Day 2 Race Report

Day two covered the same course as day one.  The terrain was chewed up on the special tests as another 400 bikes went over the course twice again today [they do 2 loops each day].  The tests were deep sand with the exception of one.  The final 7th test is again on the beach, a MX course along the side of the paddock.

Disaster struck early for England’s David Knight.  He crashed hard in the first special test and did a face plant as he looped the bike.  The result was a mild conclusion and a very sore neck, and he is out of competition.  Knight was in a comfortable 4th overall in the standings when this happened.  This was a huge blow the UK trophy team.

Caselli did the first test with a 7th place and a 5:50.06  this was 2 seconds  slower than yesterday in this same test.  He felt that this test had deteriorated a lot.  This is the same test that took David Knight out for the week.  Kurt won test 6 and remains in 6th place overall.

The Junior trophy team moved up in the standings all day with some terrific rides from Russell Bobbitt, Jamie Lanza and Cory Buttrick.  In special test number 6 David Kamo who has had a spectacular ride had the ignition wiring on his KTM 530 literally melt.  The bike just stopped in the test.  He ran back to his backpack and planned to replace the black box.  It did not good and he then noticed his wiring harness fried near the left footpeg.  The Juniors are now in the same position as the trophy team,  All scores count for the next 3 days.  They are doing extremely well and could conceivably win it all, but they need to have a flawless performance the rest of the week.

Samuli Aro for the Finland trophy team continues to lead overall.  He did this by winning test 1, 3, 4, and 7.  his riding is making quite a statement for the guy that says this is his last ISDE before retiring.

The women’s team had a good day.  Maria Forsberg was setting a good pace.  Mandy Mastin was happy with her ride.  Lacy Jones put in a solid ride today, but had trouble with her rear tire change and had to roll the bike into the parc ferme with the rear change not done.  She will have 10 minutes in the AM to change the tire.

The fastest club rider on Team USA after Day 1 was Ryan Powell. He ended yesterday in 1st place in the C2 class, but Day 2 was not very nice to him. Powell seized the upper end on his YZ250 2 stoke on the second loop today.  Not sure exactly where it happened,  but it appears that the heat and the sand finally did the engine in.

We will post the team results as soon as we have them.  At this point Team USA is very much in the running with the three top teams, but all riders have to do well.  The support teams for Team USA are fantastic and this means a lot to a strong result.

While you are waiting for the results to be calculated check out Day 1 Video or some photos from the day: