2011 Australasian Safari Rally, Perth Australia

[DrewP]

SO much kick ass.

Keep safe, and knock 'em dead mate!

[Mezzanine]

Yeah my headlight and footpegs bumped me from showroom to production. Getting ready for a 250 mile van ride north.


Husaberg girls:

The two blondes put their belts on backwards.

[Crazyswede]

big bad crash today. broken thumb, entire left side bruised. very very painful crash. details later...wish i had a camera as the bike was entwined in a fence and suspended off the ground upside down. tomorrow we find out if i need pins in my thumb or not

[Luke]

Ouch, really bummed to hear that but I am glad that all things considered you are doing ok it sounds like? Fill us in on the details when you can.

[Geoff]

Doh! I know Seth lost a day due to a fuel issue (bad pump I think) but then got back in it. Sucks about the crash but it sounds like he's had a great time regardless! I'm glad you're OK (for the most part) Seth!

From the Advrider forum:

Well had an interesting day today. long day with over 500 km of stages. up at 4:30 am and off the line at 7:46. first stage was about 250 km long and it was a real blast. some rough sections, some low and high speed deep sand, and some absolutely fantastic fast sweeping sections. the 690 was awesome. i stopped to help jaybo sort out a fuel issue. towards the end off the stage i was very low on fuel and cut the pace way back. 3km from the end i found a quad rider on the ground with what he figured was a broken leg. a truck had stopped for him so i stayed and let the truck go. he had hit this nasty square edged ledge and it sounded like he went over the bars and the quad ran him over. he was stable so i fetched the quad from the tree it was parked in and parked it up the road for a warning and some protection. when the helicopter came in it was crazy...they landed fast and close and we blast with sand etc. so then i let there...hit service, swapped road books, ate half a sandwich, drank a power aid and headed off.

Stage 2: 300+ km.

at the start of the stage there was one bike in front of me and the entire field of trucks behind. the one bike opted to wait for the trucks to go. i opted to go ahead of them as i needed the practice for being passed by trucks. my minute counted down and i took off with a 4 minute lead on the first truck. my rhythm was good, good speed, dec on with navigation. around 47km in the track met a wire fence line and turned to follow. my speed through section was between 60km/h and 100km/h because it was rather rough. earlier in the day i had hit 160km/h on a fence line. there were several notes for "road goes right around object" in these spots the road deviates from the fence line around the object and then returns...makes it easy to see , slow, and deal with the object. Well....at km 49 there was a stay right around mound. i estimate i was doing about 60mph (100km/h) on the approach....looking for the turn in the road. well there was no turn but there was a mound. i hit it going close to 60mph. the impact was bad. my hands stayed on he bars but my feet were in the air...my bike was in the air...i had a good flight...landed ugly, hit a second hump and bounced. landed again aimed 30 degrees...maybe.....towards the fence. Next i hit the 4 wire fence....as the bike slid along the fence my momentum carried my body over the fence and he bike revolved over the top as well. the cables were thoroughly entwined around the bike. we slid along until the ext post where we parted company...rapidly. this all happened in about 3 seconds. with the bike parked it was time to find a place for me to set dan gently. luckily the area was as smooth and hard as a tennis court and littered with fist sized jagged rocks. i figured i went about 5 or 10 feet through the air before landing on my head and shoulder. i bounced and slid a couple of times...all with my eyes closed. i will not lie...i have never felt so much pain in my life . when i came to a stop everything hurt. i laid on my side for a couple om minutes and slowly assessed my condition. when everything seemed to work i got to my knees. then i got to my feet. my right thumb had no strength, my left shoulder hurt a lot, and my hip was bruised. my jacket was torn....oh, the bike was tangled in the fence completely upside down and only the left bar was touching the ground. i managed to get my gear off, check mysql out, then called rally control. i am happy to say i had a good 15 to 20 minute lead on the truck that started 4 minutes behind.

so control sent the medic truck out to get me and recovery got my bike. damage to the bike appears to be limited to one broken zip tie

damage to Seth: right thumb is broken, currently in a cast, and tomorrow i fin out if it will be pinned left shoulder is bruised, muscles work under protest. right knee bruised...good armor did its job. left hip is road washed and very bruised. Head is fine, as well as spine and neck. so, my safari is over i was at the doctors office with Rod Faggotter and and Nigel...dont know las name.

At least he can still type for the most part and is in good spirits and doing OK.

SETH - PLEASE COME SEE KELLY FOR THERAPY ON YOUR THUMB AND SHOULDER WHEN YOU GET BACK! She'll get you recovered quickly and should be able to get you back to full working order. Don't believe any doctor who tells you, "Just let it heal and you'll be fine."

Husaberg girls:

LOL!

[SwedeSport]

Based on the description of the incident, it really sounds like you lucked out. A broken thumb and some bruises sounds like chump change, considering how much worse it could have been.


Sucks that you didnt finish, but look at the bright side,... you'll have more quality time with the Husaberg girls. Maybe you can play the sympathy card?

[Jordan]

TL;DR
MONGO HIT THUMB ON EARTH DESERT. MONGO HAVE BOO BOO. MONGO MAKE FRIEND WITH PRETTY LADY




Tough luck....speedy recovery!

[Crazyswede]

Just uploaded a clip of a very scary fenceline during the Safari...not the one I crashed on...but gives you an idea of the conditions and dangers even though the road surface wasn't all that technical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzEKIUtuxxs

at 2:35 I take a pretty good branch hit.

[Geoff]

Stage notes would look like this:
START into 10,000 R6+ short into L6+ short
20,000 L6+ short 5,000 R6+ short
8,000 (Tree on R)

[Crazyswede]

Stage notes would look like this:
START into 10,000 R6+ short into L6+ short
20,000 L6+ short 5,000 R6+ short
8,000 (Tree on R)

pretty close. The first couple of days had lots of straight sections.....you just have to have the courage to hold the throttle wide open in 6th gear for 10 minutes at a time.

[Crazyswede]

my collision video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3sXrtn7C34

[99Super]

The other guy seems pretty cool about it.
Why did you stop just after?

john

[KPAero]

Was wondering the same thing. Were you just letting the other guy get back in front? Looks fun though.

[Crazyswede]

yes we got along fine after. I went and talked to him in the bivouac that night and there were no hard feelings. I stopped afterwards because my ICO (trip meter) had stopped counting. So I stopped to try and figure out why. Turns out the impact severed the sensor cable so I had to ride the remaining 140km without an odo.

[Jordan]

Next time you should take one of these... It might be safer... for you at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gUMFN8J ... _embedded#!