Team Rally Raid Canada > Rally Racer Don Hatton

Don called in to Natalie from the Bivouac hospital hooked up to an IV for dehydration and anti nausea medication. He got food poisoning last night from the bivouac food – Don says a whole bunch of guys got sick. The food is absolutely disgusting! Don has had nothing to eat all day, he has been trying to get water down, but faster than he was drinking it, he was losing it one way or another!.

Doctors who remembered Don from last years Dakar were coming up to him and asking him how he was doing, and how was his wife. Natalie told Don he should have said “EL LOCO (crazy!!!) to let me do the Dakar again”.

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Those of you following along with us here likely know that Don rode a KTM in the recent Morocco Rally. You also may have heard that he’s again running a KTM 690 in the Dakar rally in Argentina in January. However, what you may not know is just how special this bike is.

Notice that most of the bodywork is actually fuel tanks. The handguards look a little dodgy though.

While the bike is based on KTMs standard 690, when comparing the rally bike to the standard model, the differences, particularly if you begin looking beneath the surface, are striking.

From it’s carbon fibre skid plate, to the full WP suspension and 36l fuel capacity, this is a purpose built rally bike designed to compete in FIM Rally competition. It’s the very same machine ridden by Dakar front runners Marc Coma and Cyril Despres. Before you say “That’s it, I’m buying one, where do I pony up my $50,000?”, you’ll need an FIM license to get on the waiting list. This is also a very limited edition model, produced in sufficient numbers to meet FIM homologation requirements. You won’t find it at your friendly KTM dealer, in fact, there are only two of these bikes in North America!

After arriving in the shop at Duncan Motorsports, Don’s bike was shipped to Europe to allow Bernie to finish the prep work, then then off to South America. The bike has now arrived in Argentina, awaiting Don’s arrival.

With 70bhp and 57 ft-lbs of torque, we look forward to seeing Don ripping across the dunes on this baby!

Don finished the rally in a very respectable 4th place in the Motorcycle Enduro Cup. Just to finish is a remarkable feat and Don and his team would like to congratulate everyone who took place in this years rally.

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.

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We have confirmation that Don finished the Rally, but are awaiting final classifications to know where he finished. A huge congratulations Don! It sounds like the stock KTM 690 was definitely NOT the right tool for the job, but he persevered. Can’t wait to see the pictures!

Once again Don finished 5th in the days stage and is sitting 5th in the overall standings of the Enduro Cup.

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.

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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.

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Today was not a good day for the Rally. Don provided the following update:

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 —>

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Well Don did make it to the start line today. However his issues were not restricted to just navigation equipment electrical problems!

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.

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