Nick Craigie and Gordon Clarke head off tomorrow to compete in the Merzouga Rally of Morocco

 

Nick Craigie and Gordon Clarke head off tomorrow to compete in the OiLibya Rally of Morocco. The rally is over 6 days averaging 300km per day in the sand! 2013 the rally has a record entry so competition will be tough.  Nick a two time Dakar competitor and multiple rally finisher should know his way around rally’s by now but having not competed in one for over ten years the deep sands of southern morocco will be challenging. Gordon Clarke is an ex Irish trials and enduro champion who has competed at world level in both. This will be his first rally so he will be surely taking notes from nick, at least until the first prologue anyway! 

Firstly, what bike are you riding?

NC: I am riding what started as a CCM 404 duel sport. I have had it converted to a rally bike by the late maxssimo montibello. It has a Suzuki DRZ 400 engine with a Athena 430 big bore, chassis is standard and tanks and panels are all custom

Gc: i will be taking a 2012 tm450 rally. The bike started as a tm 450 Enduro bike and has been customised to full rally bike by max? I went for the Carb option instead of fuel injection for the dessert.the only real real diff from standard is that the airbox is moved.

How long have you been preparing for the rally?

GC: its been about four months since we decided to go do this rally. Seems like a long time but getting the bikes ready, packed and shipped takes alot of time. Lots of late night shed work!

NC: yea 4 months goes fast when you are trying to get all the paper work and materials in place.

What physical training have you done to prepare?

GC: Most of my training was done as i had just come off the end of the British Sprint Series. What i worked on mostly was endurance training. I did alot of  hill runnning and cycling for endurance

NC: Not as much as i would have liked. i do alot of swimming and cycling to stay fit and have been on the bike alot too.

What do you expect from the rally?

GC: I expect to finish! It will be a  big learning curve with navigation so i want to keep a steady pace until i get used to it. I do think i canrun top ten and certainly plan to have at least one stage in the top ten.

NC: It will be hot! , quite hard and the new navigation will take a bit og getting used to. Hopefully we have no mechanical problems.

What do you think will be your biggest challenge?

GC: For me i think linking road book and gps ico will take learning.  Navigation is key so thats what i want to get right.

NC: age! I think getting used to the new type of navigation.

where do you hope to finish?

GC:close to top ten.want one good stage finish.

NC: I have no aspirations to finish anywhere i just want to finish.

Are you bringing backup?

GC: no we are both going solo!

We would like to wish them both good luck and a safe trip!!!!!