Biker’s battle to tame ‘world’s toughest rally’
AS A boy growing up in Ystradgynlais, Simon Hewitt once dreamed of nothing more than playing rugby, and playing for Wales.
He had played for Abercrave RFC from the age of eight to 16.
But little did the former Ysgol Maesydderwen pupil know that a turn on a friend’s dirtbike at the age of eight would eventually see him participate in the world’s biggest rally, the Dakar.
Mr Hewitt was given his own bike for Christmas two years later, and it eventually set him up for a career on two wheels.
After a two-week placement under Australian Dakar legend Simon Pavey at BMW Off-Road Skills, where he now works full-time, he took part in his first enduro in 2008 and his first international rally in 2014.
And this year the 29-year-old decided to take it one step further. With help from fellow off-road skills instructor Neil Hawker, he prepared for the adventure of a lifetime and a first tilt at the Dakar.
Founded in 1979, the Dakar Rally is billed as the toughest and biggest in the world. This year’s event, which took place from Sunday, January 5 until Friday, January 17, was its 42nd edition, and the first held in Saudi Arabia. It featured 12 stages of competition.
Competitors have to negotiate arduous terrain throughout the challenge, which had a distance close to 7,900km (4,900 miles), with 5,000km (3,100 miles) of special stages.
Riding a Yamaha WR450F prepared by the Dubai-based Crazy Camel Motorsports, Mr Hewitt, who now lives in Cardiff, aimed to make it through to the finish line.
Before entering the race, Mr Hewitt completed 72 days’ training – but with just months to go, his preparations were thrown into disarray when he broke his collarbone.
He had surgery, which he says turned out to be poorly executed, and had it redone a week later.
Remarkably, he managed to get to the starting line in Jeddah, but it was only his third time on his bike since surgery.
“I could not do any training,” he explained.
“Off-road biking is so physical, and I did struggle with bike fitness. You worry as you see guys and girls alongside you who ride all the time, and all I had done was light gym training.
“There is nothing like Dakar. A few races are more physically exhausting, but this is so long and the ride is relentless, it is back-to-back days of about 10 to 14 hours, and that’s where the difficulty comes.
“It was really cold in the depths of winter and was less than 10 degrees in the day, and I’d have to wear layers. It would warm up later on, but it was not a case of being exposed to high levels of heat.”
After starting in Jeddah, the race headed north along the Red Sea, passing through Red Sea Project towards Neom. The rally turned east, towards capital Riyadh, and after a rest day headed south to the Arabian Desert, across the dunes of the Empty Quarter, then south-east into the Eastern Province as far as Shubaytah, and then back northwest to finish in Qiddiya.
But for Mr Hewitt, on day seven, disaster struck.
“The first six days were fine,” he explained. “I made it to the rest day, but on day seven, 300km into that stage, I heard a crunch on the engine.
I knew the engine had seized.
“I started taking the bike apart to see any signs of what it could be, but I kind of knew straight away it was over.
“It was a pretty brutal feeling, and a feeling of emptiness. It was not a situation I could salvage. The moment of abandoning it was a pretty difficult moment.”
It meant Mr Hewitt would not be able to achieve a finisher’s medal.
The rally was marred further by the fatal accidents of 40-year-old Portuguese motorcyclist Paulo Gonçalves, who died from a fall sustained 276km into stage seven, and 48-year-old Dutchman Edwin Straver, who died as a result of his injuries after crashing 124km into the timed stage 11.
Mr Hewitt said the tragedies put his disappointment into perspective.
He said: “In the past, if you abandon the race, it was over for you, but this year it has changed so if you go out through mechanical failure but can fix your bike in three days, you can join a general race called the Dakar Experience, which is what I did.”
Mr Hewitt’s girlfriend Holly and his dad Mark, who got him into motorsport in the first place, were there to see him cross the finish line.
He now plans to return to do the rally again.
“I’m definitely going back, I don’t know if it will be next year or the year after, I will make the decision in May,” he said.
“I know I can finish, so I’m going to go back and close that chapter.”