The Return to Dakar 2022

 

Vendetta Racing UAE is a privately-run motorcycle racing team based in Dubai, competing in both local and international events, off-road and on the track. The team was formed in 2007 and has flown the UAE flag in a host of championships all over the world, from circuit racing to international rallies, Isle of Man road racing to local bajas.

 

We are arguably the largest privately-owned motorcycle racing team in the region and can lay claim to being the most successful. Vendetta competes at elite level and regularly challenges higher budget outfits and in some cases, full factory teams. 

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We have sent riders out to compete in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge since 2013 and over the years have brought home more than our fair share of success. In 2016 and again 2019 we came away with the team prize and our riders finished in the top ten overall. The biggest international sand event on the FIM Rally Championship calendar, the Desert Challenge has long been considered the ultimate testing ground for the world-famous Dakar Rally Although Vendetta’s riders have proven themselves time and again over the demanding dunes of Abu Dhabi’s Empty Quarter, Rub' al Khali. 

 

In 2020 We had the opportunity to compete in the toughest off-road endurance test of man and machine, entering 2 bikes in the toughest class, the 'Malle Moto'  

It was a tough fight which broke both body and machine meaning both Mabbs and Mcbride failed to reach the finish line.

 

2022 - The boys did it. 

14 days of competing in what’s known and accepted globally as the worlds toughest off-road race…and finishing! 8404km’s of soft sand, Rocky mountain passes, stretches of tarmac as far as the eye can see. All of it ridden in every condition possible, freezing cold starts, rain, hot afternoons, starting and returning in the dark. A true testament of endurance grit and determination.

 


A special thanks to the service crew Richie and John. They too have had the same early morning starts snd very late nights, setting up and packing up camp every other day, driving the same long distances as the racers and of course the endless job of keeping the bikes going every day. A special thanks to the unplanned 3rd member Torsten Skeen who was luckily on hand when the service truck died. He simply became part of the crew until the end and his truck was used to tow the race trailer. Without his generosity things could have been quite different.

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Of course none for this could have happened without the support of our sponsors. @milwaukeetooluae, @motulmiddleeast, @monobuoy @epcsolutionsFZC, @paulbackguru.dubai @133_racing.

Thank you again!

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Final standings: McBride, 47th overall, and 2nd in the Veterans class. Mabbs, 94th overall.

Another huge milestone for Vendetta Racing,  what’s next?……

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