Dakar Rally canceled after terror threat

[kbsooner21]

PARIS - The annual Dakar Rally was canceled Friday on the eve of the race across the Sahara Desert because of terror threats and the recent killings of a French family in Mauritania blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants.


It was the first time in the 30-year history of the automobile, motorbike and truck race that it has been called off. In a statement, organizers blamed international tensions, the tourists' Dec. 24 murders and "threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations."

The race's central appeal — its course through African deserts, scrubland and savannas — is also its weak point, making it difficult to protect thousands of people as they cross remote regions.

"No other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken," organizers said.

France, where the race organizers are based, had urged the rally to avoid Mauritania after the four family members were killed in an attack blamed on a terror cell that uses the Mauritanian desert as a hideout.

Officials say the cell is linked to the Algeria-based al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, which has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks, including the Dec. 11 twin suicide bombings at U.N. offices and a government building in Algiers, which killed at least 37 people.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner praised the decision to cancel the rally.

"In our opinion, in a complicated geographical context — and above all in a context of insufficient security — it seems very wise to have chosen security," he told France-Info radio.

In the past, terrorism fears have forced organizers to cancel individual stages or reroute the race. In 2000, several stages were scrapped after a threat forced organizers to airlift the entire race from Niger to Libya. Several stages were also called off in 2004, reportedly because of terror threats in Mali.

The race, organized by the France-based Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), had been due to start in Lisbon, Portugal, on Saturday and finish in Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 20. Eight of the stages were to take place in Mauritania. Some 550 car, truck and motorcycle drivers were expected for the 5,760-mile trek.

Cyril Neveu, a five-time Dakar winner in the motorcycle category, acknowledged that the race could have been targeted by terrorists.

"It is a big caravan of more than 3,000 people," he told French broadcaster I-Tele. He said he respected the organizers' decision but added: "Many are going to be disappointed."

"Providing security from the first to the last competitor is an onerous job," Neveu added. "One cannot say that there was zero risk."

French ministers had discussed safety at the rally at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, and French officials had met with race organizers to discuss the risks.

Only the father of the slain family survived the Dec. 24 attack, in a town 150 miles east of the Mauritanian capital as the family picnicked on the side of a road.

That attack was followed up be another four days later, when three Mauritanian soldiers manning a checkpoint were killed. Mauritania is a largely peaceful Islamic republic that has been rocked by the back-to-back attacks.

Authorities have blamed a terror "sleeper cell" linked to the Algeria-based al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa for the murders of the family. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for the killing of the soldiers.

The Mauritanian government had announced last week that it would mobilize a 3,000-man security force to ensure the race's safety. The country's foreign minister complained that canceling the race was not justified.

"We have taken every measure to ensure that the rally goes forward without incident," Foreign Minister Babah Sidi Abdallah told RTL television station.

Mauritania's police force has been tracking the killers of the four tourists, recovering the car they used and arresting a woman who allegedly helped them secure a boat to cross into neighboring Senegal.

[kbsooner21]

This shit pisses me off

[kbsooner21]

Gordon upset how Dakar cancellation was handled

Cup driver spent roughly $4.5 million prepping for rally

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The race trucks cost more than a $1 million each, their lightweight, off-road bodies fashioned completely out of carbon fiber and Kevlar. They had been packed and shipped to Lisbon, Portugal, where 40 members of Robby Gordon Motorsports were waiting for them. They had paid $360,000 in entry fees, bought thousands of dollars more worth of spare parts, and were ready to beat the desert. They were in line for technical inspection on the day before the start of the Dakar Rally when they learned the entire 5,760-mile endurance event had been cancelled because of terrorism concerns.

So instead of racing across the Sahara Desert, Gordon found himself at Daytona International Speedway on Monday for the opening session of Preseason Thunder. And still stunned at the cancellation of an event he had spent roughly $4.5 million to compete in.

"They didn't have a backup. They didn't have a plan. And they didn't give anybody even the opportunity to discuss a plan," Gordon said Monday morning. "They said, 'Race is cancelled, this is it.' At the point they cancelled the race, I had 40 people sitting in Lisbon, Portugal, and 28 of them were going on the rally. We didn't have flights for them, we didn't have hotel rooms. We were checking out the next morning. They just completely put a lot of people in awkward, awkward situations."

The race, organized by the Paris-based Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), had been scheduled to start in Lisbon on Jan. 5 and end in Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 20. Gordon, a champion off-road racer, was the only NASCAR driver scheduled to compete in the event. Organizers cancelled the entire race after a group linked to Al-Qaeda killed a family of French tourists in Mauritania, one of the African nations the rally was scheduled to pass through. There were also threats launched directly against the race, according to the ASO.

