Canada's Hatton fourth in Morocco

From Destination Dakar


Don Hatton of Duncan, BC finished in fourth place in the Enduro class in the 2009 NPO Shamrock Rally de Maroc (Rally of Morocco).

The rally ran over six days, 2650km in total distance with nearly 2000km of that under race conditions. The challenges included rock, sand, dunes the size of small office buildings and scorching heat in the 40-degree Celsius range.


“I just could not overcome the time difference between myself and third place," Hatton said. "The only way I could have caught him was for him to have a problem. I did catch up and pass him at one point in the Rally only to loose the gain when we hit a really rock stretch, forcing me to slow to a snail's pace.

“I am not disappointed with my finish. I had to really dig in and work to achieve what I did, my navigation went very well. I did make a couple of minor navigation errors but nothing serious. My only real problem in the Rally was the limits created by the lack of suspension on the stock KTM690 Enduro. I believe with better suspension I could have won my category.


“I was a little caught off guard by the heat in stage 2 however after a short rest in the desert I recovered enough to finish well that day. After that I wore a few less items of clothing."


For more information and photos check out http://www.destinationdakar.com/.