FEATURE
2016 DAKAR RALLY WINNER TOBY PRICE
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hard-core desert racers in the USA and
Australia, it remained a Eurocentric odd-
ity. And for those who didn't have French
as a first or second language, simply
negotiating an entry proved inhibiting.
Despite the language difficulties,
several "foreign" riders proved to have
the skills to make it to the start line in
Paris. Possibly just because his surname
sounded right, desert racer and triple
Baja 1000 winner Danny LaPorte won
a stage in the 1992 Paris-Dakar on his
way to second outright. Then, when the
BMW Factory was dominating the Dakar,
Californian Jimmy Lewis parlayed his col-
lection of ISDE gold medals into an entry
in the Dakar and went on to score third
outright on his BMW R 900 RR.
KTM's first International cross-country
victory came courtesy of Australian Andy
Haydon when he won the 1997 Australian
Safari. This resulted in a quasi factory
ride in the 1998 Dakar.
"I was one of four riders sharing a KTM
mechanic who didn't speak English and
my bike was the last to be serviced each
night–even though I was often the first
to finish," says Haydon. "But by day 10
when the others had dropped out, I had
the mechanic to myself, and a few of the
factory 'special parts' found their way
on to my bike." Despite decidedly low
rent treatment, Haydon won two of the
longest stages across the Sahara and
finished on the podium in Dakar.
But the entire event was soon to be
upended. For some years the Amuary
Sport Organisation had contributed to
the economies of Dakar's host countries,
principally Morocco, Mali, Mauritania and
Senegal–countries where the political
situation wasn't always conducive to a
bunch of very visibly wealthy invaders
making merry. There had always been