Gordon said the competitors were summoned to a tent, where the announcement canceling the race was made in French. Competitors who spoke other languages listened to translations on headphones. Afterward, some of the racers applauded the decision. Gordon had a very different reaction.

"I'm extremely disappointed in the ASO. I can completely understand their decision to not go to Mauritania or not want to put competitors in an awkward or dangerous situation. That I understand 100 percent. But for them, as many years as they've been doing this rally, not to have a backup plan, a B plan, a C plan, a D plan, what if this is going to happen ... Why didn't we run 10 days in Portugal, on the same course? Something," said Gordon, scheduled to field a two-truck team for Hummer.

"All the equipment was there, all the teams were there, television was set up, all the stuff was set up, and Portugal is not a dangerous area to race. Obviously, it's a safe country. It's a beautiful country. We had the permits to run on roads and trails, some of which were on military proving grounds. We had what we needed to do to race there. Why didn't we go into Morocco and run a few stages in Morocco? The extremists that want to ride the Dakar on motorcycles, give them their money back if they don't want to participate in a 10-day race. But teams like the Hummer teams with ours ... we do it as a business. It's a not a hobby for us. Don't get me wrong, I love to do it, but it's a business for us. We spent an awful, awful lot of money."

Money he's not sure he'll be able to recoup. The ASO has told competitors it will refund sanctioning fees, but Gordon said that's a fraction of his total costs. There are contingent deals, like one Gordon said he was working on with Microsoft, that were scuttled. Even though his sponsors are signed through 2010, he's worried they'll be hesitant to return. And he wonders if the ASO will find itself targeted by lawsuits, and perhaps so short on cash it will be unable to refund anything at all.

"I don't know what their insurance policies look like, but we had severe loss at Robby Gordon Motorsports, and I don't know what actions we're going to take," Gordon said. "But I think that they misjudged, as a sanctioning body, on what they needed to do for the event. They could have had a race of some sort, and went on with the show for the first seven, eight, 10 [stages]. Prorate the entries or do something like that. You look at our NASCAR entries, those are cheap. An entry for the Dakar is $12,000 per person, not counting the vehicles. I think our entries were $360,000. That's just the entry fees. That's not shipping trucks, that's not hotels is Lisbon. It's a big deal, and it's got me completely messed up right now in the head. Obviously, I'll recover from it like I always do. But I'm extremely disappointed that a sanctioning body could not be better prepared."

The Dakar Rally is no stranger to peril, either through the unforgiving landscape or the occasional bandits that have plagued the race in the past. Gordon, who said he's faced threats as an American driver in the race, said he had arranged for security for his traveling party. But the threats against the race, the murders of the French family, and a subsequent terrorist attack on a Mauritanian military checkpoint were enough to convince the ASO to cancel the event for the first time in its 30-year history.

Gordon still struggles to understand the logic. "Let's put it in perspective," he said. "Eleven people got killed out there. I'm pretty sure in L.A., we kill 11 a night. On the streets of L.A., I'm pretty sure there are 11 a night killed, stabbed, shot, beat up, murdered, I guarantee you just in L.A. Now, you take L.A., Detroit, Chicago, New York, Charlotte -- 11? It's a couple of kids in the back of a pickup truck with a couple of AK-47s [who] shot a couple of people. I'm sorry to say that, but the reality of the thing, it's not like it was this big setup, bombings, or whatever it may be. I feel sorry for the people and families that happened to. But I don't get it. I'm confused."

Now, instead of racing in the sands of North Africa, he's testing near the sands of Daytona Beach. Brendan Gaughan was scheduled to pilot the No. 7 car in the three-day Sprint Cup session, but there was Gordon early Monday morning, carrying a backpack and the weight of the financial loss he's suddenly incurred.

"Our Cup team was ready to go anyways, and now I'm here. I don't know if it's going to help us or not," said Gordon, who said his rally losses will not affect his NASCAR team, which is a separate business entity. "Daytona is about a race team. The driver has to make the right decisions late into the race, but the stuff you learn at the test isn't going to help you make those decisions. The stuff you learn at this test here is how to make the racecar go fast, how to make it handle, how to make it run wide open for full-tank runs at a time, how to make it suck up. They could have done that without me."

[vols fan]

That has to be the worst thing I have heard in racing.Can you imagine wasting all that money We just booked our condo for the Shootout and can't imagine me getting there and them saying its been cancelled.We did get rained out 2 Shootouts ago but was at a strip club 2 miles from the track drunk as hell when they made the announcement.They did run it Sunday morning though.