Almost exactly 1 year ago, Stan moved away from his 2-stroke race machinery of the KTM 250 & 300xc's, in preparation for Dakar 2012.

Concentrating on riding a KTM350xc 4-stroke, he eventually left the smaller bikes behind after the 24hr Dawn til Dusk event in August, where his sole drive was to ride the KTM450 Rally Replica, until his return from South America.

With plans already underway to compete in the international rally scene throughout 2012 and larger rally plans into 2013, Stan will return to UK racing this weekend at round 1 of the Southern Counties Enduro Championship in Pallington Forest, Dorset.

Already spending some time on the Edmondson Racing KTM300xc, he is impressed with how the bike has evolved from 2011 and looking forward to getting into race pace this weekend.

FRGB

Team Front Row GB have returned from Dakar 2012 with Stan Watt completing the event in position 34th overall.

The 8,500km South American event started on 1st January, racing through Argentina, Chile and finishng on 15th January in the Peruvian capital - Lima, with 2.5M spectators in the city of an 11M population.

Temperatures soared in the intial stages to over 50 celius causing a number of fueling issues for competitors and as the race moved through to Chile, temperatures plummeted to -5 through the Andes mountain range.

A steady start by Stan on the Crescent KTM 450RR found him dropping back from his 60th start position to as low as 87th on the initial short, day 1 stage.

Minor difficulties plagued the team and slowed any progress for the first half of the rally with fuelling problems in the excessive heat, top-end speed issues, jetting, suspension set-up but nothing that would have been a show stopper and realistically the Team were still trying to get a 'rally set-up' that could not be tested in the UK.

A patient attitiude and an excellent team ethos allowed Stan to improve on stage results in what was deemed to be a physical and technical rally by the half-way point and rest day.

With Stan's riding ability more attuned to long and fast rally racing, the technical capability required would have a lasting effect on the end result.

Stage statisitics proved that most ground was made on fellow competitors during the faster elements of the race and where navigation was paramount, with Stan progressing up to 24th overall and 17th on stage prior to a waypoint 'missed by all but 5 riders' was cancelled after complaints. Politics prevail!

The KTM 450RR proved to be an outstanding replacement for the 'super reliable' KTM 690RR now that full engine restricitions are fully in place, with the Team opting to run the same engine for the complete rally.

The support crew structure operated as planned with the fast response 4x4 backing Stan as close as possible and the primary 4x4 Mercedes truck carrying the big loads to each bivouac.

Although the end result didn't turn out as Stan wanted, there are a huge amount of positives to take away if another attempt was made for 2013.

Stan being 1 of only 9 riders that did not receive any penalties, navigation was superbly accurate, riding ability has improved well since 2009 and the supporting crew comng together, not only assisting Stan as a rider but also Dave Marton the primary technician.

A big thank you to all the support for Stan Watt and Front Row GB from across the globe, sponsors and family, it is all hugely appreciated and extremely important in assisting the Team reach its goal.

As a Team we have lot of people and companies to thank but here goes;

CRESCENT KTM
KTM UK
MOTORCYCLE NEWS
VOLTCOM GROUP
EDMONDSON RACING
MICHELIN
ADVENTURE SPEC
TALON ENGINEERING
MOTOREX
ARAI HELMETS
ALPINESTAR
MOTOTECH AUSTRALIA
MIKE DAVIS TOOLS
LEATT
KLIM CLOTHING

We would also like to thank the support crew for the many hours of hard work and long days driving the two vehicles in support of Stan Watt.;

Ivan Finkelstein
Keaton Allen
David Marton
Mark Wright
Derrick Edmondson

Front Row GB would also like to thanks all friends and family who have suffered quietly to make it all happen again.

Onwards and upwards for the rest of 2012

FRGB

Scrutineering is complete as with the start podium preliminaries for Stan and will set off in the next 6 hours on the first sage of the 2012 Dakar Rally onboard the Crescent KTM 450RR.

The 6 days in Argentina so far have been productive with preparing the bike and support vehicles plus some testing outside the town of Mar del Plata, which will see the start of the event on 1st January.

443 vehicles will take part in the 2012 Dakar, which will start from Mar del Plata and head towards Lima, where the pilots will arrive following an 8,300-kilometre trek through Argentinean, Chilean and Peruvian territory. The battle for the four titles at stake is about to begin.

