“Respect the speed, respect the rally bike, respect the race”

Jamie McCanney was very much thrown in at the deep end when he made his Dakar debut last year. Not only was the British rider discovering a new discipline -having only made the jump from enduro to rally raid in 2019- he was also recovering from a serious shoulder injury sustained midway through the season. Considering that he was taking part in only his second rally, the 26-year-old acquitted himself very admirably indeed, finishing 15th in the bikes and as the 2nd-best rookie. He also claimed the highest stage finish for Yamaha -6th on day 11- after teammates Adrien Van Beveren and Xavier de Soultrait were forced to abandon early on. Having made it through his maiden outing, Jamie is feeling far more confident about Dakar 2021, even if the Covid-19 crisis has limited him to just one major race this year: the Andalucia Rally, where he came 7th. The Monster Energy Yamaha Rally team have made some personnel changes for this 43rd edition, with Andy Short and Ross Branch coming on board and De Soultrait leaving for Husqvarna. They will now be hoping to follow in Honda's footsteps by snapping a Dakar winless streak that stretches back to 1998, when Stéphane Peterhansel won the last of his 6 titles in the bikes. Jamie will certainly be looking to play his part, although he admits he has slightly longer-term plans for Dakar success. The Isle of Man native discovered bikes at an early age, following his older brother Daniel into motocross and winning the British championship in 2005. Despite training as an electrician, he chose to pursue a professional racing career, switching to enduro in 2012. In his very first race he suffered serious injuries after hitting a stray dog, but recovered to win the FIM Youth Cup in 2013 and the Junior World Championship title in 2015. After signing with Yamaha, he came within a whisker of winning the senior Enduro World Championship, but had to settle for silver behind Josep Garcia (2017) and Brad Freeman (2018). One of the United Kingdom's biggest talents, a fit-again Jamie will definitely be worth keeping an eye on throughout this Dakar, where he will be leaning on last year's experience as he attempts to mix it up with the best in the business.

“I'm a bit more prepped than last year! I'm doing a lot of stuff indoors: cycling, studying the roadbook. Dakar 2020 was all right. It was probably one of the strangest races I've done, it almost felt like a tour. I'd only done about 3 hours in 6 months beforehand, because of my injured shoulder. I hadn't ridden the rally bike, I still didn't really know what I was doing. Nothing really went in my favour, so the plan was just to finish. As a racer, that's not the best way to go into it. But you have to respect the sport and respect the Dakar. It was a hell of an experience, obviously. My shoulder wasn't right, I had no strength, I didn't know what I was doing with the roadbook. So to come away with what I did, and manage 6th and 7th on a couple of stages, that wasn't half bad. I was getting told stuff after I'd made the mistake, so I learned the hard way. I came up short on the rookies, but I couldn't change my mentality in the final days. Putting things on the line to try to win the rookies title wasn't the safest option. I think every rookie who gets to the finish line should be a winner! I'm definitely looking forward to Dakar 2021. We've made quite a few changes to the bike -hopefully for the better- but it's tough, not knowing exactly how the bike's going to work, or much about 80% of the terrain. Last year's Dakar was my 2nd rally, now it's my 4th! I won't just be plodding away, I'm hoping to carry a bit of pace. For me the Dakar is like a 5-year, 10-year plan, just step by step. I still need to respect the speed, respect the rally bike, respect the race.”