August 30, 2002: Midgame Friday is another transit day for the family friendly TeamStrange staff minivan. We pulled out of Beaudry Motorsports after thanking Steve and his crew for their top notch hospitality. If you ever have the opportunity, you owe it to yourself to pay the shop a visit. The extensive range of motorcycles offered is comes with a friendly, can-do attitude. While ButtLite 3 may have been the first LD event hosted by Beaudry, we're sure it won't be the last. As some readers may have noticed from the results, the Windstar has been informally competing in the rally. Despite being handicapped by our intimate knowledge of bonus locations and our willingness to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt on rule interpretation, we have been able to claw our way up to 29th place overall. Our first stop on this leg's quest for total world domination was at Stonehenge in Maryhill, Washington. The bonus sits high on a ridge "hewn out of the living rock," overlooking a fantastic view of the Columbia River. As we took in the scenery the opening notes of Spinal Tapp's "Stonehenge" wafted out of the van's speakers. The riders who showed up could only look on in amazement as we jigged to The Tapp beneath the shadows of STONEHENGE. (By the way, there has been a Stonehenge on every leg of the rally thus far. I wonder if anyone has noticed a pattern yet?) In ordinary circumstances, three separate deer strikes on one leg would be newsworthy. Tom Roe, Joe Ray and Robert Johannesen all entered the Loyal Order of Bambikillers and remain in the rally, to the great amusement of scorer Dale "Death to All Deer" Wilson, down from Washington to assist with scoring. On this rally, though, the real motorcyclist vs. animal story comes courtesy of Steve Eversfield, our rider from the UK, who entered Beaudry Motorsports with porcupine quills poking out of his boots. Eversfield was dangling his legs off of his ST's footpegs when he came upon the hapless creature. Foot met porcupine with force a footballer would envy, leaving little doubt as to the outcome (Two Legs 1, Four Legs nil). We hope Steve returns home with a positive impression of the colonies despite his encounters with sharp pointy animals and Paul Pelland. We have often speculated on what would happen if Paul ever found himself riding modern machinery. Despite failing to secure the Bob's mug (he didn't even look at his routesheets until he reached Billings), Paul has held on to fourth place heading into point laden Leg Three. When we pulled out of the checkpoint at 1400, Pelland was still hunched over his laptop, considering the options. Rider 11 continued to think while out on the course, though not always about the event. At one point he called the hot line wondering if we could supply the CB handle for the grandpa from Dukes of Hazzard (anyone?). If Paul continues to run his own rally, he is certainly in the running for a top finish. Canadian riders Mike Hutsal and Russ Sauter rose in the standings, Hutsal most dramatically from 21st place on Leg One to Second Place on Leg Two. Mike is no stranger to laying down miles, and he certainly knows his way around a route sheet. The one kink in his plan is a well flattened rear tire on his G/S, sustained shortly after leaving Beaudry. Mike told me he had every intention of making Bakersfield on time, but it remains to be seen what impact repair efforts will have on his bonus hunting abilities. Sauter stepped quietly up to the scoring table and presented his paperwork. He appeared dissatisfied with his efforts and I expected a low score in light of his demeanor. When the monstrous points he earned popped out of the computer he modestly explained that he hoped to do better but that this would have to do. Indeed. Readers could do worse than keep their eye on this rider. And what about Todd Witte? What was behind his fall from first to 12th place? Our Minneapolis intelligence weasels proved accurate in that Todd did, in fact, attempt the 8 state capitals bonus, but abandoned the attempt part way into the leg. This bonus is one of several "zero sum" bonuses offered on the rally, in the sense that riders attempting them will likely either do very well (if successful) or very poorly (if not). Witte's abandonment of the bonus forced him to basically pick up whatever pieces he could at the point of abandonment, as opposed to planning a cogent route from start to finish. It is a testament to Todd's grit and determination that he managed to stop his fall from the top ten at 12th place. Dale Wilson described Todd as looking "rough around the edges" upon arrival at Post Falls. Leg Two setback aside, readers will be making an error to cross Witte off of their short list. The new FJR is performing flawlessly, and if its rider can ramp his intensity level back up, the combination will be dangerous to fellow competitors. To some extent the mug mystery has been solved. In most cases, riders made a conscious decision to forgo a forty mile ride worth 999 points. Bob Ray and Rick Snyder debated the wisdom of getting the mug versus letting it go, until Bob's no nonsense declaration of "I don't go backwards" apparently won Rick over, as neither headed east out of Monticello. Will Outlaw's decision to pass on Bob's was more chronological than philosophical. Outlaw was under the mistaken belief that the Moon checkpoint was held being held on Monday, and he didn't want to stay overnight to get the mug. When Will was informed that the checkpoint and the bonus both occurred on Tuesday, it took a few minutes for him to leave his co-existent time sphere and return to our dimension. "I can't believe I forgot what day it was," he said, "It really seemed like Monday up there." The riders on this event are, as a group, absolutely fantastic to work with. Today, Wes McCann and Bob Wooldridge called the hotline, simply to report what a great time they were having riding together. Even when they are handed adversity, this bunch responds with a grin. Example: as some spectators suspected, the battery in Rick Miller's Concours failed en route, forcing Rick to keep his bike running on an almost constant basis. "I turned it off when I slept twice," he told us, "but I made sure to park on a hill both times." Rick has run a very solid rally thus far, and has more than once spotted nuances on the routesheets that many others passed over. He's sitting in 16th place coming in to Bakersfield, and with the right run on Leg Three, could be poised for a run at the top. Eleven riders were time barred in Idaho, a number far exceeding our expectations. Some simply bit off more than they could chew, while others succumbed to mechanical problems. Of the three riders time barred at Moon Motors, only Mike Etlicher is back with the field for Leg Three. These events offer many "rallies within the rally," and here's one: while a finish in the top ten is likely out of the question for Mike, you watch as he starts to storm across the last half of the event. This is when the event starts to get interesting. Riders who have been sitting comfortably mid pack will not start to make their move. Eric Jewell, no stranger to strong finishes, said it best: "There's lots of rally left." Find out how it unfolds right here. Printable Version |
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