Dakar rider Elmer Symons dies on fourth stage
29-year-old South African was in 18th place
ELMER Symons, a South African motorcycle rider with a wealth of off-road experience has unfortunately died following a crash on his Yamaha on the fourth day of the Dakar Rally in Morocco. The 29-year-old ran metal exporting company and this was the first Dakar he had entered as a competitor.
Organisers said: "Today at 9.16, the race headquarters received an intrackalert coming from km 142 of the fourth stage from Er Rachidia to Ouarzazate. On the site of the crash by helicopter eight minutes later, the race direction could only record the death, confirmed 10 minutes later by the medical helicopter."
Elmer Symons competing in 2006
Symons had been 18th overall in the event; considered one of the most challenging and dangerous in the world of motorsport, which ends in the Senegalese capital on Jan 21.
Symons had been assisted in the rally by his brother Kingsle and in Stage 1's Marathon category, he took the best time on his Yamaha.
