In snowbound Europe, the 1979 Paris to Dakar proved phenomenally newsworthy as an eclectic bunch of motorcyclists and other looneys blasted across the sunny deserts of Morocco, Mauritania and Mali.
Suffering endless summers of test cricket commentary, few Australians were aware of any cross-country rallying until the 1985 Wynn’s Sydney to Darwin Safari proved outstandingly successful. “Then we all wanted a shot at Dakar,” says six-time Australian Safari GOAT John Hederics, “but taking two weeks off work to ride to Darwin was all we could afford.”
Singapore- and London-based Aussie Andrew Coaker managed the wherewithal to compete in the Dakar, winning a podium in the Malle Moto (unassisted) Division, but his achievement went largely unacknowledged. For Australian-based riders, the expense and logistics of participating proved insurmountable.
BREAKTHROUGH
Come 1997, South Australian Andy Haydon broke Honda’s dominance of the Australian Safari but it didn’t quite make it onto Wide World of Sports. It did, however, appear on the radar at KTM HQ in Austria, prompting an offer to Haydon of a supported ride in Dakar the following year. As Haydon recalls, “I was one of four riders sharing a KTM mechanic who didn’t speak English. My bike was the last to be serviced each night, even though I was often the first rider to finish. But when the others had dropped out, I had the mechanic to myself, plus a few ‘special factory parts’ found their way onto my bike.”
Haydon won two of the longest stages in Dakar history, surviving a sandstorm that reduced visibility to less than
