2013 Dakar Rally - my wrap up

The 2013 Dakar Rally began with 196 starters in the motorcycle diviosn and of these only 125 finished. As most motor sport fans would know KTM mounted Frenchman Cyril Despres won the event this year. Below are a few thoughts and observations of my own on this year's Dakar.

The Australians

Best placed Australian was Rod Faggotter in 14^th place, with Ben Grabham just behind him in 15^th. The Australian entrants in the Moto class finished up like this…

14: Rod Faggotter (123), Yamaha

15: Ben Grabham (57), KTM

24: Warren Strange (131), Honda

34: Todd Smith (156), Honda

59: Simon Pavey (51), Husqvarna

111: Matt Fish (39), Husqvarna

Andrew Scott (181) called it quits at stage 4, and Troy O’Connor (75) was out at stage 5.

I can’t help feeling that Matt Fish was somewhat hamstrung by his role as teammate Barreda Bort’s water carrier. Fish came in third on the second stage, and was in sixth place overall. However he lost time providing assistance to Juan on more than one occasion, so I was quite disappointed to see him finish so far down the listings.

Other interesting stuff

One of the biggest disappointments for me this year was the failure of Ignacio Chivite to bring his Bultaco Frontera to the finish line. On his second Dakar attempt, Chivite did not get past the second stage.

There was some good news for two stroke fans though. Argentine rider Luis Belaustegui (150) might have been the last rider home, but he was riding a 150cc KTM two stroke, so it was quite an achievement.

I’m delighted to see that unlike KTM, Honda and Yamaha; Suzuki had a 100% finish rate. Portugal’s Mario Patrao (103) brought his Suzuki in at 30^th place, on his debut Dakar.

It’s also worth noting that Kawasaki had a 100% finish rate, as did Chinese manufacturer Jincheng. The two Jinchengs finished in 55^th and 118^th positions, while the three Kawasaki riders came in at 45^th, 84^th and 113^th.

The only woman to finish was Laia Sanz (36) who piloted her Gas Gas to 93^rd. This was pretty impressive, seeing as she spent 24 hours on the bike during one stage, and got back with only three hours to get some rest before heading out for the next day (and incurred a hefty penalty for coming in late).

My hero

I didn’t realise until after the event that Frenchman Nicolas Boyer was riding a 1999 Honda XR400R. The fact that he finished in 87^th position, in front of many more modern bikes is made even more awesome by the fact that he was riding unassisted in the malle-moto class. He paid €3500 for the bike and had a total budget of €25,000! Well done that man!