Tambacounda – Dakar
14th January 2006

After riding and driving for 15 days over almost 9000km of the best off road terrain the world has to offer, this years remaining Dakar Rallye competitors have finally arrived in the city of Dakar.

Unfortunately, on arrival in Dakar, the competitors were informed of another death on the rally (the third this year). On yesterdays stage a child had been hit by a support vehicle and was pronounced dead on the scene. Due to this horrific accident the organisers have cancelled the timing for tomorrows special stage meaning that the results at the end of stage 14 are the preliminary (as riders are still able to claim back time spent with crash victims) results for this years rally.

Starting with a 107km liaison the competitors entered their final timed special stage consisting of 254km through Senegalese villages and deep sandy tracks.

“Other than hearing the bad news it was a great day today,” said Plumb “It was a fast day and we were forced to ride faster than we would have liked to. The sandy tracks were really deep and you had to go fast on those or you would just sink.”

"The first part was probably the hardest. You try to take it easy, knowing that you're so close to the end. I met up With Si Pavey, Patsy Quick, Clive Town and Patricia Watson-Miller at the fuel stop and we rode together for the rest of the stage. We came across a guy shortly after the fuel stop who had been in a big accident. He looked pretty dazed so we stuck with him for 5 minutes until he had recovered and then we all set of again [including the injured rider]."

Nick arrived at the end of the special stage with no major problems and set off into the final liaison.

“I stopped about 100km from the end,” explained Nick “I was so tired I just relaxed under a tree and got some sleep before I set of towards Dakar.”

“The traffic in Dakar was probably the hardest bit of the day. It was bedlam! I got to the end and met up with Bernie who was so happy that we had made it to Dakar. We’ve changed the air filter ready for tomorrows untimed special and taken off the GPS to give back to the organisers but didn’t need to do any mechanical work to the bike”

“It was so good when we all got in, Patsy has been doing the Dakar for the same amount of time as me and this year is her first finish. It was a little bit emotional for all of us really. I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in clean clothes, which feels like luxury. I’m not looking forward to putting my stinking gear back on for tomorrows stage though. Ewan McGregor has flown in so I’m going out to a restaurant for a meal with him and the Race to Dakar guys. Matt Hall has been trying to make his way to Dakar since he retired from the rally so it’ll be good to chat with him and find out what happened.”

Tomorrow sees the riders and drivers complete a short 38km liaison followed by the untimed 31km special and then the final 41km liaison before they reach the podium for the official finish of the 2006 Euromilhoes Dakar Rallye.

Nick has finished this years Dakar Rallye in 78th place overall and is not only the top BMW rider but also the 2nd highest British finisher (only beaten by 27th place Mick Extance). Race to Dakar's Simon Pavey has finished in 86th place.