Team Rally Raid Canada > Rally Racer Don Hatton

At the moment Don is listed as one of 14 riders that have withdrawn from the rally in stage 3! We expect that number to climb. UPDATE: As of 10:20PM PST, that number has grown to 20.

For those of you who have been trying to track Don on-line it has been a frustrating day, from all reports it has been far worse for Don.

Don had another bad night and day with his stomach problems but made it to the start of the special stage this morning.

However shortly into the stage Don fell victim to bad gasoline in his tank. This same problem afflicted many riders including favorite Marc Coma. Don persevered for a long time, but this stage has been described by many as one of the toughest they have ever encountered in any rally! The sand was really tough and it was incredibly hot. Don and many other riders were forced to ride in first or second gear as that was the best their engines could do on the foul gasoline.

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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!