Brothers to Dakar: S2D Race Team and Their Husqvarna FR450 Rally Bikes

Brothers Carl and Craig Searles race the Dakar Rally…

The Dakar Rally is regarded as the world’s most grueling off-road race, a 5000-mile battle across some of the most epic, difficult terrain on the planet. To say it’s a test of man and machine is an understatement — it’s a crucible on wheels, with an annual attrition rate of 40-50%. Just finishing the race, especially without factory backing, is a victory itself.

For many an off-road racer, Dakar is the dream of a lifetime, but very few riders ever make it to the starting line, let alone the finish. Support, equipment, and funding are all hurdles that must be crossed long before the first stage of the race. Every year, however, a contingent of hardcore amateur and semi-pro riders manage to make it happen. For brothers Carl and Craig Searles of SD2 Race Team (Searles 2 Dakar), a secret weapon made Dakar possible: each other.

The Searles brothers grew up mountain biking, snowboarding, off-roading, and traveling together. They raced motocross for a few years, then moved into adventure bikes, landing jobs as off-road instructors at the UK’s BMW Off Road Skills school. There, they rubbed shoulders with Dakar finishers, including their boss, Simon Pavey, who’s raced Dakar 10 times. According to Carl, their Dakar journey started when Craig sent him a message: “Fancy racing Dakar?”

It would take the pair three years to make their way to the starting line, and their father soon joined the journey.

“The original plan wasn’t to start a team, we were going to compete in the Malle Moto class, unsupported. But our dad wasn’t going to let us do this alone, he wanted to be a part of the journey, so the team was started. Dad went out and bought an 11-tonne 4×4 truck, which he worked on for nearly a year prepping for Dakar. We also drafted in a fully qualified bike mechanic Fred from Boxxer Works.”

The bikes they chose were the Husqvarna FR450 Dakar Replicas, built by KTM and limited to 80 units a year. These are the closest thing you can buy to a full-on factory rally bike. They require very few modifications to be Dakar-ready, though the boys did add some trick wheels with purple billet hubs, laced by Envy Wheels.

Below, Carl gives us the full story of their Dakar journey. Suffice to say the very scale of the event is hard to fathom — the Bivouac itself is more than a mile long and half as wide. In a span of two weeks, the brothers rode over 5000 miles, with the longest stage over 580 miles!

“The terrain is like being on another planet, from bedrock, to canyons, to massive sand dunes, to dry riverbeds, to a 4hr section of sand woops, to wide open dry lake beds…and dust and more dust.”

They were told it would be nearly impossible to ride side by side throughout the rally, but they made it happen, watching each other’s backs through the entire 5000-mile journey.

“When you’re wheeling your rally bike across the desert, with a helicopter tracking you with a camera, looking at your brother, there is no better feeling.”

That’s a feeling that very riders have ever been able to experience. We’re honored to feature the story of these two brothers who — along with the help of family, friends, and sponsors — not only made it to the world’s toughest race, but finished together.

Carl was at the recent Adventure Bike Rider Festival (ABR), where our photographer, Roberto Garagarza (@roga______/), got some shots of him in action on his rally Husky.

“I had a great time with Roberto! He was like ‘can you kick some dust up’ and I was like ‘yep I sure can.’ BOOM. Looking at Roberto’s face when he looked into the camera to see the shot was mega!”

Below is our interview with Carl about the event, along with more photos from ABR as well as Dakar itself. Make sure to follow the Searles brothers via their website (www.s2draceteam.com) or Instagram (@s2d_raceteam) as they prepare for Dakar 2028 — the 50th anniversary of the race!

Searles 2 Dakar: Racer Interview

• It’s so cool to see two brothers racing the Dakar Rally together. Can you tell us a bit about yourselves, your history with motorcycles, and how you guys decided to race Dakar?

We’re two brothers that have grown up together, side by side all our lives, whether it’s mountain biking, snowboarding, 4×4 trucks, travelling the world, we pretty much do it together. Motorbikes started early on in our lives, watching the Dakar Rally from a young age, dreaming that one day we’d be there. Once we started earning money, we started racing motocross.

