“I’m blessed to be able to share all this with my son”
CREW FACTS
C.L.
- When Craig Lumsden’s son decided to stop racing national amateur motocross at 17 they looked around at something they both could do together and started racing stage rally at home in the USA.
- After their success in stage rally, they had the honor of being invited to take part in the legendary Pike Peaks International Hillclimb using two very special cars based on Mitsubishi EVO X platform. Craig still has those at home in his garage.
- From there they switched to off-road desert racing in the US and then in Mexico, on events such as the SCORE International Baja 1000.
- Their off-road activities lead them to get interested in the Dakar and so they decided to enter the Sonora Rally to see how they got on with the roadbook.
- Then this October they came over to race the Rallye du Maroc with the support of South Racing, as a warm-up for January’s Dakar.
- Craig’s wife is right behind their ‘dad and lad’ racing activities. She even co-drove for her husband on stage rallies but decided to retire from motorsport after realizing how co-driving on the Baja 1000 was too much!
- However, husband and wife share a passion for the mountains as they have summited Mt. Kilimanjaro and after the Dakar they will be hiking to Mt. Everest base camp.
J.M.
- Jamie Lambert lives in rural Ohio with his wife Lauren, their two daughters, Indy and Holly (plus we have another on the way), his good friend Matt McGee and his trusty side kick Martha Mae his Chiuaua who you will be able to see on his car’s livery.
- Jamie was previously in the military where he learnt how to navigate without GPS, something he has found useful in his brief rally raid career.
- Prior to that had a highly successful run as a stage rally co-driver with his driver Mike Cessna in their 1998 rally spec BMW M3 which is how he got to know Craig.
- He’s had experience with some good level teams but was particularly impressed with how South Racing ran things when he and Craig where on the Rallye du Maroc as preparation for the 2025 Dakar.
2025 AMBITIONS
C.L.: “I feel blessed and thankful in so many ways. Blessed to be able to pursue my passion with my son, and thankful that my wife and family is so supportive. Having the time and being in good health are also major bonuses! When I started all this 11 years ago I never dreamed that at 61 years of age I would be lining up on the Dakar start line. My ambitions however are modest. Crossing the finish line will be plenty enough for me and I think with the support of South Racing and Can Am, who really impressed me on the Rallye du Maroc, we should be able to achieve that. But I’m just the old guy doing this to be able to spend time with his son. Zach is the one with the talent. His priority is also to finish but he definitely has the ability to do a bit more than that. Whatever happens it will be a great adventure!”
J.M.: “I bumped into Craig in about 2017 and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. Then in 2023 he rang me out of the blue and asked if I’d be interested in doing the Dakar with him. I didn’t take a lot of persuasion. Since then we’ve done the Nora 1000 and the Rallye du Maroc together and both those went according to plan -no crashes, a couple of punctures and mid-pack finishes. We’ll be looking to replicate that in Saudi Arabia, though having just watched the Dakar presentation (interview done 29 November 2024) I reckon we’re going to have to work harder for it in January. The 48h Chrono looks particularly challenging -I’m just thankful they aren’t holding it in the Empty Quarter this year!
Still the plan is just to keep the car going forward and avoid any drama and we should be able to get the finish we’re looking for. No matter that this is going to be the most Ridonkulous adventure I believe I have ever been a part of, I’m very much looking forward to it!”
