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Germany leads BMW GS trophy

CHILE - Team Germany will take an 18-point lead into the final day of the BMW Motorrad GS Trophy 2012.  South Africa is eighth with 136 points i the tough tests.

Aftera busy day that took in three special tests and the announcement of the result of the second photo competition, Germany scored highly – including a win and a second – and were able to double their advantage in the competition.

SECOND SOAKING

The morning started wet, after an uncomfortably wet night that saw many in the GS Trophy bivouac inundated by the rain. The early morning hours were given over to drying vital equipment around a log fire in one of the Huilo Huilo resort’s open lodges.

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This completed, the riders then found themselves saturated yet again as they took on the first special test of the day, the navigation challenge – a test based on the popular sport of geocaching. Argentina was quickest on their booted-feet as they completed a succession of dashes to find way points in the woods surrounding the resort.

The riders then rode a 70km off-road course to arrive at Lake Calafquen for a riding special test: an out-and-return sprint along the black sand beach. Here Germany counter-attacked with a win over Teams Russia and Alps.

Team France won the second photo competition ahead of Germany and Team South Africa. France will no doubt regret not having submitted a photo for the first photo competition as a score in that round may well have substantially narrowed the points difference at the top of the leader board.

Ali Métayer, Team Germany said: “We are very pleased to be leading the competition but this was not our primary goal in coming to the GS Trophy. We enjoy participating but also enjoy making friendships and experiencing these remarkable countries. To win would be nice but the success of this event for us isn’t in the winning but the experiences and friendships.”

The embedded team journalists were surprisingly at the forefront of the action.

EXPERIENCED CRASHER

During the ride to Lake Calafquen,Team Brazil’s Luciano ‘Kdra’ Lancellotti collided with one of his team riders while riding along a wooden bridge over a ravine. The impact threw Luciano and his bike off the bridge and 3.5m down into the ravine. Fearing the worst, the other GS Trophy riders were relieved to find Luciano emerge unscathed; not so his F 800 GS with both mirrors ssnapped when it landed upside down.

The GS Trophy riders used ropes and straps to haul the bike out. They knocked off the worst of the dirt and, after letting the engine oil resettle, the bike started  on the first touch of the electric starter. Luciano was on his way again...

He said: “I used to race bicycles so I have a bit of experience in crashing. When I went over the side of the bridge my instinct was to separate myself from the bike and I was lucky to land on a soft bank. Hauling the bike out was an international affair as riders of all nations came together to pull the bike out.

"Then I was both amazed and relieved that the bike really wasn’t damaged and I could simply ride it away. I think both myself and the bike were very lucky!”

A little while later at the Beach test, it was Canadian journalist Lawrence Hacking’s turn to surprise. Substituting for the injured Marc-André Octeau, 58-year-old Hacking – a former ISDE rider – tore up and down the beach to beat both his younger Canadian team riders and set one of the quickest times of the day, helping Team Canada to a tidy points haul.

GS Trophy 2012 points after six days
1 Germany - 195
2 France - 177
3 Argentina - 171
4 Italy - 164
5 Alps - 159
6 Canada - 158
7 UK - 146
8 South Africa - 136
9 CEEU - 135
10 USA - 134
11 Latin America - 132
12 Russia - 111
13 Brazil - 103
14 Spain -  90
15 Japan - 72
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