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Dakar Rally Drivers Rev Up for Planet's Most Dangerous Race

   VOA News 31 December 2009

   Drivers  and  motorcycle  riders are making final preparations for the
   Dakar Rally, considered the most dangerous race on the planet.
   The  Dakar  Rally  starts Saturday with 378 drivers taking part in the
   second  edition  to  be  held  in  South  America  because of security
   concerns  in Africa.  The symbolic start of the race will be Friday in
   Argentina with a 349-kilometer drive from Buenos Aires to Colon.
   Dunes,  desert,  mountains and other hostile environment will test the
   138  cars, 161 motorbikes, 29 quads and 50 trucks in the 16-stage race
   that  covers  9,030  kilometers across Argentina and Chile.  The Dakar
   Rally ends January 6 in Buenos Aires.

   Last  year's  winner,  Ginield  De Villiers of South Africa, leads the
   favorites.  The 2009 champions in other categories also are competing,
   including  Spanish  motorbike rider Marc Coma, Czech quad driver Josef
   Machacek and Russian truck driver Firdaus Kabirov.

   The  rally  was  moved  to  South  America  in  2009 because of safety
   concerns  and  the  possibility  of a terrorist attack in Africa.  The
   2008  race  was  canceled  after the deaths of four French tourists in
   Mauritania in December 2007.
   The deaths were linked to al-Qaida.
   It was the first time the rally had been suspended since the inaugural
   race  in  1979.   After the cancellation, organizers vowed to keep the
   rally alive by moving it to South America.
   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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