From here on it was just the hard work that remained. We stopped for fuel only, and pushed on hard. Tar all the way. Our search for the dirt road shortcut gave us nothing, and we just kept our heads down and swung through. The XL's clutch now started slipping as well, which made overtaking difficult, and the oil leak was progressively worsening. I now had to refill every hour or so. The daylight faded quickly, and with only 70km left to go, I called Neil to meet us at Mahalapye and load Nelius' bike on the bakkie. It was already dark by the the time we got there, and he had done more than 400km for the day already. He would've finished, were it not for the oil leak. Francois and I then pushed through to Stockpoort in the bushveld night, having a ball sans our luggage, and with the potent HIDs slicing through the darkness. Dinner was a bucket load of Botswana beef fillets. This is Life!