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23rd Total Paris-Dakar Rally PARIS, FRANCE, JAN. 1-21 battle between defending champion BMW and challenger KTM started early, with Spaniard Joan Roma (from the former team) and Italian Giovanni Sala (from the latter) tying for the day's win with identical times. Americans Johnny Campbell (who was riding a Honda with organizational support arranged by Acerbis) and Jimmy Lewis (on the factory BMW squad) ended the day fifth and sixth, respectively. For day two's 350-mile route (of which only 19 miles was special test) from Narbonne, France, to Castellon on the Spanish Costa Azahar, defending individual champion Richard Sainct showed why he is so strong in the event. The Frenchman, who switched from BMW to KTM following last year's victory, won the stage and took over the lead in the rally, with Roma second. Day three's three-mile special test "'r 0 celebrate the (real) start of the I new millennium, Dakar organizers returned the course of the worldfamous rally more or less to its original format, with the start in the French capital and the finish in the Senegalese city whose name has come to represent this event and so much more. It's fitting, then, that the overall winner after nearly a month and 7000 miles, was KTM rider Fabrizio Meoni. True, it was the first victory for both the Italian racer and his Austrian sponsor, but both are old-school offroad veterans that represent the sport's roots. The rally kicked off on the Champde-Mars, just five hours into the new year, and although the first day consisted primarily of a 370-mile (untimed) transfer route, there was a short four-mile special test that ended in a car-racing circuit. The expected 32 FEBRAURY 7,2001 • cue •• n _ 111I' S was scheduled as the shortest of the rally, though there was 267 miles worth of transfer. The day was to end in the coastal town of Almeria, but as the racers and support crews loaded into the ferry for the boat ride to Morocco that evening, the motorcycle scores hadn't changed from the previous day. The day had been canceled for the bikes due to a last-minute unreasonable demand for money by the Spanish motorcycle federation, though the competitors graciously agreed to put on an exhibition lap for the spectators. The first African stage (373 miles from Nador to Er Rachida) also included the first "real" special test, a technical 86-mile sprint that was really more of a warm-up for the marathon days to come. Sainct again emerged victorious, extending his overall lead to over an hour already, while Chilean KTM privateer Carlo The first Dakar win of the new millennium went to an old veteran in Fabrizio Meoni. It was the italian's first win in the event, after years of trying. DeGavardo was the runner-up ahead of Meoni. After several overall wins, things weren't looking well for BMW; Roma crashed and finished sixth, while Lewis and French teammate Cyril Depres melted their tire inserts. "I'm surprised," admitted team manager Berthold Hauser. "We only have one type of mousse, so it can't be a question of having made the wrong choice. We'll have to discuss it with the Michelin guy here on the rally ... The second of four Moroccan stages took place on January 5, and it was a historic one, with De Gavardo notching the first-ever stage win for a South Am,erican. The 355-mjle trek took riders through the first sand