The 2012 Merzouga Rally kicks off in 10 days time http://www.merzougarally.com/?page_id=4029&lang=en https://www.facebook.com/#!/merzouga.rally?fref=ts This rally is growing very popular with the French and Italian competitors, this year ther are 79 motos & quads and 18 SXS..............no autos or trucks, the race doesnt cater for them. There is a mix of nations with competitiors from France, Italy, Poland, UK, Australia, Canada (Patrick Trahan), Swiss, Spain, Chile, USA, Portugal, Morocco, Venezula A few Dakar names will be there Chaleco Lopez Jordi Viladoms Alessandro Botturi Chkzor Jaceck Pedro Bianchi Prata and Willy Alcaraz who won the SXS & solo auto categorys at this year's Dakar Also Ben Grabham, Australia's top desert / rally racer, will be using it to get some bike time in Dakar style terrain and using the GPS/Irritrack/Sentinal systems etc before 2013 Dakar youtube vids of 2011 event http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTZtn9hYWkg
Entry list here http://www.merzougarally.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/ENTRY-LIST-MOTO1.pdf Seems as if Chaleco has dropped out, but rest of the Bordone team is there
yep, and with Paolo Ceci and Renato Ferrari (yes the F of the BF team) in charge too curious to see what Maurizio Micheluz will do, he is one of Italian's stronger Enduro rider
#38 Robert Hughes and #45 Mark Molineux are the guys who run the UK rally series. They're on Husky TE630s they've been racing in the UK all year, with a lot of self-developed upgrades... 'Moly' was British Enduro champion some time in the '80s, and more recently has been rallying a BMW HP2 in the UK before switching to the Husky over last winter. The only person to beat him in the twins class was some upstart calling himself 'Pyndon' in 2011. #56 Phil Page, from Guernsey, also races in the UK series. After a while on a RallyRaidProducts kitted 690, he's recently switched to a JVO WR450.
I was actually wondering about the TE630 Rally... it looks a bit heavy on the front side maybe? How many kilos overall? Here in Italy has not been really appreciated, never seen one with my eyes. Everybody say the 610 was much better especially offroad.
perfect rally weather <TABLE class="weather distance"><THEAD><TR><TD></TD><TH>Tuesday 30-10 </TH><TH>Wednesday 31-10 </TH><TH>Thursday 1-11 </TH><TH>Friday 2-11 </TH><TH>Saturday 3-11 </TH><TH>Sunday 4-11 </TH><TH>Monday 5-11 </TH></TR></THEAD><TBODY><TR><TH>Min</TH><TD>13 °C </TD><TD>15 °C </TD><TD>17 °C </TD><TD>16 °C </TD><TD>16 °C </TD><TD>16 °C </TD><TD>15 °C </TD></TR><TR><TH>Max</TH><TD>22 °C </TD><TD>26 °C </TD><TD>28 °C </TD><TD>28 °C </TD><TD>28 °C </TD><TD>28 °C </TD><TD>27 °C </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE class="weather distance"><THEAD><TR><TD></TD><TH>Tuesday 6-11 </TH><TH>Wednesday 7-11 </TH><TH>Thursday 8-11 </TH><TH>Friday 9-11 </TH><TH>Saturday 10-11 </TH><TH>Sunday 11-11 </TH><TH>Monday 12-11 </TH></TR></THEAD><TBODY><TR><TH>Min</TH><TD>13 °C </TD><TD>12 °C </TD><TD>12 °C </TD><TD>11 °C </TD><TD>11 °C </TD><TD>11 °C </TD><TD>11 °C </TD></TR><TR><TH>Max</TH><TD>26 °C </TD><TD>24 °C </TD><TD>22 °C </TD><TD>21 °C </TD><TD>21 °C </TD><TD>22 °C </TD><TD>23 °C </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
There will be regular updates here for Grabbo https://www.facebook.com/garry.connell.7#!/ben.grabham.5?fref=ts for Gaz & Gazza https://www.facebook.com/G2RallyeRacing?ref=hl
Prologue's done & dusted, Grabbo has taken the holeshot over the 12km stage that saw some tricky nav with lots of tracks and hidden waypoints, so he leads out first on the road for tomorrow's stage. In his first rally with GPS and Sahara dunes he is easing into and adapting well so far
I suspect Ben is a quick learner, or he will have to be starting first. Do you think he may have been caught out with the standard prologue antics?
He is a racer and would have done what is required. As there is nobody of significance there he might as well learn the hard way and lead out and see if he can maintain the pace and open the road.
Have foudn it yet, triples and forks look like a Prilia. Listed on the start list as a Tacita of some sort...
