Kiwi in the 2012 Australasian Safari next week

[JayBo]

Just thought you might like to know that the "Kiwi Safari Team" has an entry in the 2012 Australasian Safari starting in Perth on Friday 21'st Sept. I will be on my KTM 450 Rally again and have managed to convince Ben Clark to jump across the ditch to be Service Crew again. This will be my 4th Safari as a rider and Ben's 3rd as Service Crew, so we're pretty comfortable with what we each have to do. It's a smaller field than the last few Safari's but there are a lot of internationals this time - chasing the "Dakar Challenge" (a free entry to the Dakar 2013 in January!).

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/GaelJohn/450%20Rally%20Replica/JohnBfromRossBriggs.jpg

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/GaelJohn/450%20Rally%20Replica/P9200004.jpg

Ben will be keeping an active Forum thread in the Kiwi section of ADVRider, for those interested in following the team specifically.

Cheers
JayBo (#26 for 2012)

[Brian d marge]

I wish you luck mate .....
stephen

[JayBo]

So I finished the 2012 Australasian Safari in 12th place outright. I also was awarded my third "100% Finisher" trophy for completing every km of the course and not incurring any penalties. The result will look good on my resume for Dakar entry next year, so next stop Dakar 2014!
Cheers
JayBo

[Dutchee]

So I finished the 2012 Australasian Safari in 12th place outright. I also was awarded my third "100% Finisher" trophy for completing every km of the course and not incurring any penalties. The result will look good on my resume for Dakar entry next year, so next stop Dakar 2014!
Cheers
JayBo

way to go JayBo.
did you post in the off-road section as well? to put things in perspective, how many entered, how many finished and how many managed to score a 100% trophy, which I imagine would be like an ISDE Gold Medal, and not that many get.

You not doing the Dakar next year? entry fee's about $30k?, I know it's huge, and tar babies complain about their fees, which are minimal in perspective.

congratulations again, and will look for you in 2014 entry list :)

[JayBo]

way to go JayBo.
did you post in the off-road section as well? to put things in perspective, how many entered, how many finished and how many managed to score a 100% trophy, which I imagine would be like an ISDE Gold Medal, and not that many get.

You not doing the Dakar next year? entry fee's about $30k?, I know it's huge, and tar babies complain about their fees, which are minimal in perspective.

congratulations again, and will look for you in 2014 entry list :)

G'day (fellow) Dutchee.
I didn't post in the off-road section. Rallye is kinda alien to the general Kiwi biker community, so it doesn't really fit neatly into any pidgeon-hole but I figured it is "Racing" so plugged it in here.

Total entries in the Moto field was 37 (a bit small this year - usually around 45 to 55), 5 Quads and about 35 odd cars (including a couple of "buggy" things).
There were 27 Moto finishers, of which 19 were 100% Finishers.

I was unable to enter for Dakar 2013 (the next one) due to work commitments but will be entering for 2014. Dakar entry is difficult as many get turned down (I believe something like 162 entries applications were turned down for 2013 - only 200 spots available and 362 entries!) so having a good resume of Rallye experience and results helps get you noticed. I am very pleased with this years 12th place and especially with a 4 out of 4 finish rate, with 3 of those being 100%, at the Safari. I am reasonably confident that I will be accepted for Dakar 2014 - but then so are many others. Another thing I have going for me is I am a Kiwi, and Kiwi's have a 100% finish rate for Dakar (both entries in the past have completed the Dakar) and the ASO like to encourage new countries to attend.

Entry fees for the Dakar is 14,800 Euro (AUD18,300 - NZD22,900) for a motorcycle and rider. On top of that is whatever Service people you need at 8,700 Euro each and a Service vehicle at 2,200 Euro, so the bare minimum is 25,700 Euro (NZD39,800) to give yourself half a chance of making it. You could subscribe to a Service package from one of the groups that offer that, but the costs only go up. I have budgeted on AUD135k to 150k, which includes buying the KTM 450 Rally at AUD50k which I have already done. (Although after 2 Safari's now, I will get the engine rebuilt prior to Dakar so that's an additional cost now). I will be preparing sponsorship proposals soon and getting things under way with targeting some corporate dollars. I'll also work on something for small contributors. I really want to get some Kiwi backing and make NZ a feature of my campaign and make the NZ presence felt in South America. The "Kiwi Safari Team" is developing a presence at the Australasian Safari and getting noticed, so that helps.

Thanks for your interest.
Cheers
JayBo

PS: The Pharoans Rallye in Egypt is just starting and #11 is Steve Collie, also a Kiwi that was part of the Kiwi Safari Team at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge a couple of years back. (Steve Collie, Richard Brewer and myself). A great guy, with a lovely young family living in Dubai, that can ride well enough to have been drafted in as a support rider (water carrier) for a team. Go Steve!