Battered and bruised, Blackney is still in the race

Dubai-based rider Steve Blackney has raced in the Desert Challenge for seven years but after nearly being burnt to a crisp during yesterday's stage, no one would be surprised if he decided not to enter next year.

Blackney spent about Dh130,000 on a KTM 660 and fees to compete in this race but he almost had to watch it all go up in flames after getting stuck in a dune.

"I was about 30km into the stage, full of fuel and I made a mistake following the GPS (Global Positioning System) arrow instead of the track (in the sand) and I fell into a perfect KTM size bowl," said Blackney.

"The only way to get out was to walk around (the bike out) wall of death because it was too steep to get on it. Fuel was falling out…because the tank was facing down the hill.

"What must have happened is that the fuel dripped onto the exhaust.

"I stopped to have a rest and get my heart rate down and that's when I saw the flames licking around the exhaust.

"It's funny what goes through your mind when something like that happens. At first I thought I might use my camel back to squirt water on it but I didn't have enough.

"So I just pushed the bike down and threw sand on it."

After a frantic few minutes the flames disappeared and amazingly the bike still worked. But Blackney was still stuck in a bowl hundreds of kilometres from the finish. "It took me 15 minutes to get out of that hole," he said. "I had a disastrous first day because the bike just stopped and I striped it down but I just couldn't find what the problem was.

"On the second day, I past the checkpoint three on a long bumpy road and my rim moved and punctured the tyre.

"This is the seventh Rally I've raced in and I've never been swept, but I was swept twice in the first two days."

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Blackney's is that he is still racing.