INTERVIEW
DAKAR RALLY FINISHER RICKY BRABEC
P80
fledged factory works exotica.
It's almost hard to believe this
responsibility was thrust upon a
24-year-old from the high desert
town of Hesperia, California,
who might just as easily be work-
ing construction or hanging out
with his buddies were it not for
the fact that he happens to ride
a dirt bike in the desert very,
very quickly.
With this being his Dakar
debut, Brabec had no illusions
of grandeur; he simply wanted
to finish and extract every last
bit out of the experience in the
hopes that he could build on the
foundation and improve in future
rallies—and make no mistake,
after finishing a very creditable
ninth at the end of the two-week
odyssey, there are more in his
future.
Being his first time for many
facets of the race, we knew
Brabec would have a wealth of
stories to share, but time and
space demand paring that to a
more quickly readable summary.
Thus, here's but a small col-
lection of Brabec's impressions:
Getting There
The flights are long! I went
from L.A. to Panama City and
then from Panama I went to Bue-
nos Aires. It was two solid seven-
hour flights. Flying is horrible.
Goals
When I got there, my first goal
was really to make it to the rest
day [nine days in]. I was telling
Johnny [Campbell] and Quinn
[Cody before I left], "I don't care
how I finish; I just want to make
it to the rest day first. And once I
get to the rest day, my next goal
is to make it to the finish line."
I did that, but I was also doing
pretty well.
The ability of the top Euro-
peans and South Americans
I think they're—crazy. The
pace out there is super, super-
fast, faster than anything out
here, of course. Baja is pretty
fast, but I would say the rally is
faster than Baja by far because
the first seven days were wide
open, like the smoothest I've
ever ridden on dirt.
SO BASICALLY
BY THE TIME
YOU GET
YOUR HELMET OFF
AND GET A DRINK
OF WATER, YOU'VE
GOT TO PUT IT
RIGHT BACK ON
AND YOU GO.
