Holy Cow! Folks things are getting more interesting each day!
Yes, Kurt Caselli had blown a corner in a special test because of the dust issue. Got back onto the course after wrecking and all, but was off by maybe 10 feet from where he went out. The Italian Course Marshall wanted to penalize him MAXIMUM points of 5 minutes (ya know they don't want Kurt to be out in front so far)! The penalty is 1 minute now. And as you can see by the www.isde2008.gr <http://www.isde2008.gr> website (see LIVE) he is not in 1st any more!
THEN there is Nathan Woods, who had an electrical problem on Day 1, and then came back on Day 2 to just beat the crud out of everyone on the motocross track (special test 1 & 4). He did so by 2 seconds and this put him at 6th overall for the Day 2 score (not combined)! As soon as he was coming in for the day, the officials immediately SOUND CHECKED him and required him to change the exhaust system for Day 3. They seem to only pick on the USA guys that really go fast and are considered a threat to some other riders. We are waiting to see who else they really focus on!
Meanwhile, on the club team side of things, it was Luke McNeil (former club teammate of David from a few years ago) that was bit by a spider (at least that's what they suspect). He has a huge and very nasty lump on his back. The local doctors do not know what it is. His girl friend said it look similar to lime's disease, but the colors are not the same. He can not get out of bed and is on medication. Last night they were taking digital pictures of it to send back to the USA for another medical opinion. Rory Sullivan told me this morning that the spiders here are vicious and actually attack people and even chase them....I'm really not sure if he was kidding or serious, but David Kamo is sure scared! No forest tests for him in case of spiders! Ha!
Speaking of Rory Sullivan. You'll see his times on the Moto track test 1 & 4 are pretty fast! He has been doing well, however, yesterday, Day 2, he broke his shift lever off. Then he had a heck of a time trying to fix it last night. This morning, he plans to change it and be back on his game.
Fred Hoess said he had trouble getting around a lot of other riders (same thing we've been hearing from Abbott, Kamo and all). Fred has been coming to 6 days for many years. He said this is the worst! Riders are not as polite as they have been in the past! Then with the dust factor added in, it makes for a very challenging ride!
Kyle K, from Boise, is doing much better today! His tires are holding up. I spent some time with his Mom in the Home pit today. She was busy as ever and doing a great job pitting Kyle. Kyle also had a close encounter with a car today. He told his Mom and I at the noon pit that he was going under a road (through a little narrow tunnel) and a car clipped his rear wheel which sent him and the bike off the road! Both he and his bike were okay! Thank goodness.
David, Kurt C. and Nathan K. have been helping Kyle with some great ISDE pointers. It's nice to see the trophy (and Jr) team help out other riders. In most countries, they actually groom the younger riders for the Jr. and Trophy teams. Plus they select the top riders from their country for those teams - very much like what Rich had done with the Jr. Team in New Zealand (when they won the event) and this year with the USA Trophy 'Dream' Team! I must tell you that it has the other countries getting very nervous with the competition that the USA Trophy team has come in with.
The Jr. Team has suffered some set backs - and Day 2 was another tough day for them. Joe's bike was running really bad in a special test. He finally figured out that the gas line had a hole in it. He was able to repair the tubing with the tools and supplies in his bum pack (as the Aussie's say) and was back racing. However, he lost route time.
David seemed in good spirits this morning as he headed out for Day 3 - I watched part of the motocross and he looked like he was pinning it...okay maybe pinning it for a desert racer is a bit over stated...but he still looked good. The KTM 300 is running well.
The woman are doing super - Maria was 2nd for Day 2 and that has brought her up to 3rd for the 2 day total time and much closer to the 2nd place woman. Amanda is hanging in there - told Nathan Woods and I this morning, it was her short legs that was giving her problems on the long steep mountain hills. Nichole is doing well and is very solid.
Just in case you missed the elevation change that these riders are doing every day, the parc ferme/paddock area is at about 150' and the top of the mountain at the ski lodge is about 5200' - David had trouble getting his ears to pop yesterday! HA! No doubt!
For the most part, our riders still look good and as of the morning of day 3 they are keeping themselves up beat and focusing!
Okay, back down to the pits to wash some air filters...fun, fun!
Thanks,
David's Mom