At this time of the year, beaches in "La Feliz" are packed with holidaymakers every day. But today, all eyes are focused on Plaza Colón, a bit further from the sea, where a podium has been set up for the presentation of the teams to the public before the race. This ceremony is usually held before tens of thousands of spectators, who have 443 vehicles to marvel at and applaud this year. Despite the festive ambiance in the city, the atmosphere must feel quite chilly for a handful of competitors who will have to forget their ambitions. Indeed, seven quads failed the technical checks, since they were too different from the production models they were supposed to represent. "Prototypes" are not allowed in this category! Although they will be allowed to participate, Josef Machacek (5-time winner), Lukasz Laskawiec (3rd in 2011), Christophe Declerck (4th in 2011), Rafal Sonik, Antoine Leconte, Norberto Cangani and Maciej Albinowski are no longer eligible for the general classification. The path to victory seems clear for the Patronelli brothers, or at least for a battle among South Americans.

Although their fate is yet to be decided, four motorcycle riders are also in a situation which will probably make them smile in a few days' time, but which is giving them quite a few headaches at the moment. Iain Stevenson, Neil Scott-Thomas, Darryl Curtis and Greg Raaf's motorcycles were delayed on their trip from the United States. As of December 31, the ship carrying them has only reached Delta Dock, roughly 500 km from Mar del Plata. In order to give them a chance to win this first time trial, the organisers decided to make headway with the administrative part of their scrutineering and call for help from the Argentinean authorities to speed up customs procedures, but seeing these four riders at the starting line is not a done deal. The deputy manager of the rally, David Castera, has asked them to be ready for tomorrow morning at 5 am if they are able to bring in their motorcycles for a simplified technical scrutineering process.

The four victims of sea transport misadventures would be happy just to start the race, but other pilots are already thinking about the top step of the podium in Lima. Among them are Cyril Despres and Marc Coma, who walked around the aisles of the scrutineering area clad in identical orange shirts. Their relaxed mood and companionship contrasts with the tense relationship they have had over the last few years, and the defending champion shows he wants to keep things that way: "Things have calmed down a lot between us, I think it is much better to start the race in this state of mind." In the car category, Nasser Al-Attiyah has also teamed up with a former rival, Robby Gordon, who has put him at the wheel of a Hummer H3 decorated with the colours of Qatar. He will probably have to beat a former teammate if he wants to mount a successful title defence: at the wheel of his Mini, it looks like Stéphane Peterhansel has got what he needs to finally take his 10th win after years of trying

HAPPY NEW YEAR from all at Front Row GB

Le Havre in Northern France is as close as you can get to having a Dakar process in the United Kingdom.

Front Row GB carried out their initial scrutineering processes with the Dakar organisors (ASO) in Le Havre port, prior to vehicles from Europe departing on the voyage, which will see all competitors and support crews converge on Mar del Plata by 27th December.

Five out of the six team members were present in Le Havre, missing Dave Marton from Melbourne, Australia, who will meet the team in Argentina. After monthsof preparation, scrutineering of the two support vehciels and one race bike (KTM450 Rally Factroy Replica) went extremely smoothly, starting proceedings at 10:30am and all vehicles parked in the port, ready for loading, at 1:30pm.

A total of 680 support and race vehicles loaded in Le Havre from the European contingent and they will be met in Mar del Plata over the 27th and 28th December by all competitors from the rest of world.

After further scrutineering in Argentina, the main event will get underway on 1st Janaury with a first total stage of 853kms to warm everyone up gently.

FRGB

Sunday 27th November seen the final round of the Southern Counties Enduro Championship at Bramblecombe Farm in North Dorset.

WIth 4 weeks prior to departing for the 2012 Dakar, Stan Watt from Front Row GB took the opprotunity to continue development and to further gel with the KTM450 Rally Factory Replica, which is the spare machine of that already shipped to South America.

The 3hr Hare and Hounds, a mixture grass, stream crossings and woodland would be physical and technical test for Stan and the machine of 200kg purposely built for desert racing.

With no expectation of being competitive against smaller enduro bikes, Stan kept everything together , making up time on the fast sections whilst maintaining a good rhythum through the more technical areas where at times it was a struggle to get the bike to fit.

a well laid out and enjoyable race where Stan was still able to finish 9th in Championship class and 36th overall.

FRGB