Harden hoists the victory cup
following the 1500-mile event.
Husqvarna rider Scot Harden topped a 90-rider field to become the first
American to win the Djerba 500 Rallye. held in North Africa.
Djerba 500 Rallye
Harden dominates
African desert rally
By Anne and Tom Van Beveren
Photos by Patrick Boulland & Scott
COX
T U NI SIA, AFR ICA, OCT 3-7
Few Americans would volunteer to race a
motorcycle . over 1500 miles of sun-baked,
Sahara desert with only a compass and a
few paint splatters every 10 miles to mark
the ro u te' even fewer wo uld
complete ~he course.
.
.
But so u t her n California
desert racer Scot Harden not
24
on ly com p leted the course in this
year's Djerba 500 Rall ye through the
wilds of North Africa, he came ou t
at th e head of th e go-strong internation al field and put himself into
the record books as th e first American
ever to win on e of th e pr estigious
European rally even ts.
"T he race went around Tunisia,
which is a sma ll country on the
Mediterranean coast of Africa , and
it 's the most amazing place to race,"
Harden said. " Near the ocean we
raced through mountains with rolling hills and farms, but once we got
into the interior, if you picture the
Sahara Desert you kn ow exac tly what
we rode throu~h. If y
