Don’s position throughout the stages of this years rally was very consistent. 

In Stage 1, Don placed 2nd among the motorcycles in the Enduro Cup. In stage two, Don slipped back to 4th, after suffering from heat stroke and having to stop and cool down midway through the stage. In stage three, Don again placed 4th, but was just eight minutes behind 2nd place finisher Lambert Wery. In stage four, Don managed a third place finish and moved him up to 3rd place overall. Don finished stage five in 5th place after being assessed a two-hour penalty, moving him down to 4th overall. In the sixth and final stage, Don once again placed 4th, just seven minutes behind Wery’s 3rd place finish. Overall at the end of the Rally, Don finished 4th overall.

Don provided the following overall summary of the rally.

The KTM 690 Enduro was definitely the wrong choice in bikes for this rally and I had to ride the wheels off it to place as high as I did. I can tell you I was longing for my dakar bike, as it would have been in its element on this course. The 690 Enduro is a good bike, but the thing that most people don’t know about it is that in order to get a lower seat height on it, they simply cut back on the suspension travel 25% to only 8 – 9 inches of stroke.

My navigation went very well. I was a little caught off guard by the heat in stage 2 however after a short rest in the desert I recovered enough to finish well that day. After that I wore a few less items of clothing.

I did not have any trouble in the large Dunes on stage 3 and was pleased that I was able to navigate my way through over 20 kms of Dunes successfully. I did make a couple of minor navigation errors but nothing serious.

Well next stop Dakar!

Today’s stage was very tough due to the heat and dunes. Natalie provided the following update.

It was a very long stage, there are still guys out there in the dunes. We usually have a very full house for the dinner and briefing, but tonight there were a lot of empty spaces. Teams were straggling in looking pretty tired.

The stage started with a long off piece section with small dunes called dunettes (they are small but not easy to ride and difficult to navigate in). The big challenge of the day was the 20kms of absolute off piece dunes meaning there was no route through it – Don had to navigate through using cap headings. He made it through but he swears he climbed every dune in the 20kms. He said it was really quite a sensation to be in a dune field so large that you couldn’t see any end to them. Navigation was difficult but he got through. Don is still finding the bike a challenge to ride but is adapting his riding to the bike as best he can. At the last part of the stage there was 25 km’s of fech fech (fine silty sand with a thin crust) so Don was really glad to see the end of it.

As an observer at the stages and dinner table talk you cannot believe what happens to these guys in a day and they just continue forward. There are some amazing stories.

We have a little controversy going on at this time. It appears that Cyril, who is in the lead, did not hand his time card in at the end of the special. Apparently for good reason, he had gone back to assist another rider and in all the excitement forgot to hand in his time card. He rode really well today and would be a shame to see him lose the rally for a technicality like that (but then again that’s the rules)!.

Tomorrow is last day. We are all looking forward to it. Being part of the rally is such an exciting and amazing experience.

Good luck in stage 6 Don!

Sidestands are both useless and unnecessary in the dunes.

The first 30 kms of the stage was very rocky initially with some bad cliffs – on edge of mountain with sheer drops of over 1000 feet and the road wasn’t any more than 8 feet wide- just wide enough to get the trucks up. Then it was some very fast gravel with huge washouts – entire sections of the road gone. 150km an hour sections and entire parts of the road missing. Then we had fech fech for about 6kms interspersed with sections of gravel and huge rocks. The last couple kms were small dunes with treacherous drops (that’s where David got hurt). Total distance for the special was 218 kms. Overall though I had a great day. My mechanic Bernie is starting to get my bike dialed in for me. Tomorrow (Stage 5) is going to be very hard … we have a 20km section of large dunes, in addition to that we have some small sections of dunes. It is going to be hot and tiring tomorrow plus we have 200kms of liason. ..Don

Don felt really good on stage 4, yesterdays set back was definitely heat stroke but he had fully recovered before the start of today’s stage.

The KTM 690 Enduro performed well on today’s stage, while riding a totally stock bike is not ideal for the kind of terrain in Morocco, Don is coming to terms with it and feeling more comfortable as the rally progresses.

The terrain today was a fast track but with lots of rocks and treacherous sections. The organizers were warning riders at the start that the route was very dangerous with lots of holes that were not marked on the road book.

