Front Row GB & Stan Watt Confirmed For Dakar 2012

The Dakar organisors have confirmed the motorcycle entry list for Dakar 2012, deciding to restrict the number of entrants to 220 from the 310 applications received.

Front Row GB have been fortunate to be confirmed an entry today after a late decision to take part and were only successful due to their reliability as a team structue for the event.

Stan Watt will be the sole rider being joined by a 5 man strong support squad, bringing together new and old experience including Dave Marton again from KTM Australia as crew chief for the team in South America.

Stan will continue to be supported by the KTM manufacturer, on the all-new KTM450 Rally Replica. Watch this space for news updates as further information is released on the Rally itself and those supporting Front Row GB in the 2012 Dakar.

This year, the New Year festivities in Mar del Plata - Argentina will take on an extra dimension, with the start of the Dakar rally. Over a period of several days, holiday makers will be able to meet the teams who will progressively be arriving in the city to take part in technical and administrative scrutineering that will take place on 29th, 30th and 31st December in the morning.

In the afternoon, newcomers to the rally will get their first taste of the welcome from Argentinean fans. In Buenos Aires, crowd numbers reached hundreds of thousands each time the rally's vehicles were presented at the foot of the Obelisk. The waterfront at Mar del Plata is preparing itself for similar numbers for the start ceremony which will kick off at 4 pm and finish in the early evening.

Afterwards, the riders and drivers will leave their vehicles in a secure enclosure, before returning to take starter's orders the next morning. An intense programme will await them on New Year's Day, with a stage that will immediately require good performance and concentration levels.

FRGB

REME Tea 'til Dark Round 3

Borden hosted the 3rd round of the REME 'Tea 'til Dark' evening hare and hound series for the second time this summer.

The course was a great mixture of flowing woodland and deep sand with a single extreme section. The course had been shortened considerably from round 2 after a number of comments that it was too long. This would drop lap times from 12 minutes to between 7 & 8mins for the fast guys.

Although entry numbers were a little lower than expected, the expert class still fielded 15 riders with the majority of the Midwest Husaberg enduro team attending.

Stan from Front Row GB brought out the KTM300XC to do battle with wet conditions looming. The rain showers cleared well before the start drying the open sand sections with the sun doing its best as the flag dropped at 6pm for the two hour race.

A steady start found Stan hanging towards two thirds down the field and with a number of riders getting 'bogged' down in the first corner sand bank, Stan took an alternative route to pass fallen riders, which just got him blocked further off-course. By the time he had returned onto the main course he was running at the back of the expert class.

The first section ran through open woods with a few log obstacles to clear, crossing deep sand sections. On the log obstacles, Stan was able to make a place or two past struggling riders and immediately started a race long battle with George Hebden and Dan Warner where Stan would pass both riders on the technical and extreme sections and then a little pot luck on open sand areas or coming up against back markers.

With the shortened laps, the quicker riders were into lapped riders by the 3rd lap. James Jackman and James Giddings had already pushed out a substantial lead with a clear track ahead of them.

With Stan moving through the expert field of riders along with George Hebden and Dan Warner, he decided to make a calculated fuel stop on lap 6 for a quick splash hoping it will last to the end. This dropped him back to 10th with a gap to close and by lap 12, Stan had found some extra speed from somewhere and in a good rhythm had made his way up to 4th.
Considering the gap was too large to close on Richard Ely, Stan decided to keep a good pace and unfortunately with 15mins to run went onto reserve, meaning another quick fuel stop on lap 15; missing an extra lap by 15 seconds, before the 2hr mark and dropping him back to 7th overall by the flag.

A big thanks on the night to Ivan F. for sorting the bikes and fueling and to Dave S. for keeping the 350XC warm.

Thanks to;

Edmondson Racing
Talon Engineering
Adventure Spec
Voltcom Group
Arai
Pro-Grip