Well we aren’t quite there yet but Dakar 2025 is beginning to take shape.
The first news was that Sam Sunderland and Toby Price were moving to 4 wheels. They left the arena on 2 wheels and will now be piloting the new Toyota Hilux in the T1+ class, but as always I will just concentrate on the bikes.
As the entries are gradually revealed we already have some questions.
Dakar as usual is never easy to decipher, but I will do my best.
Firstly, I have to come up with a way to do the Dakar commentary this year. As well as wiping out anything I earned from the videos themselves, the copyright strikes from Amaury sport the Dakar’s organisers mean the channel is still pretty much hidden on YouTube most of the time, so I will have to ask for donations much as I don’t like to.
The videos that do well now are the ones that get traffic direct from google, but that traffic doesn’t earn what it once did, I earn very little from the channel now.
Add to that the fact that for around a month last year I didn’t leave my desk at all, and that did have some very negative effects on my health,
So I have to work out how to do it again without risking my health or what little income I get from YouTube these days.
I don’t really want to do it as subscription only, but that is one of the options, so tell me, would you pay for a subscription only coverage? If so, what do you think is a reasonable price for daily bike only footage and analysis similar to last year for the 2 weeks of the Rally?
One thought is that I simply do the commentary with static pictures on YouTube, but do the show complete with footage on a subscription basis.
I am still working it all out
But for now I do need some donations to put all the time needed aside.
Please, use the Kofi link in the description of the video NOT the YouTube giving button if at all possible.
The Kofi donations come straight to me with no deductions, the YouTube donation button goes to YouTube and in general I get about 3 or 4 dollars for every 10 dollars you donate. YouTube take the rest and they have enough already.
Anyway, to the news.
Most of you will remember the focus of the channel last year was Mason Klein’s attempt to take the untested new Kove 450 EX on an epic journey into the dunes, and despite all his heroic efforts he was one of the victims of the sand.
I think everyone knew he would be back, but with what ride?
He has been riding a Honda all year in South America, and came home 2nd overall in the championship. But the question is would he get a Honda ride for Dakar?
Honda have a big team already and so I reached out to Mason to try and find out. In his words, He won’t be riding a Honda at the Dakar, but he cant say what he will be riding until his contract with Honda runs out.
Now I noticed a few weeks ago there was a listing for Mason, riding a Kove EX, but when we chatted, the only answer I could get was “ I can’t tell you who I will be riding for in 2025, but it wont be Honda”
Then his name disappeared from the Dakar entry list.
The Kove team size was as big as Honda’s, but his name does keep popping up in posts in different countries.
Then it appeared again on the 2025 entry list for Dakar, and it does still list him as riding for Kove. I can’t confirm it 100%, but at this stage I think it seems the most likely outcome.
The original listing was for a Rally 2 entry, but now it is showing as a Rally GP entry, I will look at the Kove team later but with Mason, we will just have to wait and see.
Ross Branch won the Rally Raid World Championship, and he will be leading the charge for Hero at the Dakar.
The Hero team looks like it is finalised as Ross Branch, Nacho Cornejo and Sebastian Bühler and fingers crossed for all three is all I will say after last year.
Adrian Van Beveren came in 2nd in Rally Raid 2024 on the Monster Energy Honda and Tosha Schareina and Ricky Brabec in 3rd and 4th helping to clinch the constructors title for Honda.
So I guess the question is can the big red machine do it again with Dakar 2025?
If we start with what we know, we have Brabec, Howes, Van Beveren, Schareina and Pablo Quintenilla who all helped give Honda the Rally Raid Constructors title. So there will be at least a 5 man team riding under the HRC banner?
KTM poses all sorts of questions now too, although I don’t think that much will affect the factory or Bas Racing teams.
Daniel Sanders along with the Benavidas brothers will be fighting on the Works KTM bikes with Luciano joining his brother Kevin on the KTM badged bike rather than the Husqvarna this year.
Bradley Cox will lead the Bas Racing team with Tobias Ebster, last years Malle Moto champion, chasing for the podium in Rally 2 on a second Bas Racing KTM. The rest I am really not sure about so far to be honest.
One thing is for sure, with both Sanders and Luciano Benavides on the podium at the Rallye De Maroc, they will be gunning for a win, especially with all the bad news coming out of Austria. The big orange machine needs a win to generate some faith that they are still in the game.
There are still plenty of non works team KTM entries too. Could Dakar provide the lifeline the company need in the form of a big investor?
Rui Goncalves and Lorenzo Santolini are the riders given the Rally GP Sherco rides this year and I have to say I am disappointed to see that Harith Noah wasn’t pushed up into the Rally GP class too, but it seems for now at least that he is racing in Rally 2 on the Factory TVS Sherco again.
