Famous Riders

Ignacio Casale is a quad bike racer and has won the quad bike category of the Dakar Rally not once, but twice!

Following his success, he moved towards the UTV category after the second victory in 2018.

Being from Santiago, Chile, not much is known about Ignacio in the English-speaking world. Fortunately, we decided to put some research together and highlight the achievements of this competitive racer.

Ignacio Casale

Ignacio start out riding motorcycles at a very early age. His parents were very much in favor of him developing his skills and swapping the school books for the race track.

In fact, he’s the son of Francisco Casale. His dad competed in numerous events during his professional career including the Jeep Fun Race in Chile through the 80’s and 90’s.

Into his adult life, Ignacio joined his father by becoming his co-driver in the Dakar Rally, debuting in 2010. They competed in the Trucks category and finished in the 26th position.

This lead to Ignacio deciding to go solo in 2011 by entering in the motorcycle division. After all, he earned a wild card place due to his navigational skills in the truck.

Dakar Performances

Ignacio has won numerous awards and the first Chilean to have done so in the history of the Dakar. This is mostly his performance on his ATV in the four-wheeler category.

After several years, he took the 1st place win in 2014 after riding for 2 weeks straight and 5,000 miles through the South American deserts. He even took 1st place in 7 out of the 13 stages.

He came back again in 2015 to defend his title. Unfortunately, he had to retire early due to mechanical problems at Stage 10 in the race. He had won 3 stages by this stage and was in the lead to win. It wouldn’t be until 2018 when he would finally win another title.

Fast-forward to 2020 and in the UTV division with AMerico Aliaga, they together won the 2020 Dakar Rally in fine form.

It’s refreshing to see someone try various methods in which to experience the rally. Most competitors just stick to one class type but Ignacio seems to have tried them all.

One thing is for sure: He’s seriously tough and we look forward to seeing him take more podium finishes in this decade. His career certainly isn’t finished yet.

Joan Barreda is a Spanish rally raid competitor who has competed several times in the Dakar Rally, but yet little is known.

Frontaer is stepping in to fill the gaps.

Joan Barreda

Very few English interviews have been conducted with Joan. That said, one of his teammates is Ricky Brabec who won the Dakar Rally in 2020.

As we can hear, his Spanish speaking skills would be well beyond his English, yet it doesn’t impact his skills behind the throttle. This man can certainly push beyond the limits of physics!

Motorcycles and Race Winnings

Joan has ridden for a number of brands during his professional career as a motorcyclist at the highest levels of competition. Currently he’s with the Honda HRC Rally team.

He started out in 2011 while riding an Aprilia though he crashed in only the 2nd stage which hammered his chances of finishing. Those injuries can be seriously harsh at such high speeds.

The following year in 2012, he chose to ride a Husqvarna and this time, he actually finished in 3rd position in that same 2nd stage. Unfortunately, the bike (or was it the brand?) let him down due to mechanical issues.

Fortunately, he won the 10th stage and finished 11th overall on the podium, finishing around 3.5 hours later than Cyril Despres who won. In that same year, Joan won the Pharaons Rally and the Spanish Baja, both times riding a Husky.

In 2013, he was back and finished in 17th position due to getting lost and issues with his fuel pump. Fortunately, no injuries!

In 2014, he won 5 stages of the Dakar Rally which is incredible, yet still finished in 7th position due to electricial issues on the penultimate stage. How frustrating!

Finally, in 2020 he finished 16th overall in the Dakar Rally.

Future Ambitions

We’d love to see Joan win a Dakar in this decade, and we’re sure as hell he would too. The landscape is ultra competitive yet a man who has competed for almost a decade at high speeds through the desserts of the world is owed a win.

After all, he also won the Sealine Rally in Qatar. The man is simply a weapon on any motorcycle!

Graham Jarvis is one of the toughest riders out there in the world of hard enduro, and one that has earned him the reputation.

Keen to find out more about the epic stuntwork of this man? Read on.

Graham Jarvis

Graham essentially grew up behind the handlebars, having ridden motocross extensively as a child. By his teenage years, he was on the technical tracks and balancing through some tough terrain. By the age of 10, he had won his first trials event.

In fact, he was featured on a TV Show called Junior Kickstart and has competed in the gnarly Erzberg Rodeo which he has won a record 5 times now.

He lives in Ripon in North Yorkshire, England and has adopted the nickname ‘GforceJarvis’ for his incredible skills.

Extreme Enduro

You may be wondering what Extreme Enduro actually is. Well, take enduro racing and make it even harder. Like, gnarly hard with more rocks and obstacles than you can imagine. These man-made courses include lots of barriers and mud which slow riders up.

The goal here isn’t to go for outright speed. That’s what the Dakar and MX riders do. Instead, the focus is on skill, short bursts of power and incredible bravery. That’s exactly what Graham Jarvis has adopted.

