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Daredevil CS Santosh gears up for Dakar Rally

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Imagine you are about to the climb the world's highest mountain peak for the first time. You do have a guide, but you still have to trust your instincts to make it to the top. "It's like stepping into the unknown," says CS Santosh, India's best motocross rider. He, too, is going to scale a mountain of sorts.

The Bangalore-based rider will become the first Indian to participate in the iconic Dakar Rally, known to be the toughest off-road endurance race. The terrain that the competitors traverse is much tougher than the Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, and the vehicles used are true off-road vehicles. The 2015 cross-country rally will take place in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia on a looping 9,000 km route from January 5-17.

"This is a huge thing for me. I started in the super cross in 2005, moved to dirt track events and then cross-country. I was longing for new avenues to challenge myself and Dakar is the ultimate challenge for me," the four-time national super cross champion said on Tuesday.

Santosh often steps into the unknown. In 2012, he won the 14th Raid De Himalaya Trophy in his maiden attempt. It was an unprecedented feat. In October, Santosh had two top-10 finishes — in Abu Dhabi and Qatar — to become the first Indian to finish the season in top 10 at the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship 2014.

It all started a little more than a decade ago. "I never knew I wanted to be a racer. I'd ridicule you if you'd even mention racing when I was young. It all came from my thirst for adventure," says Santosh.

In school, when all he had was a bicycle, he'd go to the Palace Grounds in Bengaluru and jump every slope he could find. Then, when he was given a motorcycle in college, he started getting a thrill out of speed and off-road riding. "A lot of my friends were into drag racing, but I felt it didn't need a lot of skill. So I started searching for dry lake beds, empty grounds, and off-road trails and started riding wherever I could find them. That really helped improve my riding skills," says the 31-year-old.

"When I told my parents that I want to be a professional rider, they ridiculed me. Imagine their shock when I told them I'm doing jumps 60-70 feet high. Of course, back then, there wasn't much scope for riding in India. So they told me to race for two-three years and then get a normal job which actually pays (laughs). But slowly they've come to terms with what I do," says Santosh, a PB Racing biker now supported by Red Bull. So, do his parents attend any of his races? "They've just come for one. It's too nerve-racking for them. I know that because when I come home from a race, they don't ask me how the race went, they ask me if I'm safe."

Santosh believes that his participation in the Dakar Rally will raise awareness about the sport. "The Indian audience is not used to watching motorsport. Races and rallies that take place on tracks can be boring to watch. But the view from some parts during the course of the Dakar Rally is just breathtaking," says Santosh, who will ride the KTM 450 rally bike for the competition.

What's going to be his biggest challenge? "To be honest, the toughest part was getting into the race. It's an invitational, so you have to perform really well in cross-country races to be invited. The other factor is the money involved. It costs 100,000 euros just to enter the competition."

His goal is simple: "I just want to be able to complete the rally and gain experience from it. To be able to complete it will be an achievement in itself."

Career highlights
2005:

MRF National Supercross champion
Gulf National Dirt Track champion

2006:
5th overall in Dubai National MX championship (1 win)

2007:
National Supercross champion

2008:
MRF Supercross Challenge champion
Gulf Dirt Track champion
Asian MX championship (1 round, fourth place)

2010:
MRF National Supercross champion
Rolon National Dirt Track champion
6th overall in Asian MX championship
Foxhill Supercross win in Sri Lanka.

2012:
14th Raid De Himalaya overall winner

About Dakar Rally:
The Dakar Rally is an annual rally organized by Amaury Sport Organisation. For 2015, the start and finish line will be back in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital city, which first hosted the rally in 2009. Rest day will be in Iquique but on different days for different classes: cars and trucks will rest on January 10th, while bikes and quads on the 12th - that means more Dakar action. The Dakar 2015 makes excursions into Bolivia and Chile on a looping 9000 km route to Termas de Río Hondo and back to Buenos Aires.

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