Dakar winner no more
KTM has pulled out of the 2010 Dakar rally following news of a rules change.
Organizers of the South American Dakar have ruled that the maximum displacement for motorcycles will be 450 cc.
KTM, which was preparing to enter its 690 Rally motorcycles in the event, says there was not enough "lead time" with this change to allow the factory to prepare other motorcycles.
KTM has won the Dakar eight consecutive times, but says that race is now "history" for the marque. "We will now fully concentrate on the Rally World Championship," said KTM motor sport director Winfried Kerschhaggl.
The 2010 Dakar gets underway on New Years Day. Competitors will cover 8,600 km through Argentina and Chile.
:cry Big fan of the Dakar,watch it every year from Victoria,Bc
Canada. Great seeing a local boy Don Hatton compete last year,sorry to hear about his crash early in the race.
That’s a shame KTM has pulled out of 2010.
It’s too bad they couldn’t use one of their 450’s bikes.
I throughly enjoyed seeing the 690’s tear up the course each year.
Great sport,good luck to all the 2010 competitors. Cheers Ron Wolf
Dakar and all the other teams were just scared and frustrated that they couldn’t compeet with KTM!