He says that you need to have a certain mentality to get involved in a sport like this. Sure – people can ride a dirt bike around the countryside, but can they really ‘ride’ the bike.

Personal Life

Graham Jarvis isn’t married as he remains committed to his career riding in hard enduro events. Even today he continues riding for the Husqvarna Factory Team on his 300TE which has mild modifications.

This is one rider who has won his fairshare of competitions and isn’t slowing down. All props to someone pushing through the barriers while the world simply spectates!

Matthias Walkner is one of those Dakar Rally riders that most haven’t heard of, and Frontaer hopes to fill that gap. Let’s find out more about this epic Dakar competitor…

Matthias Walkner

While most riders grew up twisting the throttle from the day they were out the diapers, we have here one rider who didn’t. In fact, Matthias only got his first motorcycle age at 14 following a ski accident. This sudden change of plans certainly pushed him forward very quickly.

He then started racing motocross and won several championships. However, the closed-circuit track soon became a little too easier, so Matthias set his sights on the rally racing scene. KTM picked him up as a team rider early on.

Matthias is most famous for winning the Dakar Rally in 2018 and is the first Austraian in history to have done so. We’re talking more than 8,200KMs through the harsh South American desserts which have claimed numerous lives, and indeed lead to many injuries.

This is evidently so as Matthias was back one year later in 2019 to compete again (the same year that Toby Price won), yet this time with a fractured ankle suffered in Stage 4. That same year he was back on the throttle to compete in The Atacama Rally in Chile which has similar terrain.

Matthias Walker Bike

Matthias Walker prefers to ride a KTM 450 Rally and has done so for 5 consecutive years in the Dakar Rally. In addition, he’s taken this same bike through the Rallye du Maroc, Sardegna Rally Race and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, and has claimed a top 3 finish in each event.

He’s with the Red Bully KTM Factory Team and hasn’t been with Yamaha or Honda as a professional career as a rally raid competitor.

As a previous motocross rider, he evidently had a smaller 2-stroke motorcycle. We’re still waiting to hear back as to what he actually rode.

Closing Thoughts

Here is a man who pushed himself to the finish line on more than one occasion in some of the harshest terrains ont he planet. He wears the #2 when racing in the Dakar.

In a time when most people would prefer to watch others be successful, here is someone who is evidently doing the work. Keep plowing through that soft stuff!

Chad Reed has a reputation not just among his Australian dirt bike riding community, but the entire world. He’s the lad that kept working (and sucking dirt) until he started winning…and the rest is history.

Now an international icon, Chad has been at the game for 20+ years now and has inspired younger riders to follow their dreams. Frontaer has put together this page detailing Chad and his epic accomplishments.

Chad Reed Early Life

When Chad was a little kid, his parents bought him a horse called Fern. While he loved the horse, he became instantly hooked on to dirt bikes when his cousin Craig Anderson started riding around the property. Soon enough, the horse was swapped for the PeeWee 50 and the rest is history.

His family bought a 25 acre property out near Kurri Kurri which is west of Newcastle, about 2 hours North of Sydney. It’s here, with nothing much to offer, that his first MX tracks where built by hand. The family didn’t have much except for a determination to support Chad on his dreams. This earned him the reputation of being the ‘underdog’ as the family was by no means rich.

By 1997, Chad Reed took first price in the Australian Championships on an 80cc machine. He then passed on his school education to focus on the professional career with the backing of his parents.

Racing Career

Chad has had a short racing career in Australia. He was quitely picked up by international corporate interests given his skill on the throttle, and before he was even an adult, was already off to Europe to compete and rode for Kawasaki in the early years.

By 2002, he had moved to the United States and rode for Yamaha’s Factory Racing Team. In that season alone, he scored winnings on 2 supercross races. We’re talking 125cc MX bikes too. Naturally, injuries happened to coincide with the volume of competitive racing, though he wasn’t as involved in the more dangerous sport of freestyle motocross.

For 20 years, Chad had dotted many start lines and built a reputation with Monster Energy. In 2020, he decided to make it his final year in competitive racing. After all, he’s significantly older than most rising stars in the industry. COVID 19 did cause havoc on the season, and he jumped shipped to KTM from Honda midway through the season. This isn’t abnormal, given that he’s had a variety of sponsors over his entire career.

What Happened to Chad Reed?

Chad has never stopped racing and, while he’s now starting to retire from racing competitively, he isn’t going to be giving up the thumping sound of a 2-stroke anytime soon. His love for dirt bikes and outperforming the competition is well beyond that of his net worth which has risen considerably.

While we never want to see a legend like this retire, we’re sure that Chad will continue to inspire generations to get out there and away from their cell phones. With toy dirt bikes created in his honor, his reputation will live on as one of the toughest yet more genuine riders out there from down under.