Amageza 2014 with a Jagsding

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Can't wait for the rest........ :ricky:
 
Justin, despite being dog tired had some mozzie induced insomnia. I found him the next morning in the passenger seat of the Pajero. Just reward I thought for keeping me up the previous night.

An early morning stroll around the Upington showground camp site revealed some of the punters. It was good to meet some of familiar faces and greet the new.

Neil was showing how to fight with a Moose, ok a mousse. I was going to offer a hand, but shit, it looked like hard sweaty work and I had been told by my mental coach Justin to stay in full lazy mode so continued with the camp stroll.



Brave boy. Eddie and his HP2.





Gather boys and toys and this is the inevitable…



Eddy to Race had some serious toys!



Right, let’s get scrutineering over with. This year they seemed more serious. Some really impressive machines!





The two responsible for the this whole jaunt Wayne and Alex;





You only get in with one of these.



Ian or MaxthePanda, is a writer that I quite enjoy on the forum and it was good to finally meet him in the flesh. He, like many others, were doing their first rally. Everyone was impressively well prepared.





Jonathan was doing an overland trip from the UK, took a wrong turn and found himself in the Scrutineering queue. Being a Pom, where they love queues immensely and are overly polite he was quite bemused to find himself in a slight detour on his way to the Cape.



There’s always one fatty at the party.



Some chaps have all the luck. They pay their money, pitch with a helmet and get one of these and get pampered for the week. The proper way to do it!



Finally, I was into the shed where the scrutineering was taking place.



The guys checked absolutely everything on the bike and my kit. Any leaks? Everything legal? Comprehensive first aid and emergency kit?







Justin had figured out what was being looked at and had me through in  record time by having everything to hand when asked. Hmmm, he might just be of some value…

He sells cars, he has a practised eye and cast it over the only side by side on the rally, they had an interesting licence disc….



The organisers had provided, for a few extra Rands, a really vital set of accessories for the race.



Home



Justin had, with great foresight, erected his almost on top of the septic tank.  

The weather was threatening and did follow through. I thought this was great for the race as the promised sand could only be far better for it.



Dinner was a reasonably subdued affair





Tomorrow was the prologue. I’d never done one before and was curious about how it would play out. The idea was that it would give us our starting positions.

It was an early evening.
 
Good Stuff. I am going to enjoy this one...!!!
 
You crack me up...  :spitcoffee:  You couldn't dream up a more entertaining team pairing, Team KamJag
 
very entertaining and as always a great read - thanks Kamanya and Jagsding  :thumleft:
 
Prologue day.



A really sad moment. Tragic family matters had ended the dream;



We would take his bike back home for him.

What very quick quad riders do to bikes



Some last minute fettling. I caught Justin helping out the opposition – just can’t get decent loyal help these days!



His words of wisdom to Robert



Even did some daydreaming



That’s a Factory KTM sponsored riders bike, a certain Mr Van Neikirk.


After a briefing to let us know what was to happen, we all trooped off to a track adjacent to the showground, literally a stones throw away.

Upington’s petrol heads were on the stands. The wind was humping and 77 other guys were all decked out and ready to get at it. The anticipation was high.

I’ve never been on a track of any sort tar or MX. Thomas Eich had mentioned that it was slippery gravel and that there was a deep sand pit too. Thomas can ride really well. Hmmm.

We were given one lap as a parade/sighter. It was pretty squirelly. There were 6 long straights into 180 degree hairpins. There was jumps and table tops too. Braking is not the beasts forte. Or MX type stuff. Turning neither. Getting too excited would only end in tears.









The above mentioned factory rider. He truly is blitzing!





My goal for the whole race was first to finish and then hopefully to finish in the top half of the field. A prologue is mildly important to these modest goals only in that being that the next two days were sand, starting  right at the back would be tough. Having 70 other guys plough up the sand would not be fun. Rudi who was on the only other 950 made the point about the sand whilst we were waiting for the prologue. For us, on the big bikes sand is not as fun.

We were to be set off in threes and our starting set off positions were in reverse order of our numbers. The numbers were given according to where we finished last year. I was 9th but 3 guys ahead of me didn’t’ return for this year and by sheer co-incidence I got to keep my last year’s number – 106. Peter who was number one seed as a result was no. 101. I’d be in the second last heat.

