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Photo - Paul Whibley in action in Europe:
Another note from Paul Whibley.
If you would like to send Whibs your support he is @ PaulWhibley@hotmail.com
Hi
Katherine and I had to drive the Sprinter to the final WEC in Germany. There was some debate in the Fast Eddy team as to whether we would actually make it to the race, or if we would become hopelessly lost in Europe. We started out travelling together with Eddy, following him in his camper. At about three in the morning we parked up in a gas station to go to sleep while Eddy carried on. At 7.30am we were up and into it. Katherines' navigating and map reading skills were in doubt, but we made it. We also were about three hours in front of Eddy!
I've raced at the venue in Germany before so I new it was going to be a hell
of a hard race. The extreme test was a monster starting at the bottom of a
400 metre rocky hill. We had to claw our way up, turn and drop back down
over rocky outcrops then turn again at the bottom on a narly off camber and
then start straight back up.
They had 2 cross tests and an enduro test which was tough as well. With
lots of exposed roots from previous events, and another nasty hill thrown in
for good measure.
The race on Saturday didn't go so well for me. The trail time was quite tight and as the course deteriorated most people lost time, I lost 2 minutes but this was OK as Salminan also lost 2, most others lost more. At the next check I informed the pit crew that I had lost 2 minutes. As the time was tight anyway a quick gas up and a change to dry gloves and I was off. The crew told me what time I was due at the time control and told me to hurry up as I only had 30 seconds so I rushed into the check - but they had forgotten to add my lost trail time to my check in time. So I ended up going in early. I can't blame the pit crew though as I should have checked my time myself before I went in. Never mind, shit happens.
At the end of the day I thought I had finished 7th cause I had lost a lot less trail time than others. It seems that when the races get hard a lot of the riders struggle. Anyway there was a lot of bitching and moaning about how hard the day was so the results and times were edited by the organiser. Some test times were canned and some trail time was given back. The result of this pushed me back to 12th on the day.
Day 2 there was some track changes and the course was made a lot easier. I finished up 9th on day 2 and 6th overall in E2 for 2004. Sixth was a good result that I am really happy with as this year there are three classes instead of the five last year. This meant that the competition was a lot stiffer.
At the moment I am in the middle of contract negotiations for next year. I was really hoping to stay with Honda next season but the team I was riding for has changed it's focus for next year. So there maybe something new and exciting on the cards.
I will be back home on the 11th, so I look forward to catching up with
everyone at some local races.
Thanks to everyone who sent emails of support throughout the year.
Katherine and Paul
