Juan Carlos ''Chavo'' Salvatierra

Having Chavo Salvatierra as a family member can be honorable but at the same time risky. I say this due to the fact that he expects me to train at the same rythm he is training. I try to avoid his training calls but at the end of the day, training makes the master. Chavo has come a long way to become who he is today. He is considered to be the most successfull athlete Bolivia has ever had. To begin with, he used to race in Bolivia and won 9 national championships. He began racing at an old age when he was 15 years old. I think what helped Chavo was the fact that his dad distributed Honda and Kawasaki. This allowed him to see and be passionate about motorcycles. 

                                  

Question: What did it take to become a national champion?

Answer: I had to train at least four times a week on the motorcycle. At the track, i would practice start drills and corner drills. I would go for a cycle run at 5 am each morning. To create muscles, I would go to the gym three times a week.

Chavo was always looking to race international races until he heard about the Dakar. He got really interested in it and decided to give it a try. He knew it was one of the most physicall demanding races rally has to offer so he started training. He told me that he felt he could have trained a little more but he felt he needed to race. His first Dakar went extremely well breaking the stadistics. He finished top 35 out of 250 racers who many of them didnt have the ability of finishing. 

                                             Chavo was welcomed back home

Question: How was your first Dakar?

Answer: It was more than what i expected. Everything was harder and i knew i had to work 10 time harder to be able to accomplish something.

Chavo's second Dakar went pretty well. He improved and even got top 10 in one stage. He was third in various checkpoints and finished top 25 overall. He proved what he was made of. He told me that he knew what he needed training and pushed even harder for the 2012 Dakar. Overall, he was kind of satisfied because he knew he could have done better so he decided to wait for 2013.

                                                      Chavo hitting that dune.

Question: Did you feel anything different this edition?

Answer: Everything was different. The bike, my stamina, my knowledge everything improved. This is why i had a better result.

2013 was a successfull year for Chavo. After hiring the all time Dakar champion, he was more ready than ever. He decided to switch teams and trained even harder. I must say that 2013 was a better year for him because his whole family supported him throughout the whole race. We supported him and the expectations are getting higher every year. Chavo is expecting a top 10 for the next year or so. We hope he accomplishes his goal and puts Bolivia's name in Dakar history.

You can see my cousing pointing at Chavo sinc

-e we were tired of waiting for him. We missed him!

Podium

Question: Are you proud with this years result?

Answer: I am not that proud of this years result. I mean, I improved but due to bike problems I couldnt show everything i had. We will do it next year.