The DAKAR begins

[charismaticmegafauna]

245 bikes started this year's Dakar.

After one stage (Portugal) Faria and Rodrigues are 1 and 2 on Yamaha WRF 450 2X2s. Of course, there are 14 more days for things to change..... :blink:

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Continues:

...and the usual suspects have found their way to the front -- factory KTM riders.

Chris Blais (USA) is 5th on a KTM 660 Rally. There've been abt. 45 m/c withdrawals, so far -- including Jonah Street (USA).

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

I believe they have lost a rider yesterday, his first Dakar rally. Its a dangerous race.

 

[FJRottie]

Dakar is awesome. I would love to do it.

 

[Bluebullet]

Dakar is awesome. I would love to do it.

If I knew how to get the massive sponsorship needed to do it I would like to have a whack at it as well. I was in Bamako for the Sahara part in 2005 and talked with any of the crew members that spoke English.(USA, Belgian and Dutch teams) The massive 6 wheel drive support vehicles they use to get across the dessert are really impressive as well as extremely expensive. Our small charter outfit (King Air) got to do some scouting runs and a few crew deliveries for the rally into Mauritania. Most crews had their own aircraft usually a ATR 42-500 or Russian AN 72 or 32. It is quite impressive but dangerous. The medical facilities if you got hurt were almost non existent. The best we could have done is set any bones ourselves stopped bleeding with pressure points started an IV and got you on the next Air France flight out that night at 11pm to fly 5 hours to Paris. Kind of scary to me now since I saw one of our team leave Bamako that way after a head on car crash.

 

[E1Allen]

Dakar is awesome. I would love to do it.

Exactally, Where do I sign up.