We do have some news from Kove too.
With or without Mason Klein in Rally GP.
In Rally 2 we have an injury free Sunier, Neels Theric and Deng Liansong riding for the works team.
The rest of the team is truly international. Jatin Jain from India, and Badr Al-Hamdam from Saudi Arabia will both be on the 450 EX bikes that Mason rode the wheels off last year, Javi Vega from Spain will be riding a Kove in the Malle Moto class, and our old friend Cesarre Zachetti riding with Ottavio Missoni on the Kove Italia bikes in the Malle Moto Class.
Then we have Jordan Strachan riding for Kove Canada who I know little about and lastly, Kove Moto UK announced James Hillier will be taking on his 2nd Dakar in 2025.
James might be better known for his success at the Isle of Man TT, but he is no stranger to off-road racing. He has ridden the Erzbergrodeo and recently did the International Six Days Enduro on the same Kove 450EX he is taking to Dakar. He does already have a finish in the Malle Moto class despite having a broken shoulder at the time.
That gives us 10 Kove entries and possibly 11 if Mason Klein does take the Kove ride.
It will be great to see our old friend Cesarre again. Let us hope he doesn’t end up stuck in the dunes again this year. And one of his rescuers and one of the riders who supplied footage last year, Tiziano Interno from Rally POV is on a CRF450 Honda this year.
I am sure these two warriors of the Malle Moto will keep everyone smiling, both inside the bivouac and around the world. They are the epitome of the Malle Moto ethos, and I wish them both all the luck in the world.
We do have a few Husqvarna entries, Aaron Mare of South Africa in Rally 2 and Jerome Martiny in the Malle Moto class being the most notable I have seen.
Fantic are back again too. Mohammed Balooshi, Jeremy Mirroir, Maxime Pouponnot, Tomas De Gavardo, Sandra Gomez Cantero and Tommaso Montanari make it more Fantics on the starting line than ever before.
Reiju will be there again too. Daniel Jager, Josep Subirats and Marc Calveras make up this years team and I wish them luck.
Juan Santiago Rostan and Arnaud and Bertrand Domet will be on privately entered Gas Gas bikes too.
Last but definitely worth a mention. Last years Kove riders Xavier Flick and Fang Xiangliang move to an unknown Chinese company. They form a 3 man team with 2 times Malle Moto winner Arunas Gelazninkas from Lithuania. They will all be riding the completely unknown Hoto Rally bike in Dakar 2025.
Not only do I know nothing about the bike, but the company is an enigma too, so we shall have to wait and see. They shout about winning the Chinese Rally championship but I can’t verify that but from what I have seen the bike seems quite trick.
What I did notice was the power figures and they are claimimg a massive 68HP from the engine. That is a good 10HP more than the Kove EX and should put it on par with the Sherco which we know is fast enough to win.
But speed is only a part of Dakar.
Could it be this bike is using the new twin cam version of the QJ Motors engine that powers the Kove? It will be interesting to see how they do and it has to be good for the sport that there is yet another new contender in there.
What we can be sure of, is that in the desert, it is anyones race. Anything can and will happen and we are bound to be in for at least a few surprises over the 2 weeks of Dakar.
The 47th edition of the world famous desert race is a massive 7,700km long and we will get a repeat of the 1000km, 48 hour marathon chrono stage that was re introduced again last year.
Much more of the course will be run on seperate routes for cars and bikes too, so the car drivers will actually have to do some real navigation this year instead of just following the tracks of the bikes.
It starts with a mad dash, a 29km high-speed special stage in the 79km Prologue in Bisha on January 3. Then, it gets into the real action.
Both the 48-hour Chrono Stage and Marathon Stage come in the first week of the rally, so week 2 starts with a rest day on January 10.
The second week will be dominated by routes through the Empty Quarter and it is here that this years rally will likely be won and lost.
The finish will be in Shubaytah on January 17 and as we know, anyone reaching the finish line of the Dakar is a hero.
I will do my best to keep the updates coming on time during the racing, but do remember, I am only one guy, not a team of producers. With all the research, monitoring stage results, times and breakdowns, recording, editing and production of the videos, there is a huge amount of work involved, I will do what I can to keep you updated without getting the channel taken down.
Any donations are gratefully accepted and it will help keep the wheels turning as they say.
If the channel does go down make sure you are subscribed to the backup, and watch the website at www.barebonesmc.com
I will regroup there if the worst happens and let you know where any videos are being posted.
For now, we wait, As any news comes in I will try and let you know, but if not before, see you on the 3rd.
Take care and have a great holiday until then.