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There were a heap of dead camels on the first stage, the results of a cull (Murder!? Depends if you are a radical clueless hippy I guess!) This one ended up as a trophy!
Rod Faggoter
Johnny G still on the go
Dog racing
Dave at the refuel
Day 6 started off nicely, with Richard coming around and telling us in as many words that the service crew notes were crap! He went ahead on the route and placed marker arrows for us which was great. It turned out the directions were not really that bad, but I think it was a great move regardless. The first selective was about 80km but the second was nearly 250km! At the first refuel I got a few piccies:
Ivan
David Schwarz
The PWR boys were out in the next stage
Dave and I at the refuel, pics taken by a mate (thanks Jim!)
Dave always wanted to hear the gossip as he pulled in! Half the time we knew nothing but he always asked!
Me in action
Dave
Me
Dave headed off and we went to the second refuel point. I was travelling with Mark McConnell’s crew because we were comfortable apart in the rankings so that Mark could come in and be serviced then Dave could come in without any interference.
Annie Seel was telling the Husaberg crew how she had almost had a head-on with a spectator car in this stage, after making a navigation error. Scary!
The refuel setup
Johnny G
Dave
And that was about it for the day. The last selective was apparently a repeat of the final selective from the day before, but Dave was wary in case there were any changes.
At the service that night we found a problem with the exhaust on the bike. A heat shield had broken off and punched a hole about the size of a 10-cent piece in the exhaust pipe. I went on the scrounge and thanks to a couple of other teams got a tube of maniseal exhaust gasket goo, some heat resistent tape and an empty drink can. We had an exhaust clamp, so I applied generous amounts of maniseal then wrapped the drink can around, more maniseal, heat resistant tape, more maniseal and finally the exhaust clamp! Job done!
I was super impressed at the level of cooperation from the other teams, and cannot thank them enough! Top work fellas!
Jake at refuel
Rod Faggoter had a rear tyre problem, so bad that the tyre had split and as soon as a tube went in it was pinched. His day was over, but, again, he rejoined the race later on. It was interesting to watch him rying to fix the tyre, with the GHR boys looking on, and Geoff Smith giving friendly advice. Rod just played along with it, great sport. I didn’t get a chance to meet him, but I was impressed. I’d like to shake his hand.
Day 5 was a return loop to Laverton. If you didn’t know any better you might just assume that it would be a bit of a rest after the previous few days… yeah right!
The first section of transports and selectives to the refuel was over 300km. There was a splash and dash refuel in there if you needed it – which a lot of folks seemed to! A few blokes ran out of fuel and Bike 82 suffered Ben Grabham’s fate – cooked rear tyre and that was it for the stage.
Dave made it to the refuel no problems and as usual it was a trouble free change of maps and some more bike-juice then he headed off.
A wounded trailer (check the back wheel)
The countryside near the first refuel
Ben at the refuel
Rusty Bysouth, a gentleman and top bloke! Part of the service crew for Dean Belton, bike 23
I saw a lot of this…
Then it was off to the second refuel point (no service today). Man, what a disaster! I had three maps, two GPS’s and written directions, none of which matched the roads out there! I drove around in bloody circles, got stressed out of my brain, thought I had it but found I was still lost and eventually stopped for directions at a farm house. Even that was painful, as the lovely old lady giving directions had a story for every landmark! Great, but I NEED TO GO! I was positive I would miss Dave at the refuel and barrelled down these crappy twin trails with sandy creek crossings, I ended up in 4WD because it was much easier.
Anyway, what was supposed to take less than 2 hours took me nearly 3. Thankfully they were holding riders at the end of the stage until their crews arrived – even better, I still arrived 5 minutes before Dave! What a shocker!!
This was my view:
And here’s Dave coming to the refuel
The dust was crap – again. The back of the ute was chockers with bloody sand – filthy stuff! I kept the tonneau rolled forward after that.
Fifi Box (I mean really, who lets themselves be called FIFI??? What were you thinking girl???) had a spill off a minibike and ended up breaking her wrist – right in front of our ute! To be fair, we did all cheer her! How silly!
This was our camp at Leonora
And a few snaps to give an idea of how packed in we were – 500+ people take a lot of room!
Big service tonight, air filter, oil + filter, new rear tyre and general run-over. We also sorted out the spare wheels to be ready to go – expecting the worst!
Meanwhile, the rest of the riders started to come in and refuel – Darren and Johnny G
Dave
Dave had a navigation lapse in this stage and lost a heap of time. He followed someone – who turned out to be lost themselves!
A random photo…
Dave’s starting sequence at the next selective
Ben takes off
Jake’s turn
AJ
The rest – Paul Isaacs(?)
I am breaking up my old posts so that they display properly. Its the same info as before but I have just added page breaks. Hopefuly it will display better now!
Day 4 dawned and we were headed to Laverton. The two towns are about 160km apart by direct road, but the course went well north and then looped back to Laverton. We were off to a great start when the directions to the first refuel were wrong, as were the GPS coordinates! We tracked it down and I was chuffed to be there early enough to see the first riders come in and take off for the next selective.
Morning at Leonora
At the first refuel point
Ben coming in
The hustle and bustle of the refuel
Mr Blue wrote:
Quote:What’s going on only4 posts since lunchtime, nary a dozen all day???maybe the Viccos got blown off the map, I know we’re experiencing summer temps up here, 34/35/36/37 degree days, but still no excuse to be slackening off on the chit chat is it?
I need mental stimulation Laddies and Lasses, and you’s lot are the most mental I know…
so think of some stuff to post and bloody well post it so I can have an excuse to stop doing work related stuff at work.Bruce
I second what Bluey wrote! Are you all fighting with each other and not talking any more? :laugh:
Moto wrote:
Quote:All the above sounds like good advice to me. I don’t know where you live Corey but if you could get your nipper to one of Dave’s (Ktmrat’s) schools that may be a big help to too. Learning with some other kiddies might have benefits in itself
:ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:
Moto, you have excelled yourself! There is actually some fairly good advice there! I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit! Sorry, that was unexpected! :laugh: :laugh:
