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Champs-Elysees (Left) Edl Orloll celebrates with Mickey Mouse at the finish line, which was at Paris' Euro Disney. It was Orioll's third Dakar win. (Right) At oyer 8000 miles this was one of the longest and toughest Dakar rallies ever , but Orloll's winning margin was still less than two minutes. (Below) carlos Mas led In the early going, but dropped out In the second half. Orioli one tough cookie Photos by Bertrand Sanlavllle PARIS, FRANCE, DEC.28 -JAN. 17 ha t was one of the longest and most challenging Dakar rallies in the history of the grueling even t, ironically turned out to be one of the closest fought, wi th Italian Edi Orioli squeaking out a win by just 73 seconds over Spaniard [ordi Arcarons. It was the third Dakar win for Orioli, m atching the mark of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, who d idn't rac e in this yea r's event. With Peterhansel absent, the Cagiva Elefant 900-mounted Orioli became the favorite to win, and he d idn't disappoint. Peterhansel's sponsor, Yamaha of France, cited a new rule format as the reason for their withdrawal, but many speculated that non-competitive stock motorcycles was the real explanation. Fenouil, the French Dakar veteran who uses only one name (and who contested the Nevada Rally this summer), took over the promotion of the event this year and made several changes aimed at reducing the expense of competing. Costs had sky-rocketed over the past W few ye ars, as th e fac tory tea ms built more and more exotic machinery and provided nearly unlimited race support. Fenouil attemp ted to return the rally to its amateu r trad ition by severely limi ting th e modifications allowed to stock motorcycles (and ca rs, as well) . This yea r, competitors w ere g iven two options: the Marathon class, which stipulated use of stock motor, chassis and suspension; and the Super Production class, in which riders were allowed to use a modified suspension. The result was a higher turnou t of entries, wi th several amateurs on the list. No Americans competed on motorcycles (Danny laPorte was unable to secure su fficient sponsorship), but there were several Yanks in the car classes . Another change Fenouil mad e was to require that the racers return all the way to Paris after they had arrived in Dakar, Senegal. Entrants sometimes had to go as far as 700 miles a day, and total mileage was over 8OOO! The rally started off being fairly easy, but got progressively more difficult as days passed. Almost 100 motorcycles left the start line under the Eiffel tower in late December, and the first two special tests were extremely muddy (the second was first shortened, then cancelled ). Spaniard Carlos Mas, another Cagiva Elefa n t rider, hel d the early lead , but had slip ped to third by the halfway point in Dakar. As the riders headed back north, Orioli had taken over the top spot, with Arcarons - on yet another Cagiva - just over two minutes back in second. Ar carons chip ped away a t Orioli's lead throughout the return trip, gaining an incredible one minute, 47 seconds in one sho rt, special test. Orioli accused his rival of cutting the course, but without sufficien t proof the organizers chose to let Ar ca rons continue. Arcarons beat Orioli by 34 seconds in the final special test , but it wasn't enough to overtake the Italian, and Orioli arrived at the finish at Euro Disney with a 73-second advantage. Ironically, Arcarons had lost to Orioli in the Pharaohs Rally just four months earlier when he made a navigational error while leading. Italian Fabrizio Meoni finished third on a Honda XR600, with countryman Angelo Cavandoli (third overall in the Nevada Rally) fourth on a KTM 600 LC4. Fifth place went to Cagiva-mounted Frenchman Patrick Sireyjol. Also of note was German [utta Kleinschmidt, who won the Women's class and placed 22nd overall on a KTM 600 LC4. While the motorcycle class enjoyed one of the best battles in years, the car drivers were not so lucky. In a controversial move, Fenouil intentionally routed the course throu gh a "d ead dune" area ; wind d oes not reach these dunes, and the sand is subsequently extremely soft. Most of the top motorcycle riders were able to make it through, but only two cars were up to the task. Organizers then opted to throw that section out, and the two automobile teams withdrew in protest. The rally was marred by the death of Belgian Michel Sansen, who crashed during a transfer section when his BMW RBO GS hit a patch of sand on the pavement. a Champs-Ely sees Paris , France Results: Dec.28,1993- Jan.17,1 994 OVERALL; Edi Or ioli • Italy (Cag); 2. Iordi Arcarons - Spain (Cag); 3. Fabrizio Mean! - ll>ly (Han); 4. Angelo CavandoU - Italy (KTM); S. Patrick Sireyjol - France (Cag); 6. Michelle Antony . France (Cag) ; 7. Guido Maletti - spain (Kaw); 8. Davtde Castera • Preece (BMW); 9. Pierre Briais - Fr.u1ce (Cag); 10. Xavier Riba Spain (Kaw); 11. Alvaro Bulto • Spa in (Kaw); 12Emmanuel Cr istanelli • Ital y (Cag); 13. Augustin Fernandez · Spain (Hon); 14. Eric Pitoud - France (Cal