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Honda to Offer CRF450 Rally Machines to Dakar Privateers

With Honda back to Dakar racing with quite a bang and missing the podium only because of bad luck, things are about to change for the future. HRC announced that the CRF450 Rally will be offered to willing privateer teams.
2014 Honda CRF450 Rally 1 photo
Photo: HRC
Honda's best placed rider this year was Helder Rodrigues who finished 5th, while the unlucky Joan Barreda Bort managed to close the gap and crossed the finish line 7th, followed by team mate Daniel Gouet.

Even more, Laia Sanz won the women's ranking and finished in the 16th position out of a total of 78 riders who crossed the finish line in Valparaiso. She rode one of the  "production racer" versions.

Honda's comeback showed a very competitive machine, which HRC pilots rode to no less than 6 stage wins (out of 13) and proving that some more development could deliver a fearsome contender to KTM's supremacy.

The bikes will be tuned to customer preferences, and the rumored prices range between $30,000 and $40,000 (€22,150 – 29,500), much like KTM and the noticeably improved Yamaha YZ450 Rally sell for. And that is without tech support from the manufacturer on the course, which is a completely different thing.

Will Honda and Yamaha be able to put an end to the KTM 13-years-long winning spree? We'll see in one year's time.

Via A&R
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