Wayne was the commentator/announcer. As we got closer to our turn he didn’t help by telling the spectators that the last 15 or so guys were the fastest and highest seeds, “the best in the country and some internationally”. That maybe so for the others but I certainly wasn’t anywhere near as quick. I was there only because I finished last year and didn’t make as many mistakes as other far faster guys.

Rudi’s & Roberts heat



Justin got to me just before we were sent off, “you can’t win anything but you can certainly lose tons. Chill! Just nurse it around.”

“Hell, I need a beer!” was my dry mouthed reply.

“Ha! I’ve had about 4 already! I found Rickus’ cousin Nicks cooler box, you should see it, it’s half the size of the bakkie” Nick had generously changed my tires out for the Pajero earlier in the morning and I’d got a great deal on some second-hand ones.

I was just going to go slow and make sure I didn’t crash. The other two could duke it out.







Some really seriously quick guys



= Wipe the video camera. Sadly, I didn’t have “turn it on FFS!” for the prologue. Absolute rank amateur!



The start is a dead engine start. Bike in gear, clutch in and hit the button was going to be the procedure.

On that gravel, first would be done in micro seconds so I thought starting in second would be far better. To my left was Mark Campbell on a factory 450RR and to his left was Koos van den Heever on a 690. Koos would eventually come 8th.







There was some, “good luck, have fun!” were exchanged and before I knew it



….Go!


WTF!????

I was first into the corner after the drag start. “ok, so I’ll have my glory into this corner but the other two will be past and away after that.” Were my thoughts.

I learnt two things then; Nothing accelerates on gravel like a 990. And nothing throws a hailstorm of half bricks out the back like a 990. Anybody not at least 50 meters behind is not safe. Both of these conspired against the other two. Koos got a bad start and couldn’t see a thing and Mark took his life in his hands trying to get close to me. Every time he’d got close, another little straight came up and would conspire against him.





Going into the second to last straight, after the turn I so nearly threw it away with a near highside, “Where the hell are they?!! Surely I’m about to get done?”





I won the heat much to my surprise. It looked impressive but wasn’t that fast a time, Rudi beat me by 3 seconds, he got an ovation for his heroics. Mine was fast enough at least for – 32nd. I was pretty impressed and immediately headed off to make acquaintance with Nicks cooler box. I was shaking quite a bit.

Satisfaction. Willem had a blinder!



Justin was pretending to be pissed off, “I thought we agreed not to race?!” But he’s a racer at heart and was pleased with this reverse Goliath versus Davids. Getting the fat monster around that track had been huge fun!

There was some classics there too



The start list for tomorrow;



Then it was a quick afternoon snooze, some last minute adjustments and packing and a meal at the Dros and a glass raised in support of Hendrick



Stage 1 was one sleep away. I could hardly wait!
 
:sip:

Looking forward to the rest of it!

Just one question! What possessed you to acquire the assistance of Jagsding? Seems you going to need lots of luck on this one!! :pot:
 
Andrew - your "potty mouth" and frequent utterances of profanity is starting to concern me ...

One may be inclined to think you have been hanging around with dirty vokken biker scum again

Next thing I know you will be using my favourite word in polite conversation ...
 
Stage 1.



I had missed the roadbook marking from the night before. It is a pretty vital part of the what one has to do whilst rallying;





Justin had had more than enough of Upington, the mozzies, flies, septic tank and crappy toilets had spoilt his stay. He was up way before me and irritatingly woke me up before my alarm went off. I think he was just jealous!

It’s not complicated, get up, get dressed, pack shit,



eat breakfast,





Do hands,



one last check around the bike and gear, then head off to the start line….

We’re pro’s – rider and brolly dolly





Paddock Slut!



Not slow at all!



Nerves







Can I have your autograph?





At last, my time came – 6.52am.

Aaannd we’re off! My Amageza had started proper.



The liaison was about 80k’s of mostly gravel. The rain was coming and going.

I like riding with sun glasses and a visor. Part of the regulations forbid a visor so I just had my glasses and, if needed, my goggles. In that bit of rain, I sure missed my visor. Rain stings. I had to wait till the end of the Liaison to dig my goggles out.



Once at the start of the liaison, that was the last time I wore the glasses. I would just make do with the goggles.

We were shepherded into the starting gate. Again I resolved to just take it easy. No-one finishes a rally on the first day, unless he does something stupid.

As John said GO!

I lasted all of second gear, then saw my partners front wheel, changed to 3rd and decided dust was not going to be in my immediate future. We're Outta here.