Unfortunately it looks like another of Don’s teammates, David Dickinson of Great Britain, may be out of the rally. It appears that David completed stage 4 but later in the day was undergoing medical treatment and awaiting X-rays for a possible broken sternum. Another of Don’s teammates, the only other Canadian in the rally, Rick Hatswell of Vancouver, dropped out in stage 2 with a broken leg.

Hopefully Don can avoid a major injury in the next 2 stages and complete his second Rally of Morocco. Good luck in stage 5 Don!

You have to make your own shade in the middle of a desert

Don finished 5th in Stage 3 today and is sitting 5th overall in the Enduro class.

He reports Stage 3 had heavy dunes and was very hot. Don had a little problem with overheating (himself, not the bike) and had to pull over at one stage to hide in the shade of the bike while he stripped down, had a drink, and ate something.

Several other riders were forced to drop out of the rally today due to the heat and several had trouble with navigation and got lost for a while.

Natalie says she was watching and they were coming in to the finish from all over the place. She also saw a helicopter bringing in a broken bike around mid day but doesn’t have any additional information.

Don has been updating his road book for stage 4 and says it looks like it is back to rocks tomorrow. Even the top riders are saying tomorrow is going to be a hard day.

Good luck on stage 4 Don!

Today didn’t start out too well for everyone here in Morocco as two of the ERT technicians were killed and three of the organization officials were seriously injured in a car accident en route to the start of the special. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and co-workers who must now carry on without them.

Now to today’s stage —>

As a result of the accident we had a two hour delay which was really tough as we were sitting in the hot sun with no shade at all. The course today was very very rocky, in fact, every single member of our team did not like it. The 690 KTM enduro that I am riding is definitely not suited for this kind of terrain – the suspension is absolutely stock so it cannot absorb the kind of impact the bike is receiving…so it is very difficult to ride. My body is taking a huge pounding, particularly my injured hand. On the positive side I went from last place to 5th place on Stage 1 and today I only dropped 1 place. Given how hard I was fighting the bike, I am pretty happy with that, in fact just happy to have finished today. The rest of the team had their own issues. David Dickinson (from UK) had an encounter with a rock that resulted in a big crash – he damaged his bike pretty good and will have some nice bruises tomorrow, but other than that he is ok. The same cannot be said for Rick Hatswell of Vancouver. I visited him in the medical center tonight and he showed me his xrays. It looks like a very bad break in his leg. He seems to be in good spirits…last I saw him he was trying to convince the medical staff to allow him a beer which they declined. Justin Carter (UK) is fighting the flu and feels pretty rough tonight. Tomorrow we encounter sand and sand dunes. I am hoping that the KTM will perform better in that terrain.

Don described the course as “rocks, rocks, and more rocks and we’re not talking pebbles.” The Bike had a problem with the suspension on the first stage, it didn’t have any. Bernie was able to make it a bit better at the neutralization break which allowed Don to ride the second stage. Apparently after the race Bernie was still working on the suspension at 2AM Monday, local time.

Day one of the Rally has been tough on Don’s body as well. He twisted his knee and re-injured his right hand but he says he is okay to ride tomorrow.

Don will start in 5th place in the Enduro class tomorrow (Monday).

After a grueling day in the hot sun it looks like Don has all the stamps from scrutineering to participate in the Rally tomorrow.

Bernie and the bikes finally arrived late Saturday morning after Don had his administrative scrutineering. This really put him behind with scrutineering. On top of that Don’s bike had some serious wiring problems that took over 5 hours to repair. They are hoping that they don’t have any problems tomorrow… apparently it is all related to power to the navigation equipment.

Don said it really beats up on your confidence when the bike has these kinds of issues. Wiring could cause him to be stranded in the desert.

Bikes start out tomorrow at 7am – Don is now number 242, his start time should be 8:17.

And how about Bernie and Tony the two mechanics who have been up for over 24 hours – no food – no sleep and still not finished.

However, Don’s bike has not arrived yet. Apparently the ferry that the bike and mechanic Bernie were traveling on was delayed by bad weather off the coast of spain. Bernie and the bike arrived in Tangiers around noon on Friday. They have a 14-hour trip to Zagora and then need to do final setup of the bike before Don’s scrutineering time at 07:30 Saturday. Not a lot of time!!!

They are hearing from most of the seasoned drivers and riders that the food, accommodation and wine is much better than last year.