We did that for a few years, then we then moved into adventure bikes with BMW. That actually landed us jobs working as off-road instructors with BMW at Off Road Skills here in the UK. A few of the other instructors have done Dakar and the boss Simon Pavey has been 10 times!

This led to conversations about us going, and then one day back in early 2023, Craig messaged me saying “fancy racing Dakar” that was the start of a momentous journey. Roll on three years, racing in different countries around the world, we made it to the start line of the Dakar Rally.

• Can you tell us a little about the S2D team, such as other team members and main sponsors?

The original plan wasn’t to start a team, we were going to compete in the Malle Moto class, unsupported. But our dad wasn’t going to let us do this alone, he wanted to be a part of the journey, so the team was started. Dad went out and bought an 11-tonne 4×4 truck, which he worked on for nearly a year prepping for Dakar.

Dad also realized he couldn’t look after both of us and keep both bikes maintained, so a friend of the family Dave Jones stepped in to help. We also drafted in a fully qualified bike mechanic Fred from Boxxer Works; he kept the bikes on point.

With team setup, it’s not long before costs start to spiral, so sponsorship was crucial in getting us there. One entry alone for Dakar is £20,000, plus the bikes at £30,000 each, so it’s easy to get out of control. Some of our main sponsors like Liquitech, TPT Fire, Action Motorcycles Media, Purewater Environmental, and Bennetts Insurance were key to getting us on the start line — without them behind us we would have never got there!

• What’s the make, model, and year of your donor bikes?

Our bikes are the 2023 Husqvarna FR450. It’s a full Dakar Rally race bred machine, as close as you’ll get to a full-on factory bike. They’re built by KTM and only 80 units are made a year.

• For which class were these bikes built?

The bikes qualify to be used in RallyGP, but we don’t, them boys are on another level. So we ride in the Rally2 Class.

• What custom work/upgrades have been done?

Because the bikes are pretty much ready to race, there’s not actually that much needed as far as upgrades. We do bolt on the navigation equipment and safety instruments, but that’s all that we need to do. We did have some very trick custom wheels built, full billet hubs finished in an anodized purple; they were done by Envy Wheels.

• Can you tell us what these Huskies are like to ride?

In the desert they are unreal! The power that KTM pull out of the 450 is insane; also the stability of the bikes when they’re hauling across the dry lake beds and over the dunes is incredible. But here in the UK they’re not actually that good, because they’re tall, no steering lock, powerful and stiff suspension — it makes them a bit harder to ride.

They’re built for the desert, an example we use is “it’s like driving an F1 car around a city center, it just doesn’t work.”

• Can you tell us a bit about your 2026 Dakar experience?

Where to start… there’s so much to tell. The scale of Dakar is incredible, without being there it’s difficult to describe. For example, the Bivouac in Yanbu this year was 2km long and 1km wide, full of teams, individuals, catering, medical center, helicopter parking, admin areas, media areas, fueling — it just keeps going.

The distances of the stages — we rode over 8000km in 14 days, with the longest being 940km, and they just keep coming. Seven days in, a week of riding, and you’re only halfway!

The terrain is like being on another planet, from bedrock, to canyons, to massive sand dunes, to dry riverbeds, to a 4hr section of sand woops, to wide open dry lake beds…and dust and more dust.

Riding together – almost every person we spoke to said we wouldn’t be able to do it, from the different speeds, to navigating and the dust they said it would very difficult. That made us nervous; we had each other’s backs from the start and we didn’t want Dakar to be any different. But we got it done, every single kilometer side by side.

When you’re wheeling your rally bike across the desert, with a helicopter tracking you with a camera, looking at your brother, there is no better feeling.

• Are you planning to race the 2027 Dakar Rally?

Unfortunately Dakar 2027 isn’t going to happen for us. We made the decision to give this year a break; we’ve put three years of our lives getting to the 2026 start line. A lot of fund raising, racing, and money have gone into it. But don’t count us out for 2028, the 50th edition of the Dakar Rally, it’s going to be a big one! Plans are in place for us to go, we’re hoping to have it all set in place and make an announcement soon.