Aussie Dakar riders 1998 - on

[SafariBerg]

AUSSIES AT DAKAR

1998
Andy Haydon KTM640 3rd O/R
Andrew Coaker KTM640 23rd O/R, 3^rd Marathon class
Simon Pavey Honda XR600 48^th O/R


1999 Simon Pavey CCM 600 50^th O/R

2000 Ian Blake KTM660RR DNF


2001 Mike Hughes Honda XR400 64^th O/R


2003 Simon Pavey BMW F650GS DNF


2004
Andy Caldecott KTM660 Rallye DNF
Andrew Coaker KTM660 Rallye 24^th O/R


2005
Andy Caldecott KTM660 Rallye 6th O/R
David Schwarz KTM450Rallye 37th O/R, 3^rd 450cc
Simon Pavey BMW F650GS 78^th O/R
Mike Hughes KTM660 RR DNF
Mark Eland KTM660 RR DNF


2006
Simon Pavey BMW F650GS 86^th O/R
Andy Caldecott KTM660 Rallye DNF
Peter Moltmann KTM660 RR DNF
Christophé Barriere-Varju KTM660RR DNF
Mike Hughes KTM660 RR DNF


2007
Christophé Barriere-Varju KTM660RR 64^th O/R
Mike Hughes KTM660RR 125^th O/R
Mark Eland KTM660RR DNF


2009
David Schwarz KTM690RR 36th O/R
Simon Pavey BMW G650 68th O/R
Christophé Barriere-Varju KTM660RR DNF


2010
Rob Pollard KTM690RR 38^th O/R
Christophé Barriere-Varju KTM660RR 56^th O/R
Garry Connell Husaberg FE570 DNF
Andrew Scott Honda CRF450X DNF



2011
Jacob Smith Honda CRF450X 32^nd O/R
Simon Pavey BMW G450X 71st O/R
Warren Strange Honda CRF450X DNF
Mark Davidson Honda CRF450X DNF
Simon Harslett Honda CRF450X DNF


2012
Dean Nuttall KTM450RR 40th O/R
Dave Schwarz Husaberg FE450 43rd O/R
Jamie Chittick Honda CRF450X 54th O/R
Rod Faggotter Husaberg FE450 DNF
Craig Tarlington KTM450RR DNF
Mark Davidson KTM450RR DNF



2013 ??

[Desertboner]

Wow, only 37 Australians entered the dakar whilst the french had 44 riders started in this year alone. 21 for 37 Aussie riders have finished (56.7%) which is nearly 10% greater than average finisher rate ie 609 riders from 1171 (52%) since 2005.

[SafariBerg]

Originally Posted by Desertboner

Wow, only 21 Australians entered the dakar whilst the french had 44 riders started in this year alone. 21 for 37 Aussie starts have finished (56.7%) which is nearly 5% greater than average finisher rate ie 609 riders from 1171 (52%) since 2005.

double counting there

a key fact is that the finishers are guys who regularly finish the Safari in the top 10, those that didnt, dont !

gives an indicator to the skill level required

[troy safari carpente]

Andy H... sure made it a tough act to follow...

Congratulations to all the Aussies that have attempted...

and to those that have achieved!

[johnno950]

Ian Blake 2000 dakar,660rallye.

[Tex_Aus]

Great thread, thanks for posting this info.

Stupid question, but what does "O/R" mean?

Does anyone have any info about Australians entering the Dakar before 1998? Or were there none?

Tex

[johnno950]

Originally Posted by Tex_Aus

Great thread, thanks for posting this info.

Stupid question, but what does "O/R" mean?

Does anyone have any info about Australians entering the Dakar before 1998? Or were there none?

Tex

outwright position

[SafariBerg]

Originally Posted by Tex_Aus

Great thread, thanks for posting this info.

Stupid question, but what does "O/R" mean?

Does anyone have any info about Australians entering the Dakar before 1998? Or were there none?

Tex

no, none before 1998

[SafariBerg]

Originally Posted by johnno950

Ian Blake 2000 dakar,660rallye.

Cool thanks for that, first time I have heard of Ian.

I see he DNF with a broken collar bone, any other info on him ?? what was his background ?

[chicky]

Hi Guys & Gals...

Don't forget about a chap by the name of Barry McDonald from Australia,back in 1988 started but DNF'D because of fuel problems

Rode a KTM 560....

Rider #125....




no, none before 1998


Cheers ...

Chicky Sunny .... Mildura.

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by SafariBerg

Cool thanks for that, first time I have heard of Ian.

