Nani Roma sums stage two up best; "The stage will be similar to the previous day. A complicated stage where you have a lot to loose and little to win. Therefore we have to be very careful and avoid any mistake." Robby starts tomorrow in 14th and will have fewer cars in front of him impeding his progress.

Robby will continue to take a conservative approach until he hits the shores of Africa. However, we can expect Robby to have a bit more confidence in his H-3 for tomorrow's wet stage. Robby has said he is just looking to finish these first few stages close to the leaders so he can take the H-3 in top form to Africa so he can really show what the H-3 is capable of!