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cutting off the connection between them.
    “Someone’s a bad loser!” sang Cabbie. Jimmy turned his attention back to the way ahead. They were right on target to find the next checkpoint, but Jimmy could see an obstacle ahead. A big one.
    “Uh-oh,” he said. Rising up above him was the biggest sand dune he had seen yet. As they hit the bottom of it, they slowed to a crawl. Cabbie’s engine made a small screeching noise and Jimmy pressed a button to shift him into a lower gear. They began to climb the side of the dune, and the sand slipped from under them. “Come on Cabbie!” Jimmy muttered as they crept up the terrifyingly steep dune. If they stopped for a second they’d slip all the way down to the bottom! In his rear-view mirror he saw Dug and Monster closing the gap between them, followed by Lightning.
    “Slow and steady, Jimmy!” said Cabbie. “Dunes like this can be dangerous. My sensors are telling me we don’t have much grip. The sand keeps moving under the tyres...”
    Jimmy nodded, but his attention was caught by Monster, who was charging up the slope. In a spray of fine sand she and Missy swished past Cabbie and regained the lead.
    All of a sudden, the sand slipped underneath Monster and Jimmy saw a great section of sand fall and tumble down the slope towards him. It was like a giant yellow landslide carrying the monster truck with it. Jimmy saw a wave of sand come towards him in slow motion. He gasped in horror.
    “Look out!” yelled Cabbie.
    Jimmy jerked the steering wheel to the left to stop himself from being crushed as Monster fell with the sand. But Cabbie wasn’t in the clear yet. The blanket of sand swept over them, covering the bonnet and windscreen, pushing Cabbie back down the hill. The roar was deafening and the vibrations made Cabbie shudder.
    Finally they slumped to a stop and the sand settled.
    Jimmy checked himself over. He flexed his fingers and wiggled his toes and shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears.
    “Cabbie? Are you OK?”
    “I’m fine. But that was some trip!”
    Jimmy couldn’t see out of his windscreen to tell if they were upside down, facing front or back.
    After a moment he faintly heard Missy shouting above him on the slope, “Monster! Hurry up and get us out of this mess!” A second later there was a deep roaring noise as Monster’s huge engine burst back to life.
    Jimmy had his own robot to worry about. He shifted into reverse and tried to move, but Cabbie was well and truly stuck.
    “The sand on the bonnet is too heavy!” said Cabbie.
    Jimmy couldn’t even climb out to dig them clear with his hands. If a safetybot arrived now, he would be rescued – which meant he and Cabbie would be out of the race. Jimmy took a deep breath. He needed to stay calm. Grandpa always said that no one ever got themselves out of a mess by losing their heads. And then suddenly a thought hit him.
    “Cabbie, open up the bonnet, and give it some welly!”
    “Okey-dokey, Jimmy!”
    Cabbie released the latch keeping the bonnet down, and the whole front section sprang up, sending a spray of sand everywhere. It did the trick, shoving off most of the sand on the front half of the car. He tried to reverse again, and it was easier this time. Finally Cabbie wiggled free from the sand and Jimmy looked around him.
    Monster was heading back down the slope to help Kako, who’d also been caught in the landslide – Lightning was now buried deep in the sand, just one rear wheel exposed.
    The princess sat up and removed her helmet. A pile of sand fell out. She shook her head rapidly to get the bits out of her sleek black hair.
    “Crikey! You OK, Kako?” shouted Missy. “Here, we’ll have you out of this in a jiffy.”
    Jimmy looked around the hot, bleak desert as Cabbie slammed his bonnet shut again. “Oh no, the others are getting away,” he said. Down below, Chip, Horace and Sammy had veered left to go round the dune altogether. “I guess they saw what happened and thought