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Photo - Paul Whibley
Courtesy Andy McGechan:
Email Andy: He may just have a photo of you?
Another note from Paul Whibley.
Whibs is campaigning the 2004 season with HONDA RACING FAST EDDY:
If you would like to send Whibs your support he is @ paulwhibley@hotmail.com
Hi,
Well I got back last night after a long 24 hours travelling straight through
from Poland.
The 6 day was a crazy affair this year. I had a different perspective as I
was helping rather than riding, due to NZ not sending a team this year and I
had not long recovered from my back injury.
Day 1- I was riding between tests spotting lines for Eddy and a couple of the British riders. The tests looked pretty boring, all being in flat fields. As the day progressed they got increasingly dusty and cut up in places with alot of powder berms. Kind of stuff that would be good for the Aussies. Eddy finished 3rd on a CRX 250, behind Albergoni on a CRF 250 and Oblucki on a WR 250.
Day 2- This day was a repeat of day 1, and the tests were getting really dusty. Alot of bikes were sucking dust. On the 2nd test of the day one of the British teams outrider bikes got stolen (CRX 250)?? This was the turning point in the event, as things went quickly downhill from here. At the end of the day Rob Meek (club entry) bike wasn't starting and would struggle to start day 3.
Day 3- Dawned with light rain. Meek's bike was dead in the morning. He failed the cold start and couln't even crash start it. So he pulled out for the day, hoping to repair the bike and restart the next day. I rode out to the test and met up with Scotty (out rider for Juan Knight) and he told me one rider had just been killed on the track. He thought he hit a tree. The news shocked everyone but the day was not finished yet. On the way to the next test I saw a mangled car on the side of the road surrounded by emergency services. I later learned that an outrider had t-boned the car, killing the rider and also two of the passengers in the car, a third passenger was left in intensive care. This left everyone feeling numb.
Day 4- Early on day 4 Albergoni (E1 class leader) dropped out with bike problems, this promoted Eddy one spot but he had his work cut out for him trying to catch Oblucki the Polish rider. More bikes were stolen from tests although a lot of the out riders were now on to the dangers and keeping a close eye on their bikes.
Day 5- Rob Meeks bike again failed to start and he was left repairing it for a restart the next day. Late in the day I got news that Eddy was struggling to start his bike and by the end of the day the only option was to crash start it. I went back to the paddock with the mechanic to prepare things for the work period. Eddy needed to change the shims to give the valves more clearance. He did the bulk of the work in the 15 minute work period and had to push to the impound. We allowed 4 minutes for the push but it took 7 so we lost 3 minutes.
Day 6- More bikes were stolen, from the camp site this time. Eddy got his bike finished and was able to start the final MX, but because of the 3 minutes he lost the day before he finished in 12th position. After the E1 MX the riders protested that the track was too dusty and too dangerous to race. So then the organisers cancelled the remaining races.
So it was a pretty eventful ISDE for a lot of the wrong reasons. I heard reports that 24 bikes were stolen during the event?? Two of which were from the British team, they also had one van stolen, another broken into. The Americans had a van broken into. The Aussies had tyres stolen. I also heard of a rider being attacked by spectators with sticks, out in the bush, resulting in his arm being broken. I would bet there was more that happened that I never heard about.
I managed to catch up with Sean Clarke who was over promoting the ISDE in NZ in 2006.
All and all it was a pretty crazy event and I'm glad to be back in England.
The next WEC is in Greece in two weeks time.
Later, Paul
AND MORE HERE: And read the series of postings by Salli b - she has a unique? style of writing and if you didn't know anything about Enduros before you will get an insight? from her. There are 6 postings and best to scroll down and start at - 13.Sep.04 Report by Sally (Paul Jays) girlfriend.
