BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASO SPORT, KTM,
HUSQVARNA, HONDA
W
e are in a golden age of
rally-raid competition
and never was this more
evident than in the greatest race
of them all, the 45th Dakar Rally,
held for the fourth time in Saudi
Arabia.
Across 15 grueling days of
competition and over 44 hours of
timed racing—let alone the many
days spent on liaison stages—it
was Kevin Benavides (Red Bull
KTM) who took his second Dakar
win and his first for KTM, besting
teammate and two-time Dakar
Champion Toby Price.
Skyler Howes (Husqvarna Fac
-
tory Racing) flew the stars and
stripes loud and proud in Saudi
Arabia, spending a large portion
of the rally as the overall leader
and was within one and a half
minutes of Benavides and Price
heading into the last stage.
The Utah man couldn't sustain
the roaring pace of the two KTM's
and would go on to seal his first
Dakar podium in third, Howes
etching his name as one of five
Americans to finish inside the Da
-
kar top three in the race's history.
For Benavides, he led briefly at
the conclusion of stage 10 and
at the very end of the rally when
he overhauled teammate Price.
The Argentine took his first stage
win on number 12 but, crucially,
finished every stage inside the
top 10 in a race that saw a major
yo-yoing effect going on with
stage winners and overall leaders
performing well one day and drop
-
ping outside the top 10 the next.
VOLUME ISSUE JANUARY , P47
FOUGHT EVENT IN ITS HISTORY,
LATE WIN FOR KTM
THE AGES
