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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128202
Dakar Rally 2003 TilE fAMOUS RALLy liAS CIiANGEd OVER TilE yEARS, bUT iT'S sTiLL TilE TouGIl RACE iT'S ALwAys bEEN By JIM JONES PHOTOS BY DOT JONES MARSEILLES, FRANCE, JAN 2 his year's running of the Dakar Rally was different from any previous year. The event that began life in 1979 as the Paris- Dakar Rally was not going to visit either of those cities. Its title had been shortened to simply "Dakar" a few years ago when the organizers decided to use other starting points. Abandoning the traditional finishing point at Dakar was another major step. The new route started on New Year's Day from a warm and sunny Marseilles in France, journeying southward into Spain to the port at Valencia, from where it crossed the Mediterranean to Tunis. Then it was southward to the bottom of Tunisia before crossing into Libya and on through the Western Desert into the oases of Egypt, across to the River Nile at Luxor and then around the Gulf of Sinai to finish at the diving resort of Sharm EI Sheikh. T 24 FEBRUARY 26, 2003' cue • Predicting the make of the winning bike wasn't difficult; it would be from Austria. Last year the KTM 950 Lea twins had a fairytale debut, winning their first time out in the event. This year it looked as though big orange would have an even easier win, as there was little opposition from other makes; in fact, the only real competition was from KTM's own 660 and 640 singles. Despite this, the factory had strengthened its hand, and apart from Italians Fabriz.jo Meoni and Giovani Sala, it had entered two more 950s. Spain's Nani Roma and Isidre Esteve were out on Repsol-liveried versions. At this point it is worth remembering the saying about counting chickens. Most years, there is a sprinkling of riders from the United States; this year only one made the trip. Shawn Price from San Francisco did everything the hard way. He entered the event and then traveled to Europe and searched the classified ads for a n e _ s e bike. Eventually he found a KTM 660 that seemed right, did a deal and headed for Marseilles. Every day was a learning cu.rve for him. GPS and road-book navigation Dakar-style were his biggest initial problems. Getting lost on most of the early stages ensured that he was constantly at the back of the start list each morning. This meant that the fastest cars caught him almost immediately, and he was in their dust all day, often getting lost again. During the European stages he remained in the bottom third of the results list, and it wasn't until the course reached the first African stages that he got to grips with the navigation. He then moved up into the top half, until the Sabhato-Zilla stage in Libya when, following a bad fall, he finished last. By this point nearly half the bike entries had retired, so even last was a good result. The European stages are rarely an indicator of anything that is to follow. Shaun Price was the lone American in this year's Dakar Rally. Here, Price prepares for the beginning of one of many stages. This year a new phenomenon arose tire shredding. Very quickly it became apparent that the 100-bhp 950s were destroying rear tires on the hard surfaces, to such an extent that Meoni and company had to back off at the end of the special stages. They waited patiently for the long, fast dusty stages of Africa. When they came, it wasn't what was hoped for. Of course they were faster than the 660 singles on the straight bits but suffered badly on the twisty rocky terrain. They were hitting this so hard that they needed a new front wheel each day - not just a fresh tire, the rims were destroyed. It is true that the tire problems weren't theirs alone: All the top' runners had problems with the special rally mousse's breaking up, most only having lasted a day. Giovani Sala