Australasian Safari 2011 – Race Day 5

Magnus:

Laverton to Leonora.

Only a fuel stop today. The first stage up to the fuel stop where Richie, Murph, Kelvin, Andrew and me went turned out to be a carnage. At the fuel stop we can only assist the riders with food and fuel no service on the bikes are allowed.

Sam was first to this stop. His navigation tower had cracked all the way through on one side so it was flapping back and fwd as he rode the bike. He did a quick fix with cable ties which turned out to last him the day, none of us believed it would .

Sams cracked navigation tower at the fuel stop today

We received reports that Manuel had a big crash and he was heli lifted out of the stage.

As Damien came up to the position where Manuel crashed Manuel was basically knocked out and the blood was running from his nose so Damien called for a helicopter. Manuel turned out to be quite ok given the circumstances and he will be riding tomorrow again…

Manuel's crashed bike, front view

Manuel's crashed bike rear view

Then Ben got in to the fuel stop. Ben had problems with a motor that was leaking cooling liquid, as we could not touch the bike (race rules) we could only give him advice, more water and a good luck.

Garry had a fall at the exact same spot as Manuel and broke his navigation tower so he had to find another rider to follow back to the finish.

Garry's crashed bike. the navigation tower all bent

When we got back to the camp round 3 pm a few of our bikes was already there and the work had begun as we arrived. I got the news that Damien’s motor broke down at the end of the stage. Mick stopped and towed him back and the motor needed to be replaced.

Ritchie and me working on removing Damien's motor

 

 

Working on removing Damien's motor

 

 

Still working on Removing Damien's motor

 

 

Damien's motor removed

Big day for the team but I believe we will have all our riders back on the track tomorrow.

 

Agnes:

Agnes sends her regards and saying that she’s to tired this evening to write anything, but she’ll be back tomorrow  … so to be continued.

 

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