Team Rally Raid Canada > Rally Racer Don Hatton

Greetings Team Rally Raid Canada fans:

I am writing this from Buenes Aires where I am waiting the arrival of my team.

Thought I would let you know how I feel about no longer being in the Rally, I was very upset and was unable to comment earlier.

In short I am angry and very sad at the same time, the Dakar Rally is an event where everything has to go in your favor in order to finish, unfortunatley this year I was not so lucky.

It seems that nothing went my way, right from the beginning; with three months to the Dakar I broke my hand, my bike arrived 1 1/2 months late to Canada, I contracted the swine flu and had to deliver the bike for shipping while very very sick, my tire order not arriving at all.

I think the Dakar Gods were sending me a message and I was not receiving it.

At risk of sounding like I am feeling sorry for myself here is a summary of my 2010 Dakar Rally.

Read the rest of this entry →

Following his Dakar experience, Don provided the following audio update:

Don’s post-Dakar report, courtesy of RallyRadio

Don is back at the Bivouac, after another difficult day.

In the first sector of the Rally, Don began having engine problems. I have seen numerous mentions of fuel problems today, and Don was unfortunately one rider who was affected. Riding in the dunes requires speed and momentum to carry the bike and rider to the top of each dune, and even a hiccup out of the motor can sap that momentum and leave the rider stuck and turning the bike around to retreat down the dune and far enough back to take another run at it.

Dave will likely be bringing us another update later this evening, and I will post an update here as soon as more information becomes available.