At the end of the 1980s, it was possible to run the Paris-Dakar in the "Marathon" category with motorcycles coming from the series but adapted to racing. This AFrica Twinn "Menuiserie Lapeyre" is Gilles Francru's ex bike, a French motocross rider who did 9 Paris Dakars. This Marathon ran the 12th Dakar but did not arrive since Gilles fell heavily on the 5th stage: Tumu Dirkou (Niger) and had to abandon. Gilles ran with the Lapeyre Carpentry as main sponsor, which provided him with a substantial budget which notably enabled him to have a dedicated mechanic traveling by plane.
3 of Gilles Francru's old bikes, the KTM is from Dakar 81, the DR 600 from Dakar 89
This motorcycle is the very first marathon produced, therefore from the 1st series in 1988. It was purchased new and put into circulation in December 1989, i.e. one year after the 50 others.
On Monday, December 25, 1989, some five hundred crews left, in the early morning, the forecourt of La Défense, near Paris, to rally Marseille, the first stage of the twelfth Paris-Tripoli-Dakar rally. The rally was won that year by Gilles Lalay on a Honda
Gilles Lalay
Thanks to Yves68 from africatwin.forumactif.com
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