The Paris-Dakar 2005 |
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File under Racing Dakar Race
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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Well, it's almost time for the most mythical and tough race of the year, the Paris-Dakar. As mentioned a few months ago {link}, some of the regulations have changed, with the most important one for motorcycles being the limitation to 450 cc for twin engines. Also, this year the tragic loss of Richard Sainct will be hard felt.
The 2005 provisional rider list shows 224 entries on motorcycles (and 8 riders on quads and 1 on sidecar - a shoe-in to win that category). The, rather KTM dominated, motorcycle category also shows 5 female entries, and 4 riders on the two wheel drive Yamaha WR450F-2 Trac, amongst other David Fretigne (who won his category on the pre-production 2 wheel drive last year).
The Official Route | Date | Start > Finish | Liaison | Special | Liaison | Total | | 31/12/04 | Barcelona> Barcelona | 6 km | 4 km | 8 km | 18 km | | 01/01/05 | Barcelona > Granada | 919 km | - | - | 919 km | | 02/01/05 | Granada> Rabat | 6 km | 10 km | 507 km | 523 km | | 03/01/05 | Rabat > Agadir | 122 km | 123 km | 421 km | 666 km | | 04/01/05 | Agadir > Smara | 240 km | 381 km | 33 km | 654 km | | 05/01/05 | Smara > Zouérat | 121 km | 492 km | 9 km | 622 km | | 06/01/05 | Zouérat > Tichit | 9 km | 660 km | - | 669 km | | 07/01/05 | Tichit > Tidjikja | - | 520 km | 18 km | 538 km | | 08/01/05 | Tidjikja > Atâr | 3 km | 361 km | 35 km | 399 km | | 09/01/05 | Rest day Atâr | | 10/01/05 | Atâr > Atâr | 8 km | 483 km | 8 km | 499 km | | 11/01/05 | Atâr > Kiffa | 34 km | 656 km | 5 km | 685 km | | 12/01/05 | Kiffa > Bamako | 25 km | 586 km | 208 km | 819 km | | 13/01/05 | Bamako > Kayes | 205 km | 370 km | 93 km | 668 km | | 14/01/05 | Kayes > Tambacounda | 93 km | 529 km | 8 km | 630 km | | 15/01/05 | Tambacounda > Dakar | 108 km | 225 km | 236 km | 569 km | | 16/01/05 | Dakar > Dakar | 37 km | 31 km | - | 68 km | | | TOTAL | 1 936 km | 5 431 km | 1 589 km | 8 956 km |
If I had to gamble and make a choice who'd win, my money would be on Fretigne. The WR450F was doing very well last year, and Yamaha didn't have all the spare parts available so they had to slow down. This year it's going to be different.
And what'd going to make it more different this year ???? I'm going to be there !!! Well, not as a competitor but as an active spectator. A friend and myself are planning to ride our motorcycles to Barcelona and ride with the race until they leave Morocco. They we turn around and head East and spend 3 weeks riding in the desert. So Jan 1st Barcelona - Granada, 2nd Granada - Rabat and 3rd of January, Rabat - Agadir.
We hope to cheer on my former two off road instructors, Simon Pavey and Nick Plumb, who are both riding the Dakar (again) on their Dome Team BMW F650GSs. Last year both had a spate of bad luck and did not finish. This year, hopefully; they'll finish!
They've both finished before in previous races, and have finished well. We're starting it well, there's a party planned on the 31st with both rider......
We'll be bringing digital cameras and portable computers, so hopefully we'll be able to file a few stories with photos.
Click here to access the Paris-Dakar race site.
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