13 Jan 2020

Botswana’s sensational rider, Ross Branch, believes he is still ‘in it’ and vowed to keep his head above the muddy waters in the remaining last rounds.

This was despite suffering a major setback in stage three and six of the world’s most grueling off-road race.

At the time competitors took a break on Saturday January 11, all riders were almost halfway through the 10 000km race.

The Kalahari Ferrari, as the 33-year old Branch is fondly called, was hopeful that at the end of the last stage, he should have brushed off his closest rivals to pole position. 

Making second appearance at the Dakar rally, Branch had been thrown to the deep end competing against the tried and tested bikers in the mold of Australian champion Toby Price, Briton Sam Sunderland, American Ricky Brabec and Argentine Kevin Benavides, among others.

In his maiden appearance at the race last year, Branch finished 13^th overall and scooped the best rookie award. 

Buoyed by this past performance, Branch rode his KTM bike to a resounding victory on day two of the 2020 race at the Persian Gulf terrains, but he took a stumble on the third stage to position 44 on the line up. 

He hit a rock and injured his shoulder and the tip of his finger losing plenty of time in the process.

Branch dusted himself up assisted by close rival, Pablo Quintanilla and rode the remaining 350km to the finish line.

In what he termed as the worst day of his time at the race, Branch suffered another setback when a tyre problem saw him finish 67^th on stage six on Friday January 10. 

On Sunday 12, (yesterday) at the end of  stage seven, Branch had pushed to finish in position 14.

With about 400m remaining to the finish line, Branch couldn’t climb a dune and was assisted by Spanish rider, Fausto Mota, to pull his bike across the finish line. 

He revealed afterwards in a video post on social media that the assistance he got from Mota was phenomenal.

Branch earned himself the moniker; The Kalahari Ferrari, after his triumphs in local and continental off-road challenges, including Botswana’s flagship motorsport event The Toyota Kalahari Desert Race.

His star also reached its apex after a number of resounding victories in North Africa races including the closely contested Morocco rally. 

This year’s Dakar rally and the first in Saudi Arabia, started in Jeddah on 5 January and finishes in Qiddiya on Saturday January 18 after 12 stages. ENDS