“If we cross the line together it will be an amazing feeling”
En bref
- Carl and Craig Searles’s Dakar obsession began when their dad started bringing home Rally Havoc Crash videos. In among the tarmac chaos was footage of Dakar crashes and the two young brothers were instantly taken by the machines and the desert scenery.
- When Carl was 13 and Craig 10 they managed to persuade their dad to buy them a Honda CR80 which they took turns riding.
- Eventually enough pocket money was accumulated for them each be able to buy bikes and they started racing moto-x together.
- Carl went straight from school into the family business that provides water storage solutions for water sprinkler systems for things like supermarkets and factories.
- Wages allowed the brothers to race at championship level but then marriage and mortgages put their competitive ambitions on hold.
- When they returned to bike racing the brothers decided to switch to enduro and beganinstructing at BMW’s Off-Road School in Wales. Prolonged contact with the boss, 10 times Dakar participant Si Pavey and fellow instructor and Neil Hawker only fuelled the two brothers Dakar ambitions, and it was just a matter of time before their Dakar entries went in.
- Not the whole family is obsessed with off-road competition. They have a third brother who has no interest in two wheels whatsoever and plays music in a band.
Ambition
C.S.: “Logically, as I’m the eldest I should be the more serious, responsible one, but luckily Craig ended up with that role. Although I’d always dreamed of doing the Dakar it was Craig who really got the ball rolling. He sent me a text saying he was going to do it and I replied: ‘oh alright then, I’ll come too’. Once we’d decided to have a go the first thing we did was talk about it with our wives. They said they’d support us but only if we went at it 110%. Then we broached the subject with our dad and he said he’d support us but only if he could come and do our assistance. As anyone who has ever tried to get to the start line of the Dakar will tell you, it is a lot of work. It is like a full-time job. Fortunately, our dad has given us a bit of time off to train and race which has really helped. In the not-so-distant future he’ll retire so now is the time to do it, before we have to take over the reins of the business, although I don’t necessarily see our 2026 Dakar as a one off.”
“Craig and I do almost everything together. We work together, we race together and we socialize together. People are always mistaking us for twins and quite often we’ll do that twin thing of turning up somewhere wearing almost identical cloths. That closeness has always been one of strengths. It has helped us in the past, for example when I crashed on the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. I don’t think I would have been able to make it to the end of that rally without Craig helping me. On the Dakar we’ll try to ride together as much as possible, though in the dust that can be tricky. If everything goes according to plan and we cross the finish line together with our dad there to meet us it will be an amazing feeling.”