I see he DNF with a broken collar bone, any other info on him ?? what was his background ?

Rode a couple Safaris in the 90's... XR 600 i think (almost everyone did ) when I think some more about it... maybe even did one of the NT Safari's on a 640/660 Rallye?

[rallye]

Originally Posted by troy safari carpente

Andy H... sure made it a tough act to follow...

Congratulations to all the Aussies that have attempted...

and to those that have achieved!

Andy Haydon was the unsung hero of the Dakar, he came 3rd outright on his first attemp with minimal support .the guy is a legend in my book, i saw him race in the 1999 Safari and blew me away with his speed .
He was a guy that should of got some real backing ,he could of won No Doubt about it.

[johnno950]

Originally Posted by rallye

Andy Haydon was the unsung hero of the Dakar, he came 3rd outright on his first attemp with minimal support .the guy is a legend in my book, i saw him race in the 1999 Safari and blew me away with his speed .
He was a guy that should of got some real backing ,he could of won No Doubt about it.

Would of been good to see Phil Lovett have a ride in the dakar in the mid to late 80s.Bit off topic but i hope David Knight will ride the dakar after his enduro career.

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by rallye

Andy Haydon was the unsung hero of the Dakar, he came 3rd outright on his first attemp with minimal support .the guy is a legend in my book, i saw him race in the 1999 Safari and blew me away with his speed .
He was a guy that should of got some real backing , he could of won No Doubt about it.

I concur 100%

Andy Haydon possesed a sheer riding pace terrain/navigation while at speed on Safari - over the priod 1997 to 2002 - that was visibly faster than (almost) everybody else in the field. Andy Caldecott was probably the only other one that consistently maintained that kind of pace regularly.

Very much an "aliens" thing; like Coma/Despres of late... they were visibly quicker than nearly all else... then there was a 5% gap to the "best of the rest" sort of thing...

Those two had the now familiar Grabbo/Smithy x 2 "Safari maximum attack" pace bit, down pat long ago... and on considerably girthier mounts too might I add... The 660 Rallye went real good in straight lines, but it liked to swap ends if you did not hold the reins tight and show it who's boss... even then it spat some of the worlds best out from time to time.

When the the two Andy's were "on it"... dust was about all that you could hope to catch a glimpse of on the Safari in those times.

When Haydon went to DAKAR in 1998, he was an unknown underdog, who got a seat on one of the factory support team rides, thanks very much to contacts at KTM Australia made with Austria; this on the back of Andy's debut Safari win (also KTM's first) in 1997.

Riding skills wise, it was no problem for him to keep pace with the top four or five riders at the Dakar... seemingly he could even make time at will if needed be. He could navigate the roadbook at pace with little drama (on the piste/trail sectors), and he had no trouble in the off piste navigation/dune stages riding wise... it was just that his lack of GPS navigation experience (virtually zero prior to him entering the Dakar) that meant he was more or less forced to "follow" the top riders when they encoutered the off piste/dune stages... which made up a considerably larger percentage of the route back in the Africa days. This he did, without too much drama... and his third placing on DAKAR debut is testimony to that.

I have no doubt that if Haydon had gotten an opportunity to return to Dakar in following years (like Andy C did) that he had the ability to win a Dakar... no doubt in my mind. Unfortunately though a couple of big prangs in the Safari;

1999:


and again in 2002? (the first Safari in NSW?). Along with a combination of the usual family/business commitments and a lack of sufficient sponsorship/backing to make a serious attempt, it meant that Andy H never had another shot at the DAKAR. (I am sure that had he and Caldecott the opportunity to compete together, that they would have made a formidable team... capable of taking the win).


Regardless of what was or might have been, the "two Andy's"
Safari/DAKAR competition records are pretty damned amazing as they are;

Andy H: Safari win on debut - 1997
Dakar 3rd on debut - 1998



Andy C: Four straight Safari wins - 2000 to 2003.
Established status (in the thre editions he competed)
as a "top ten" ranked DAKAR competitor.




The recordbook only tells a part of the story... had circumstances not been what they were, those statistics could well read very differently today. One thing for sure (the recordbooks don't show) is the history that lives on in the memories and accounts of those that witnessed their great feats will be remembered... The fact is that BOTH could do extraordinary things on a rally motorcycle, and it is the riders and competitors that rode with them, that can testify to that. Our forum mate rallye is just one of those people priveliged enough to have seen it up close!

[KASUYAHO]

Mark Eland competed 2 times in Dakar.