Kevin Benavides doesn’t keep in mind a lot about his accident in Could that prevented him from racing the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s Desafío Ruta 40 in his residence 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 largely 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 once they determined to go to Mantillo MX Park and get some laps in. In addition to 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 approach round, Luciano is the one who entices me,” remarked Kevin. “We had completed a roadbook of virtually 400 kilometres that day at over 4000 metres of altitude for over 5 hours. I used to be a little bit drained, however I needed to do motocross that day.
“Actually, I don’t know what occurred that precipitated me to fall and hit my head so arduous. It wasn’t simply my head: I broke my humerus, my elbow, I lower the radial nerve, additionally some accidents within the cervical backbone which made it noticeable that it was an enormous fall. The kind of head damage I had known as a diffuse axonal damage. I don’t keep in mind how the autumn occurred. I keep 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 during which the mind’s nerve fibres, or axons, are disconnected when broken. DAIs are one of the extreme TBIs that one might 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 highest of his proper 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, after I awoke 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 advised me he had fallen, so that they introduced my brother and put him within the room subsequent to me in remedy. So there we have 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 successful his second Dakar Rally in 2023. He missed three of the subsequent 4 rounds in 2023 with a damaged femur adopted by a fractured wrist, the latter sidelining him for that yr’s DR 40; his solely different race was the Sonora Rally, the place he raced pretty conservatively as he was getting back from the femur damage.
“That’s essentially the most painful half, making these you like endure,” Benavides concluded. “I’ve a household of metal who has been capable of cope with very arduous days and have at all times been there for me. I additionally need to thank all of the medical doctors and inform them that I’m going to get well, I’m going to come back again, and I’m going to maintain giving my finest daily.”
On the newest Dakar in January, he received three phases and completed fourth total. Benavides and Purple Bull KTM Manufacturing facility Racing usually are not working the total season, with Argentina—the penultimate spherical of 2024—supposed to be his first race since Dakar. KTM didn’t seem on the DR 40 in any respect as his team-mate Matthias Walkner is out resulting from a extreme leg damage whereas Toby Value left the group in March.
