TMW - 1-7-2006 at 11:46 AM
It was not a good day for American racers. Top KTM motorcycle team rider Andy Grider from California was airlifted out with a broken femur, as result
of a crash in the dunes.
Robby Gordon and Mark Miller also crashed their cars, Miller finished the stage. Gordon broke the radiator and repairs will be made.
bufeo - 1-7-2006 at 10:31 PM
I started to post something about the Dakar Rally a few days ago, but since it's not "Baja" I thought I'd have to go to the "Off-Topic"
section....couldn't bring myself to do that.
Anyway, more to the point. Yeah, sadly Andy is out, but the good news is that the report of the broken femur was premature. I saw in on OLN today
and e-mailed them the facts. We'll see if they bother to correct it.
I spoke with Anne (Andy's wife and our daughter, therefore pretty close to the subject), this a.m. Xrays showed no fracture but he had some King Kong
swelling and a huge bruise.
An eye-witness to the crash, caused when his front wheel was sucked into the sand of a giant erg...at speed, no less, said it looked like "an ejection
from a low-flying F-16". The rider following him described Andy's arc as long and his landing HARD on his back.
The injury probably came before he parted company with the bike.
They're keeping him in the Canary Islands tonight (Sat) then, tomorrow flying him to Lisboa, where Anne, his daughter, and Andy's parents will meet
him.
I know he's disappointed. He's trained hard for this chance and he felt that he could finish and maybe finish in the top ten. He did finish third in
the Tunisia Rally earlier this year.
Chris Blais continues to hum along and is now in the top ten with a rest day tomorrow.
capt. mike - 1-8-2006 at 08:09 AM
watched on OLN yesterday Allen, speedy recovery!
when ya gonna be in Bufeo BTW??
TMW - 1-8-2006 at 09:59 AM
I'm glad it wasn't broke. I look forword to him giving Honda a run for their money at the SF250 in March.
juanroberts - 1-19-2006 at 02:14 AM
Thanks for the info, as I am a big Grider fan. I once read of a tour adventure bike in Africa riding in sand that all of a sudden "stuck", just as
described with the Grider accident. They have a name, I think, for those patches of odd or fluffy sand. I tried to look it up again, but the webpage
where I thought it was is no longer active.
www.coolkarim.freeuk.com