Fabrizio Meoni (31 December 1957 – 11 January 2005) was an Italian

off-road Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...

and

rallying Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruisin ...

racer. He was a member of the

KTM KTM AG (Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen, formerly KTM Sportmotorcycle AG) is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and sports car manufacturer owned by Pierer Mobility AG and the Indian manufacturer Bajaj Auto. It was formed in 1992 but traces ...

Factory Team.

Biography

Meoni was born in

Castiglion Fiorentino Castiglion Fiorentino () is a small, walled city in eastern Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Arezzo, between the cities of Arezzo and Cortona. It is known for its annual festivals and its Etruscan archeological site. History Due to the overall ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Meoni was married and had two children, Gioele and Chiara.
On May 22, 2021, his daughter Chiara died at the age of 18.

Career

He won the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

. According to the rally's organizers, Meoni was considered "one of the greatest rally-raid champions ever". He also won the

Rallye des Pharaons The Rallye des Pharaons (French for "Pharaohs Rally") was a rally-raid event that took place in Egypt between 1982 and 2015. Cairo was both the starting and finishing point at the foot of the pyramids of Giza, and the rally covered roughly around . ...

in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.

Death

He died at age 47 near

Kiffa Kiffa () is a large town in the far south region of Mauritania, and the name of an administrative area within the local Assaba Region. Kiffa is located at , some from the coast and at the western end of the Aoukar sand sea of southern Maurita ...

, Mauritania, caused by a crash on 11 January 2005 on the 11th stage of the

2005 Dakar Rally 2005 Dakar Rally also known as the 2005 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 27th running of the Dakar Rally event. The 2005 event was long, began in Barcelona on 31 December 2004 and passed through Morocco, Mauritania and Mali before ending at Dakar in S ...

. His official cause of death was cardiac arrest, according to his official website, although his injuries included cervical spine damage. Since the competitors did not want to continue racing the next day, the 12th stage of the rally was cancelled for all motorcycles in honor of Meoni. Jose Manuel Perez of Spain, another motorcyclist with the KTM Team, also died during the rally several days earlier. Meoni was "the 11th motorcyclist to die in the history of the gruelling race and the 45th competitor overall."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meoni, Fabrizio 1957 births 2005 deaths Enduro riders Italian motorcycle racers Motorcycle racers who died while racing Off-road motorcycle racers Sport deaths in Mauritania Dakar Rally motorcyclists Dakar Rally winning drivers Sportspeople from Arezzo People from Castiglion Fiorentino