How Adventure-Spec and 'FRGB' got together...
Just getting a single rider to the Dakar start line is a massive achievement in itself. To stand a chance of even finishing you need thousands of man-hours, £ ½ million and truckloads of determination.
Roll on Stan, Jon & Stuart. Stan’s win in the Tuareg Rally by a huge margin and Jon’s sixth place in the Guy Hoquet Rally whilst riding with a broken hand foretells of a toughness rarely seen in UK riders. Both riders have numerous African Rally wins and top ten places under their belts. So when Stuart pitched in with a support truck, dreams of Dakar podium places for ‘Team FrontRowGB’ became a real possibility…
Their infectious enthusiasm, combined with their track record, makes us pretty excited to be sponsoring them and the testing program they put our kit through would have made NASA proud. Unlike a lot of privateers, Stan, Jon & Stuart are going to the Dakar to win. So follow the team with us wherever you are and experience a little of the magic of ‘The Dakar’.
Stan and Jons Profiles...
Name : Stan Watt
Age: 37
Location: Dorset
No Of Years Riding: 20
That’s not a mainland UK accent you have there?
Nope I was born and brought up in Donegal, North West Ireland.
I know you first started road racing and that you’re relatively new to the world of off road racing. What changed your direction?
Weel, I’d off roading for fitness for 12 years, but bad accident at Snetterton at 170 mph whilst riding for Suzuki. The accident broke three vertibre and seven ribs in my back and stopped me from racing for nearly 8 months, after that pressure from my family and a little said road racing had to stop and I naturally turned to more and more off road stuff.
Most people do a few hare and hounds to get the hang of things. Why did you decide to start with the Dakar? If you are going to race offroad why not start at the top?
It took me 8 months to get back on a bike so I wasn’t going to waste that time. My first desert event that year was the Tuareg rally in North Africa, I won every stage and then the event by over 1 1.2 hours. The Dakar was the logical next step
How difficult is it organising a full Dakar attempt, and the associated importation of four out of the UK’s 5 KTM690 rally replicas, you can’t just buy them off the shelf can you?
No you cant. Desert racing is a complex business. You need a lot of help and advice to mount a successful bid. That’s when Edmondson racing became involved. Their support enabled access to the 690’s and knowledge that would have taken a long time and a lot of money to get!
You must be really pleased with the support you are getting from Stuart at Walker Ecosse in the MAN 6x6 support truck. How did you wangle that one?
I met Stuart on the Tuareg in 2006 it became clear we had a similar mind set. His plans were to try and race a T4 truck in the Dakar in 2008 and than a T5 in 2009. I suppose you could say that getting involved with us helped him to move nearer to his dream and helped us realise ours. Either way, he’s a great guy to deal with!
I have heard your comments on the Rally Raidio link about the cancellation of the Dakar. What are your feelings now that they location for the 2009 event is no longer Africa. Is it really still the Dakar?
Yes and no….everyone wants to go racing, its not Africa but the ASO is definitely capable of putting on a good event….I think its going to have to be harder than the Dakar of previous years to establish the reputation it needs, I think 2009 will be good for us, no one will be on really familiar terrain and the colder and more technical the event gets the better as far as we’re concerned!
What after the 2009 Event?
Well, we hope to carry on racing as many international rounds as we can, but I think that the FIM need to organise all rounds through a central committee like most international racing events. That way the current chaotic situation should be resolved. We’re already committed to events this year that have been dropped form the World Championship wasting our time and money. If the FIM took on this challenge it’d be great to see the Dakar move from continent to continent over the years to allow a truly global race to emerge.
Name : Jon Stamper
Age: 43
Location: Kent
No Of Years Riding: 25
How did you first get involved with bikes?
Most of my racing has been on roads on two stroke 250GP bikes. Sadly there isn’t much of this in the UK so most of my racing was done on mainland Europe.
I know you have competed off road for less time than Stan. Why start with eight months of training followed by the Dakar? What’s with you guys, are you all mad?
Well, I’ve done quite a bit of trials and off roading for fitness but I have always wanted a crack at the Dakar. I gave up my 2007 GP season to train off-road but obviously the Dakar never happened. I don’t want to waste all that preparation so it looks like my one year plan has become two!
You had an amazing result last year in the Guy Hoquet Rally. Is it true you broke your hand early in the event?
Yes, I broke two bones in my hand on day two. Annoyingly it was my clutch hand that got damaged so riding was really painful. But, I knew if I stuck with it there would be dropouts and sure enough although I dropped a few places in the early days as the field started to tire I picked up to seventh by the finish.
I know you must have an excellent general level of fitness for riding an event like the Dakar, but I’ve recently been told you are planning to run an off-road endurance race involving three marathons in 24 hours. Whats that all about?
Were doing the Jurassic challenge which is a single day 80 mile run with a cut off if we don’t finish within 24 hours, were all doing a bit of extra training to help get us sorted but were hoping to finish within 18 hours.
How do you fit the racing in around your work?
I own and run my own business, so I guess I just ask the boss for time off!
Previous Results
- Tuareg Rally Morocco 1st Place Overall
- Guy Hoquet Rally 2nd Place, 6th Place Overall
- GBXC Clubman 1st Place Overall
- Son Of Dawn to Dusk Marathon Class 2nd Place
- The FIM Optic Rally Tunisia 3rd Place Overall
- The Southern Counties Enduro 3rd Place Overall
Upcoming Events
- 22nd June The Southern Counties Enduro
- 24th June The Welsh 2 Day Enduro
- 6th July The Powys 2 Day Enduro
- 13th July Round 3 GBXC
- 19th/20th July World Enduro Round
- The DAKAR 2009