Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Meoni Killed in Dakar Rally; Safety Issue Raised o "I really don't understand what ~ happened," Fretigne said in a 6 press release. 'hcording to me, he was maybe looking at his road ~ instruments. We had just refu~ eled, so the bikes were pretty r heavy - he maybe lost balance on .. a small dune with the weight. The scene of the crash wasn't dangerous. We had just lost ourselves and we were looking for the right track. Cyril [Despres] was on the good track and took off. Fabrizio followed in his dust, and 300 meters [almost 1000 feet] later I saw [Marc] Coma with his hand in the air, SO I stopped. I immediately knew it was serious. There was a lot of bleeding. I had trouble finding the distress signal and final· Iy launched it. I then waited for the helicopter because I couldn't just leave." Meoni's off-road racing career started with enduro events in the 1980s, and he followed that with a move to rally racing. In 1990, the Italian won the Incas Rally in Peru - his first big rallying victory. In 1997, Meoni won the Tunisia Rally, and in 1998 he won the Egypt Rally and finished second in the Dakar. In 1999, he won the Egypt Rally for a second time and also won the UAE Desert Challenge. Meoni had a breakthrough season in 2000, winning four of the fIVe rounds of the Cross Country Rallies World Cup, the Tunisia Rally, the Montes de Cuenca in Spain, the Master Rally and the Egypt Rally. In 200 I, he won his first Dakar Rally, and he followed that up with a second victory in the grueling race in 200 I. Meoni became the second Dakar legend to die in the last six months, as Frenchman Richard Sainet was killed in the Pharoah's ci Dakar legend Fabrizio Meon; lost his life In this year's rally. D akar Rally legend Fabrizio Meoni died on January I I after crashing his Gauloises KTM during a timed section of the Telef6nica Dakar Rally between Atar and Kiffa in Mauritania. Meoni was ..7 years old and a two-time winner of the Dakar. No one was certain of what caused Meon;'s crash, but he died on the scene despite rescuers attempting to revive him for some "S minutes. Yamaha's David Fretigne witnessed Meoni's crash. Karts 'R' Us Grand Prix World Champions Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson and Kevin Schwantz, along with three-time U.S. Superbike Rally in September of 200'4. Those two were inarguably the two most experienced motorcycle rally racers in the world. "I have leamed so much from Fabrizio and Richard," 2005 Dakar winner Cyril Despres said. "I had the same troubles they had in the beginning of my career. They learned to go fast thanks to guys like Peterhansel, Magnaldi and OrioIi. When I started, they were my guides. Trying to follow them, understanding how to cope with navigation helped me improve. I don't know if I ever really had an idol, but that I am here today is thanks to Fabrizio and Richard." Meoni is the II th motorcycle rider in the history of the Dakar rally who has lost his life. Meoni was also the second motorcycle casualty of this year's Dakar. Spanish racer Jose Manuel Perez also died following a crash in the section between Zouerat and Tichit on January 6. Perez was transferred to a hospital in Dakar after his crash and then to a facility in A1icante, Spain, but he died four days later. Perez was 4 I years old and was taking part in his fourth Dakar Rally. The deaths had an obvious impact on the rally, and initially there was talk of the KTM team pulling out of the race. But the decision was left up to the riders, and they opted to reached its actual goal in this year's Dakar. For the fifth time, the KTM manufacture has won the Dakar Rally, more than Yamaha or BMW. But, according to KfM, no one is getting overly excited about this. '''t the moment, the sporting success is totally pushed in the background," said Winfried Kerschhaggl, KTM marketing director. "We are thinking about the future right now. If we cannot find some common ground about the safety, we will have to think about our engagement in the future. The motorcycles have not become that much faster over the previous few years, but the density of great riders has definitely increased. We would like the rally to become more sporting again, and this continue. all those affected, especially A.S.O., the organizer of the Dakar Rally, to join this initiative. Together, we want to shape the future rally sport. "Still being in a state of shock about the previous event, KTM will announce how the future Factory Racing Engagement will look like in an adequate time. For sure, this decision will also strongly depend on the results of the safety initiative. "'t is a fact that KfM will keep up, as it was the support for amateurs and private riders and thatKTM's Rally Service will con- "Chris [Blais], Kellon [Walch] and I came here to reach Dakar," Red Bull KTM team manager Scot Harden said. "It is our goal. The boys still need to learn a lot. Among the things they need to learn is how to manage difficult situations. For us, Fabrizio symbolized the ideal racing driver. Personally, I will always remember his birthday on New Year's Eve. The room was full of balloons and he burst all of them. He was just like a little boy. One wasn't enough for him. He had to burst them all. Whatever he did, he did it properly." With Cyril Despres' victory, KTM has also Champion Doug Chandler, spent Monday, January 17, preparing for the Superstars of Super Karts race, one of the support events at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, July 8-10, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, featuring round 9 of 17 in the MotoGP World Championship. While Rainey and Lawson have raced Super Karts several times on the 2.238mile, I I-turn road course in the hills outside Monterey, it was the first time Schwantz and Chandler had driven the high-performance karts anywhere. "I've been trying to get these guys [Schwantz and Chandler] into a Super Kart for a while," said Rainey, three-time Grand Prix World Champion (1990-92) who lives in Monterey. "I think they were impressed." "That was a lot more fun than riding a bike around here," said Schwantz, the 1993 World Champion. "I didn't much care for this track on a bike, but these Super Karts are a kick to drive here. I was smiling the whole way around the track." "People look at these Super Karts and think they are cute little toys, but they haul 8 JANUARY 26, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS means more navigation." KTM has since issued this release on the safety issue: "Due to the incidents of the previous months, KTM, as the leading motorcycle manufacturer in Rally Raid, is under the obligation to actively support the reduction of risks. Involving all those concemed - riders, organizers and manufacturers - it is time to openly discuss which measures will be necessary and appropriate to ensure more safety. We like to invite tinue to exist." butt around here," according to Lawson, who should know. The four-time World Champion (1984, '86, '88, '89) set the Super Kart lap record at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2003 - I minute, 23.875 seconds, at an average speed of 100.864 mph. (As a point of reference, Troy Bayliss turned the fastest lap on a motorcycle at Laguna Seca when he rode his Ducati around the circuit in I minute, 14.833 seconds during the 2002 World Superbike Championship event.) Salinas resident Doug Chandler, who won three U.S. Superbike Championships (1990, '96, '97) and competed in 54 Grand Prix motorcycle World Championship events from 1991-94, enjoyed his first taste of Super Karts. "Driving a Super Kart around here is completely different than racing a motorcycle. These karts have so much more grip than a bike through the corners. It is going to take some getting used to, physically. But this is just a good opportunity for us [Rainey, Lawson, Schwantz and himself] to get together on the race track again." The Superstars of Super Karts will feature several motorcycle racing champions competing against some of the top drivers in Super Kart racing, including European and Australian/New Zealand champions, in 2S0cc racing karts. Super Karts feature semi-enclosed bodywork and rear wings and reach speeds up to 140 mph at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

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