Kevin Benavides doesn’t bear in mind a lot about his accident in May that prevented him from racing the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s Desafío Ruta 40 in his house nation. Most of this stems from the diffuse axonal damage he sustained to his mind, amongst a rash of fractured bones and different accidents that necessitated surgical procedure. After staying principally silent within the month because the crash, Benavides went public on Monday to debate what occurred and his rehabilitation.
He and his youthful brother Luciano Benavides had wrapped up DR 40 coaching in Salta for the day after they determined to go to Mantillo MX Park and get some laps in. Apart from the pinnacle damage, he additionally broke his left elbow, left humerus, a part of his cervical backbone, and tore a radial nerve.
“I needed to do a little bit of motocross. Usually it’s the opposite manner round, Luciano is the one who entices me,” remarked Kevin. “We had achieved a roadbook of just about 400 kilometres that day at over 4000 metres of altitude for over 5 hours. I used to be slightly drained, however I needed to do motocross that day.
“Actually, I don’t know what occurred that triggered me to fall and hit my head so laborious. It wasn’t simply my head: I broke my humerus, my elbow, I reduce the radial nerve, additionally some accidents within the cervical backbone which made it noticeable that it was a giant fall. The kind of head damage I had is known as a diffuse axonal damage. I don’t bear in mind how the autumn occurred. I bear in mind only a few issues about that day. The benefit of not remembering my fall is that I already need to journey my bike once more.”
A diffuse axonal damage is a traumatic mind damage through which the mind’s nerve fibres, or axons, are disconnected when broken. DAIs are probably the most extreme TBIs that one may endure, leading to comas or extreme impairment. Benavides was taken into intensive care, the place his process took twice so long as scheduled.
Whereas Kevin underwent surgical procedure, Luciano was knocked out of the DR 40 when he fractured the top of his right femur after crashing in Stage #1.
“The identical day I used to be being operated on, which began at 8 AM, supposedly it was going to final 4 hours and it was eight, once I wakened the very first thing I requested was how Luciano was as a result of it was the primary day of the Desafío Ruta 40,” he recalled. “They instructed me he had fallen, so that they introduced my brother and put him within the room subsequent to me in remedy. So there we had been, I used to be in room 612 and he was in room 614. I didn’t neglect these numbers. At the very least we made it simpler: they visited me after which they handed by to go to my brother.”
The older Benavides has struggled with accidents since winning his second Dakar Rally in 2023. He missed three of the subsequent 4 rounds in 2023 with a broken femur adopted by a fractured wrist, the latter sidelining him for that year’s DR 40; his solely different race was the Sonora Rally, the place he raced pretty conservatively as he was coming back from the femur damage.
“That’s probably the most painful half, making these you’re keen on endure,” Benavides concluded. “I’ve a household of metal who has been in a position to take care of very laborious days and have at all times been there for me. I additionally need to thank all of the docs and inform them that I’m going to get better, I’m going to return again, and I’m going to maintain giving my greatest day-to-day.”
On the newest Dakar in January, he gained three levels and completed fourth general. Benavides and Purple Bull KTM Manufacturing facility Racing are not running the full season, with Argentina—the penultimate spherical of 2024—meant to be his first race since Dakar. KTM didn’t seem on the DR 40 in anyway as his team-mate Matthias Walkner is out because of a severe leg injury whereas Toby Price left the crew in March.
