A first for Morocco
author: Andries van der Walt
|
|
Giniel De Villiers
|
The Dakar, born in Africa, had to wait to cross the Atlantic Ocean before it was won by an African, Giniel De Villiers, in 2009. This year, the Volkswagen driver has climbed to 2nd place in the car race two days from the finishing line, whilst the former biker now on four wheels, Alfie Cox, lies in 20th position in the general standings. He achieved a podium on his KTM and his exploits earned him the name: “The Iron man of the Dakar”.
The other representatives of the continent have not had as much success, since Angola's Carlos Machado withdrew during the 6th stage and Senegal's Mame Less Diallo exited the race with a broken wrist during the special leading to San Juan. Taking a closer look at the standings, it becomes evident that the good news for Africa comes from Ingo Waldschmidt, who is likely to improve on his 52nd place in 2009.
As for debuts, great expectations lay on the first participation of Harite Gabari as the first representative of Morocco on the rally. In the first 11 stages, the biker from Agadir experienced falls and breakdowns. Despite all these setbacks, he is in the process of achieving the first part of his objective: “The problems started on the first day, when I crashed and broke the handlebars and front of the bike, which lost me a lot of time. After that, I had a nasty fall in the 4th stage and the doctors said I had internal bruising around one of my kidneys. Even though it is not infected, I've been riding since then with pain in my back, but I'm battling on.
“ Now the bike is starting to give up the ghost and I'm forced to stop for fifteen minutes every 5 km to let it cool down, which means I won't be able to finish in the top 40, but after what has happened to me, it will be a superb performance just to get back to Buenos Aires”. He has already received invitations to appear on all the Moroccan TV channels.
|
|
