Don is competing in the Rallye International de Tunisie starting today in Tunis, Tunisia. Don has passed all the scrutineering procedures with the Desert Rose team and his KTM 690 Rally bike, the same bike that he rode in the 2010 Dakar race.

“Tunisia is definitely Africa” Don’s wife and onsite support crew member Natalie comments. Temperatures are in the mid 30 to low 40 degree Celsius during the day and low teens at nighttime. There will be an excessive amount of sand riding for the competition stages with long liaison stages in between.

New to this year’s rally is “live broadcasting” by the event organizers. We will be following the event here to see how well this works.

Day one on Saturday was a prologue event held on the beach near Tunis. This accommodated the spectators allowing them to see the cars, motorcycles and heavy trucks up close and in full race action. The terrain was very deep wet sand – not the easiest thing for Don to contend with riding his heavy KTM 690.

Today’s Stage 1 – Tunis to Douz – is a total of 586 kilometers of which 180 kilometers is the special stage. The organizers note that it will be challenging to navigate with numerous intersections and change of directions. They also gave warning regarding the cacti - “get too close and you’ll get hurt”.

Don finished the stage in 30th place. Sunday’s Stage 1 was an early start with Don having a start time of 5:52 AM. Don did well with the longest stage of the race: 586 kilometers. He was riding well up to approximately 65km from the end of the stage when he was delayed for a mechanical issue. He was able to get underway again and finished the special stage 1 hour 36 minutes off the pace.

If you watch the video clips of the race you will see huge cacti bordering the route in the desert area. They appear massive and even the event organizers gave warning not to wander near them. This is not the place to loose concentration! You will also see Don in the opening sequence riding number 18!

Stage 2 was a straight 288km special stage. That means they raced the whole way riding at 100%, no relaxing riding during a liaison. The stage consists of sand, sand with rocks, sand dunes, soft sand and more fast, wide packed sand tracts to the bivouac at Nekrif.

Don successfully completed Stage 2 of the Rally in 24th position for the day. Don was 2 hours and 9 minutes behind the leader Chalelo Lopez of Chili. This places Don in 29th position overall in the rally and 6th in his class with four more days of competition to come.

It was an incredibly hot day, temperatures in the high 30 degrees Celsius, with a winding route through the sands of Tunisia. This was the first day of racing in the sand dunes that all the competitors were looking forward to. Don is not reporting any ongoing issues with his motorcycle after yesterday’s mechanical delay.

Stage 3 is a loop from Nekrif back to Nikrif totaling 265 kilometers in length. It is a fast special with a mix of small sand dunes, canyons and winding rocky tracks. As the organizers note: “ there will be something for everyone”. They are also reminding riders to “follow the right bearings through the sea of dunes” as the “track keeps disappearing under the wheels”.

Don finished Stage 3 of the rally 25th on the stage, 28th overall and still 6th in his class, 5 hours and 16 minutes behind the leader Lopez. This is amazing considering the rough, rock strewn terrain that favors the smaller lighter bikes. Couple this with extreme heat and a blinding sand storm described as a “white out” that nearly grounded the helicopters.

Don notes via text message “we needed good navigation skills today as all the tracks were covered with blowing sand”. Although tired by the tough racing conditions – it is hard to train for the extreme heat and the soft sand terrain here in western Canada – he is loving the competition.

“The Longest Day”. That is the warning note on the route overview from the organizers of the 2010 Rally International de Tunisie. It is followed by terms such as “fast, undulating tracks: sliding and jumping at daybreak” and “small dunes become large dunes, with less space between them: it becomes increasing difficult to find a route through them”. This is what Don faced today on Stage 4 of the rally.

However Don has survived the “longest day” in the Rally. He ended up 25th on the stage, and dropped to 22nd overall but remains 6th in his class.

Don is now 8 hr and 6 minutes back from the leader Lopez. Second place is being fought between Spaniard Marc Coma – one of the race favorites - and Poland’s Jacob Przygonski who are within 21 seconds of each other and only 23 minutes back from Lopez. Very tight times with only two more days of racing remaining!

“I actually enjoyed the day and had fun” Don noted via text. “ I lost time due to a fuel issue 21 kilometers from the end of the stage”. This unfortunately lost him time and two places in the overall rankings. Don’s bike quit due to a fuel starvation issue so he had to stop and physically unbolt and remove his front fuel tank and pour the contents into his rear fuel tank to get the bike running again.

Stage 5 was mainly sand and dunes referred to as “chains of sand dunes” by the organizers. The sand is so soft that Don’s wife Natalie, who is among the support crew, noted that the support truck got stuck and they had to dig themselves out en route to the bivouac!

Don has completed what he considers “my worst day riding of my life” while competing in this Rally.

Due to high fuel consumption caused by the never ending sand dunes today he was low on fuel when he arrived at the bivouac. Don’s KTM690 rally bike is very heavy when full of fuel which does not make it handle well in the heavy sand and thus leads to it burying itself easily. This means he has to stop, physically dig the bike out of the sand, and then run along side of it till he get enough momentum to get it going again. Exhausting work in heat that exceeds 40 degrees Celsius.

Don finished the day in 26th place, 22nd overall in the rally and has maintained 6th in his class. Chilean Chaleco Lopez is still leading the rally maintaining his 20 minute lead over second place Polish rider Paul Przygonski but third place Marc Coma is closing the gap onto second place trailing by only 24 seconds.

Youcef Cummings is “the man of the day” to Don and two other fellow riders whom he helped in from the worst 25 plus kilometers of the dunes. That is the great thing about Rally Raid racing is the camaraderie of the fellow riders and support team. It is not just blind competition against each other but rather against yourself, the terrain, and the physical and mental stamina required to complete the race

“Amazing”. “Hardest day of the Rally”. “Hardest Tunisian Rally ever!” These were quotes from some of the veteran competitors of the international Rally Raid series which includes the famous Dakar race.

Don finished 16th on the stage and 5th in class for the day. It was his best stage of the rally. This places him 21st overall and 6th in class, 12 hours and 24 minutes behind the leader. The race was won by Chaleco Lopez of Chile while Marc Coma of Spain made up an unbelievable 11 minutes over Przygonski to take second place.

There is a very nice video interview with Don and his wife Natalie here. Just scroll down to and look for their photo showing them wearing their black Rally Raid Canada tee shirts.

On behalf of the whole Rally Raid Canada team we would like to thank our fans, supporters and especially our media partners who have been so kind to follow us on this North African adventure. We now look forward to the Sardegna Rally Race in Italy starting May 27.