[flash=700,500]https://www.youtube.com/v/I8bH8PLr8ko?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

That first bit was really, really fast. If you watch the video till the end, you’ll find out just how fast.

The first 80 or so k’s was stupid fast. Well over a hundred in most places. It then turned to very sandy tweespore and still it seemed a bit quick. There were a lot of gates, the navigation was easy and I only overcooked one corner – also on the video.

I was holding my own with maybe one or two people overtaking me. I passed quite a few.

Then the sand really started. It was very thick and I had to slow it. Still, only about 3 or 4 got past me.

At one point I got launched a bit over a dune where there were a bunch of spectators. This is the Kalahari. There are incredibly few people who are around if at all. When one sees 20 or so on a dune, it’s a bad sign. Aparently some guys did some serious air time there.

I realised that it would be a finely cut thing with about 40k’s to go to the finish. My fuel light normally comes on with about 80k’s to go. For some reason it didn’t and when I looked at my tanks I could see that the sand riding had just maxed out the fuel consumption.

With 8k’s to the finish I ran dry. Ahggg! The frustration!





Ian and Robert and Nick all stopped and put a few minutes into their time to give me a few hundred ml’s each when they were dangerously low themselves. It was a very selfless thing to do.

I took a wrong turn and after getting back on track ran dry again with 400m to go!

Kevin gave me a litre and that got me home.

There was a comedy still to play out though. The finish was on top of a really big dune. I’d tried to get some petrol from the bakkie up there. The anti-syphon prevented that, but down on the road about 500m away was another bakkie with some fuel. Once I got down there I realised that I hadn’t put the tank cap back on and had to walk back up the dune. That was really heavy going!

The scariest moment of the whole rally was when I hitched a lift back down with Gideon!

Making friends when wating for your rider





Justin was understandably a bit disappointed when I met him at the fuel station. I’d had 26 litres in for 180k’s. If I’d known how much sand there was to be, I would have slowed a little to stretch it out and not been so savage with the throttle.

Oh, well. With all the buggering about, I’d lost just under an hour.





Back to the lodge;

The Malle Moto pro’s doing their cleaning



The posers









Some had had a Really tough day





That sand wasn’t for sissies



Some had electrical issues. Kobie van Breda, the chap closest on the right was paired up with Gideon Joubert - GJ on here. they are both hugely fast and both ex multiple MX and enduro champions. Also good value for money for a laugh.



See! There he goes again, arse creeping and rock stars!



We jumped into the pool and faffed about cleaning air filters and putting in about 100ml of oil, lube the chain and that was it. The big LC8 can be beaten on and doesn’t become a maintenance pig.

The lodge was overwhelmed, had some attitude issues and was not some place that I’ll be back to soon, but the banter was excellent.

Entering the 30 or so waypoints into a GPS is a pain in the arse without a laptop. I’d learnt this from the last time. I had brought along my laptop. Justin can be taught new skills,



I had a reasonably early sleep.

Apparently, Stage 2 was going to be the big sand day. WTF?! I didn’t think there could be any more than today!

So be it!


 
I have no idea who this guy is ... he kept on following me and asking me shit and just would not leave me alone ...

What a pain in the arse he was - he begged me to pose for a photo with him

I think he said his name was Ryan from the church - WTF ?

Every day he finished so early I think he had a head start and took short cuts - as soon as he got back in the pits he would come looking for me and ask me for advice on life , how best to build and grow a rock garden and to play angry birds on my phone

He begged me to choon his bike - so I wound up the vacuum advance on the flux capacitor and fitted a positive hyperdrive power coupling, double overhead battery terminals and a high rise radiator cap - after that I never saw him again he was so blits vinnig

He phoned me on my Nokia 2110 the other day and asked me if I was available to fix his boney in January in South America somewhere - I chooned him nooit bra but My dance card is full - I'm going barbel fishing with stoetie and cocky that week at tygervalley waterfront - sorry for you china
 

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Great vid! It really shows what it was like out there.  When I went onto the special I was glad I was in the Jeep and not a on a bike!
 
Great video!  :thumleft:

The 950 sounds Titanic!

Thanks for all the effort, both during the race, and now for keeping us couch potatoes up to speed with what it was like.

I think the thing that impressed me the most so far is the casual way you bury the back wheel instead of using the stand in sand.
 
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