“I don’t think a podium is an unrealistic ambition”
CREW FACTS
B.H.
- Brock Heger is the latest in a seemingly inexhaustible supply of young American talent heading to the 2025 Dakar.
- He has yet to race a road book rally but he’s been training with American Dakar pioneer Jimmy Lewis (ex-BMW motorcycle factory rider) who also prepares road books stateside for the likes of Ricky Brabec and Sarah Price.
- He’s also virtually grew up with Seth Quintero and Mitch Gutherie who have also been giving him lots of info on the rally.
- And he’s had a visit from last year’s T4 winner and teammate, Frenchman Xavier de Soultrait, who has apparently been very generous sharing advice. So, he’s not exactly short of expert help and guidance.
- Plus, he knows how to drive a car very fast and is on a bit of roll where winning races is concerned, having won the Score series and the King of Hammers the last two years in a car similar to what he’ll be racing on the Dakar.
- When he’s not racing, he helps out on the family farm in California that produces forage, broccoli and lettuce. Apparently his main job is to drive a tractor “very slowly”.
M.E.
- Max Eddy is one of four Polaris factory drivers racing for the team in the USA but with Polaris sending only one pairing from the States and Max having previous road book rally experience he was the logical choice to navigate. Max reckons if everything goes according to plan there’ll be more cars coming in the future.
- He’s already co-driven on 5 major international rally raids and won stages on the Silk Way rally competing against the likes of Sebastien Loeb and the might of the factory Peugeot cars.
- Prior to racing on four wheels Max was a factory rider for both Kawasaki and Honda and has 5 Baja 1000 victories to his credit!
- Max also raced the Baja and Sonora rallies on a bike.
- In addition to co-driving for Cole Potts in 2022, Max was involved in Robbie Gordons’ South American Dakar campaigns. Oh the stories he could tell…
- When not racing cars as both a navigator and a driver, Max has a business that manages a 30 inch water pipe that runs for 280 miles! He’s also a linesman for Delta Energy fixing high tension power cables worryingly high above the ground!
2025 AMBITIONS
B.H.: “I’m surrounded by dunes and deserts where I live and started racing at about 8. A lot of my friends raced dirt bikes, as did my co-driver Max, but while I rode for fun, my parents steered me towards a (roll) cage for competition – I’m sure I will thank them when I’m old and able to get out of bed without too much joint pain! We’d been planning to race a road book rally before doing the Dakar but it kept on getting pushed back. The Sonora Rally would have been the easiest event to enter but that didn’t happen this year and we have a pretty busy domestic schedule, so it was difficult to find the time to go overseas to race. Max however has been on the Dakar with Cole Potts and with Robbie Gordon’s team. He spent a lot of time out in the dunes at night struggling with Robbie’s car and definitely doesn’t want to relive that side of the Dakar – and nor do I. Although I lack specific experience I think with the team and Max I should be OK. In any case I’m not planning to finish 40th. I think we should be competitive and I don’t think a podium is an unrealistic ambition.”
M.E.: “I honestly think we could win this Dakar in spite of Brock never having raced the event before. He is a super quick driver but also very mature and methodical for his age. Although we haven’t raced a road book rally together before we’ve done a bunch of training, so it isn’t like we haven’t had the chance to work together and the training we’ve done has gone very well.”
