Monday 16th January 2017

Dakar success for Brit: PH2

Sam Sunderland is the first Briton to ever win the Dakar on two wheels

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Sam Sunderland made history yesterday by becoming the first ever Brit to win the Dakar Rally when he crossed the line first in the motorcycle class. Riding his KTM 450, Sunderland finished the 9,000km event, which took place over 12 days in Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina, 32 minutes clear of KTM teammate Matthias Walkner.

Tough in a car, so what must it be on a bike?

Dakar success has been something of a curse not only for Brits, who haven't stood on the top step since its inception in 1978, but also Sunderland; he has DNFed three times and didn't even made the start twice due to injury since he first took on the race in 2012.

"I know I can ride as fast as anyone else but I didn't have the experience in terms of navigation and that's 75 per cent of the job. The Dakar is so hard, there are so many factors. The hardest part for me is taking it easy," said Sunderland afterwards. "It's a high speed game of chess, I love it."

This year's Dakar saw 2016 winner Toby Price retire with a broken leg and the Honda team refuel in the wrong location on Stage 4, costing them a one hour time penalty that effectively ended Sunderland's main rival, Joan Barreda's, hopes of victory.

Despite all that was going on around him though, Sunderland rode a near perfect race to take a much deserved, and long overdue, win. Congratulations!

[dukeboy749r]

That's just superb - well done Sam! any chance of a mainstream publication/tv station mentioning this...?

[V8 FOU]

Fantastic result! He should be congratulated.
I wonder if there will be any mention of this in the mainstream press?

[Kawasicki]

A giant achievement. Respect!

[black-k1]

Well done Sam!

[jas xjr]

the fact that he had won was mentioned on radio 5live. the annoying thing was that the event was not mentioned beforehand.

anyway , fantastic achievement, well done

[Alex Langheck]

dukeboy749r said:

That's just superb - well done Sam! any chance of a mainstream publication/tv station mentioning this...?

Probably not - when it comes to motorsport, if it's not F1 and/ or Lewis, they're not interested.

[crusty]

Fantastic achievement - I don't know of a harder race anywhere in the world, just finishing is massive

[Moulder]

450? Even I used to have the 525...

[gareth_r]

Moulder said:

450? Even I used to have the 525...

That's the limit now (since 2010?). No 750cc+ monsters like the good old days.

Edited by gareth_r on Monday 16th January 16:50

[patchb]

They just gave him a mention and showed a tiny bit of footage on BBC south today, nothing much but it was nice to see.

Well done to the lad, I can't imagine how difficult the Dakar is let alone winning it

[CliveM]

That's HUGE - and yet barely mentioned elsewhere??!!??
Such a shame it's gone to South America, would surely have a lot more publicity if it still went through Europe and at least down into Morocco?

[ianrb]

Alex Langheck said:

dukeboy749r said:

That's just superb - well done Sam! any chance of a mainstream publication/tv station mentioning this...?

Probably not - when it comes to motorsport, if it's not F1 and/ or Lewis, they're not interested.

Rather supprisingly it's in the Guardian! Although it's a photo piece.


https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2017/jan...

[Fats25]

A short interview with him in 2016:-

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2016/january/mc...

I don't personally know the guy, but has got a lot of attention on Social Media over here amongst those that ride in the Desert, and the guys that do know him say he is a top lad. Apparently was practicing on his Dakar bike at the local MotoX track before the Dakar, and was a bit special!

Got mentioned in the national press here:-

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/motorsport/dubais-...

[gareth_r]

ianrb said:

Rather suprisingly it's in the Guardian! Although it's a photo piece.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2017/jan...

Luckily, one of the comments perpetuates the Guardian stereotype.
"This Rally is a scandal, an ecological disaster, satisfying the fantasies of white macho men who think they are adventurous when they're just pathetic cretins... ...This rally is an obscenity and ought to be cancelled for the good of the locals and their archaeological treasures which are being irremediably destroyed by these idiots on bike."


Motors TV had 15 minute daily reports on the Africa Eco rally raid:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_Eco_Race