“Already proud to have been one of just 100 riders selected”

The classic rally-raid ‘career’ progression is a bike or quad entry and followed by a car/SSV but single dad South African Stevan Wilken is coming at it the other way round. Having raced rally cars in the early 2000s his initial idea was to enter the Dakar on four wheels and with that in mind he got back in contact with all his old sponsors. But as the project progressed it became apparent that even with their generosity it was going to be tough to raise the necessary budget. Fortunately, prior to racing cars, in his teenage years Stevan ‘messed around’ on bikes and so having done the maths he went back to his sponsors to see if they’d be up for a change of category. Happily, they were -but there was a hick. In the Dakar bike class you have to have successfully finished another approved event to qualify, which is how Stevan found himself last October in Morocco on the start line of the Rallye du Maroc. He admits it was a bit stressful knowing that his Dakar participation was dependent on completing ‘the Maroc’ and he found the rocky terrain hard work but a 44th place finish in Rally2 was more than enough to ensure his trip to Saudi Arabia next January. There he intends to combine his skills on a bike with his background in marketing to make sure his sponsors get a good return for their investment and hopefully persuade them to continue the adventure… in a car!

“Honestly, I was surprised how tough the Rallye du Maroc was. Riding and navigating at the same time was really demanding and at the end of the race I had even more respect for the guys at the front doing that at speed. I’m hoping that the terrain at least will be a little more forgiving in Saudi Arabia. I’m already proud to have been one of just 100 riders selected for the Dakar - just getting to the start line is a victory. On the actual race I plan to start off gently, outside the top 50 and then I’ll be counting on Henk and his HT team to help me move up the leader board as the race progresses. A top 40 finish would be an excellent result. Hopefully I’ll be able to give my fantastic sponsors enough visibility to make them consider continuing to support me going forward ‘cos I quite fancy having a go at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in February in an SSV.”