Thixton in ‘Operation Desert Storm’

Collin Matiza Sports Editor

THEY’RE calling it “Operation Desert Storm”.

HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing squad have come up with a formidable nine-member team which they think will mount a strong challenge in the motorbike section of the 2024 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.

From January 5, their team, which includes our own Zimbabwean biker Ashley Thixton, will be put to the test in the deserts of Saudi Arabia when the rally revs off.

The team will be led at the world’s toughest off-road race by the 2023 W2RC Rally3 champion Ardit Kurtaj.

On his way to his first appearance at the Dakar, Ardit even conquered the W2RC Rally3 title after his good results in Mexico, Argentina and Morocco.

For his first Dakar Rally, the rider who has a dual citizenship, Albanian and Austrian, will be part of the HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing team.

Confident in his capacities to do well on the Dakar, he hopes to become the first Albanian to reach the finish of the rally.

The other members of the HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing squad are Belgian Joris Van Dyck, American Weston Carr, Gwen Backx of Belgium, another Belgian Pierre Saeys, Uruguayan Fabian von Thuengen, Ganzorig Chuluun of Mongolia and South African Charan Moore.

These riders, including Thixton, are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia from January 1 ahead of the rally which revs off four days later. They are all confident of leaving a mark at the world’s toughest motorsport event, especially Van Dyck who is just itching to hit the dunes of Saudi Arabia from January 5.

Poland, Libya, Greece, Tunisia, South Africa or even the tracks of the Africa Eco Race: Van Dyck has lost count of the countries he has visited on a motorbike. A well-filled list for a man who, around 20 years ago, drew up a road book that he scrolled by hand to cross his native Belgium! At the time, he covered 300 kilometres, with about 85% of them off-road! Something just impossible now.

He is still missing the Holy Grail medal for any rally-raid lover: the Dakar medal. He should have participated in 2023, but a crash on the Rallye du Maroc delayed his attempt by a year. His brother-in-law Gwen Backx being in the same situation, the two friends decided to postpone it until 2024. Time has come to fulfil their destiny.

“I’ve been dreaming of the Dakar since I was very young. I’ve always followed the Dakar on television and in the media. It’s great to share this with my brother-in-law Gwen, even if once we’re racing, we each go our own way!

“My only objective is to reach the finish line of this great adventure. I will also have an eye on the Mission 1000 race, because I work in hydrogen and I’m very interested in this new challenge!” Van Dyck recently told reporters during his preparations for the 2024 Dakar Rally.

He will be joined in the HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing team by Thixton and South Africa’s Moore who are both excited to be taking on the world’s toughest rally-raid!

And when you grow up in Zimbabwe with a father who has a passion for riding motorbikes and spend your youth watching the Dakar on TV, it’s only natural that you dream of one day competing in the World’s toughest rally.

Ashley Thixton, however, needed that extra push and it came from his friend Graeme Sharp, a Dakar competitor back in 2020 who became the first rider from Zimbabwe to finish the event.

Seeing that his mate could do it, Thixton battled his way to find funding and will be on the start line of the rally come January 5.

A fine motocross and enduro rider, the 30-year-old only recently turned to rally-raids and got his ticket for the Dakar by finishing the Sonora Rally back in April.

For his first Dakar, he will be part of the HT Rally Raid Husqvarna squad. Hoping to simply finish for his first appearance, his goal might then be to come back alongside his younger brother, Cameron.

“I started riding bikes from the age of four. It was my father’s passion. It then became my passion. My entire family would watch the Dakar. I can still remember the Despres years. I first started competing in Motocross and enduro. The ultimate dream was to do the Dakar. It became very serious when my close friend Graeme Sharp managed to finish it in 2020. If he can do it, I can do it. And he too told me that I had the capacities to go for it.

“I’ve raced a lot throughout my career so I’m not too worried about the riding skills. I’m mostly worried about not finishing. For me the biggest thing will be to have that mental capacity over 14 days.

I honestly don’t know what to expect, it’s 100% new and I would just like to get through this one. It certainly excites me. The goal after would be to open the gate for my younger brother. The Dakar really is a lifetime dream and it’s taken three years and a massive financial hurdle to cross.”

Thixton’s teammate Moore made his first Dakar appearance back in 2022 in the Original by Motul “malle moto” class for riders without assistance.

Charan was back in 2023 with the firm intention of winning the category, but an engine change and fuel pump problems saw him 20 minutes behind the leader with 3 stages to go.

Digging deep and determined to achieve his goal, the South African pulled back a whole 40 minutes, to cross the final finish line with a 20 minute advantage. Mission accomplished. And “malle moto” category success seems to have had the desired effect . . .

“These last two years I’ve had to dip into my own pockets to finance getting to Saudi Arabia and you can only do that so long.

“Initially I’d planned to do the Original by Motul class just the one time, which in retrospect was maybe a little bit ambitious. But having done it once I knew that I could win the category if everything went my way. As it turned out I really struggled with my bike over the first part of the 2023 edition and had to put the hammer down over the last few days to get the desired result.

“Since then things have worked out pretty much as I had hoped and I’ve managed to raise enough money to pay for a place in HT Rally’s team and hope to be able to participate in the whole of the 2024 Rally Raid World Championship.

“I’m 31 years old now which I reckon is a good age for a rally raid rider. For me the perfect Dakar outcome would be to attract enough attention to get a paid ride for 2025.”

Moore will be part of a number of South African riders and drivers who have entered the 2024 Dakar Rally.

In terms of countries, the distribution is just as clear: Most of the participants have a French (29) or Spanish (18) passport. No other country has more than eight participants. In total, riders from 36 different nationalities are taking part in the Dakar 2024.

The Dakar Rally has been held in the desert state since 2020, with 2024 being the last year of the original contract.

However, it emerged at the beginning of the year that the contract would be extended and that the toughest rally would continue to be held in Saudi Arabia in the near future.

So that fans and participants can celebrate the New Year in style, the prologue of the 46th edition has been set for January 5. This will be followed by 12 stages which, according to the organisers, will be quite something.

“We have set ourselves the task of making the fifth edition in Saudi Arabia the toughest since the race has been held in the Middle East,” warned race director David Castera.

The Dakar 2024 starts with the prologue in AlUla and covers a good 7 900km, of which around 4 700km are timed stages.

Twelve stages have to be completed, 60 per cent of which will consist of new tracks. After exploring the desert of the “Empty Quarter”, the finish is in Yanbu on January 19.

The riders in the RallyGP category will have a classic paper road book, while the Rally2 category will have digital versions.

A total of 136 motorbike heroes have registered – Matthias Walkner had to withdraw his entry after the serious training crash in the USA.