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- - - - - - - - - - -- r--- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - _ ._- - -------.c RALLY In wh at was most likely his last Paris-Dakar ri de, Frenchman Stephane Pete rhansel c ruised to a record sixth win abo ard hi s hig h-tech , t wo- cylin der Yamaha 850. By Geoff Meyer . DAKAR,SENEGAL,AFRlCA, JAN. I-18 s Step hane Peterh ansel arrived 'j a t Dakar, Senegal, on Jan uary 18, m any off- roa d foll ow ers mu st have felt a knot in thei r stomachs, and maybe even a tear or two rolled down the hard faces of the Dakar Rally competition. Why? Because the legendary rider from France was makin g his last charge to the small city in Africa and his last wa ve to the band of Senegal people. At the scene of so many of his great battles, the now six-time winner of the grea test off-ro ad rally in th e histor y of motor sports was saying goodbye. "I was very emo tional as I arrived (at the finish). It' s har d to think it's over," Peterhansel sa id as he clim bed off hi s XTZ850 TRX Yamah a ma chi n e. Only minu tes after w inning his sixth ParisDaka r Rally, on a wa rm day in Dakar, the 1997 World 250cc Enduro Cham pion looked a little lost. "1 think tha t' s it for me," he said of what was possibly his last Dakar performan ce. "Yamaha is nearly sure they will stop . Maybe if they come back in a few years, I'll rid e for them, but maybe I'll be too old." Th e 20 th a nnivers ary of the Dak a r rally was a mon umental su ccess , with new names coming in to the rally sce ne and a kin g leaving his throne while still at the top of his game. This year's rally started on Janu ary 1 j[j A B ~ 14 in Paris, France, and, as everyone expected , it rained, and the d ownpour forced ma ny of the top riders to play it safe in the first tests. No ne of the heros risked their chances in thes e conditions and. as a result, a rid er named Fran cois Flick , ridin g a Hond a XR400, wo n the opening day over a ha ndful of KTM-m ounted . novices after the first stage. Peterh ans el was 15th, an d a no ther multip le Daka r Rally winner, Ed i Ori oli, on the fam ou s BMW 600 machine, was 47th. Am erica's only representative, Paul Krau se, rid ing a KIM, was 71st. Day tw o brought the riders out of the mist of southern Fra nce and into Spa in. .Still, the cold winter weather in Europe was evide nt, as lesser-known KTM rider Fabio Fasola won a stage, but four-time World End uro Champ ion Giova nni Sala d id place fifth. Peterh ansel, on the other hand , played the wa iting ga me, mos eying along in 45th place. Sala came back and wo n the follow ing stag e ahead of a parade of fellow KIM riders. _ " It' s n ot th at important to wi n thi s early, but it's nice to to do well in fron t of so man y people. Once we get to Africa, it (the course) will be much less popul ated," the smiling Sala said. The mo ment all the compe titors had been wai ting for came on day fou r wi th their arriva l in Morocco. Th is is w hen san d special ists like Peterh ansel and Ori oli come in to their own, alt hough th e Yama ha-mou nted Peterh ansel was quick to make mistakes. "I fell after ab out five minutes from the start in Africa. I'm a little sore," Peterhansel said. N ev ertheless, Peterhansel w on the s tage an d moved in to the lead for th e first time in the rally. Finishing behind Peterhansel was sixt ime Wor ld En d u ro C h a m p ion Kari Tiainen, ridin g a KIM, w ith fellow KIM ri de r a n d e n d u ro s pecia lis t Richard Sainct in third place. Also imp ressive in the openi ng day in Africa was the Roof O ver Africa Rall y wi n ne r, KTM rid er Alfie Cox, as the South African cam e in fourth. "I wa s reall y racin g ea rly; then 1 thou gh t I'd better slow down - one mista ke here a nd yo u' re in trouble," Cox said . "But then I got going again . To be honest, 1got a little carried away." Australian Safari winner Andy Hayden held seventh on his KIM and, like Cox, looked very fast in his first Dakar challenge. Tiainen and Peterhansel made a huge blu nder on day five. As the two men led th e rid ers in to the Er Rachidia-Quarzaz a te s tage, th ey mad e a wrong turn which took th em th ro u gh a sys tem of small villages. By the time they realized th ey were o ff co u rse, It al ian Fabrizio Meoni, aboard ano ther KIM, had passed an d was heading for the stage win . Peterhansel was livid for making such a mis take: "1 brok e my gea r shift at the s tart of the stage, and Tiainen ca ught me," Peterhansel explained . "Then 1 was occup ied w ith the gear lever and missed the turn, following Tiainen - it was a bad mi stake a nd could have cos t m e ve ry dea rly." Meoni was not too sorry for Pet erh ans el. " I s a w a lo t o f t rac ks goi n g towards the left (the tracks of Peterh ansel and Tiain en ) and at first 1 followed; then 1 realized on my navigational equi pmen t tha t I was go ing the w rong way," sa id Meoni, who won the battl e this time. Spa nish rid er Juan Roma was happy, too . "I was rid ing with Meon i and followed him," the KTM rid er sa id aft er taking the overa ll lead from Peterhansel. British KIM rider John Deacon also had some bad luck. The tough Brit was in so me trouble after hitting a local car and nearly fallin g d own a hu ge cliff, whi ch most likely resu lted in a big DNF. "Luck is a major part of this event I've had my luck tod ay,".Deacon said. Factory KIM rid er Thierry Magn aldi wasn' t as lu cky as Deacon , as the French rid er DNFed on this d ay (da y six) - his ma chin e' s fuel tan k was so badly damaged in a crash that repair was impossible . Again, Peterhan sel wo n this stage and moved into fifth pla ce behind Rorna, Meoni, Slovakian ISDE veteran [arosla v Katrina k. a n d last yea r's th ir d-pl ace Dakar finisher, Oscar Gallardo, w ho was riding a BMW. Peterhans el continued to roll on as he took ano ther s tage win, which m oved him int o the ove rall position. With the lon g marathon stage coming in stage eight, all the KIM riders were preparing for an all-ou t assau lt on Peterhansel's blue ma chine. Th e Aus tra lian , H ayden, su rprised everyo ne with the marathon win, finishing ahead of Roma, Samet, [ordi Arcarons and Peterhansel. Orioli took sixth , looking stronger as the rally moved d eeper into th e Afri can dunes . Th e modest Aus sie played down his win , saying, "I'm havin g a grea t tim e. I love those big dunes, and my only problem is my fuel pump is not working. It makes me a little n ervou s, be cau se yo u ne ver know if you're going to run out of fuel." Meanwhile, Krause had mad e up for his 71st-place start and was running 17th overa ll after a ninth-place finish in the ma rathon stage. "I' rn feeling better all the time. I'm going fairly easy," he said . At this point , Meoni was on ly 13 minutes off leader Peterha nsel's pa ce following his second stage win of the rally, and he certainly gave notic e to Peter hansel that he was - at this point - a serio us challenge. The next stage saw ano ther stage winner; th is tim e it w as Cagiva-mount ed Carlo Satelo. It wa s Cagiva's only win of the rally, but, unfortu nately for the team, Satelo wo uld soon be out of the rally. Whil e Sat el o' s wi n mi ght not ha ve given the KTM facto ry riders much to cheer abou t in th e g ra n d sch eme of things, the fact that Peterhansel was spo t-

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