On the flight over at Dubai airport, Troy Bayliss stopped and said hello to the team and was on the same flight to Milan, he was heading to Italy for testing.
We stayed at the hotel Albergo Trieste in the village Arte Terme. We also had the Canadian, Irish, Portugal and USA teams staying at the hotel, Neil ended up translator for everyone with his basic Italian knowledge.
Wed 14th went practicing just up from the hotel.
Thurs 15th
Went to paddock in Tolmezzo and practiced at the official practise site.
Friday 16th
Kristy rode womens world cup. Fri night we had the team presentation march through town.
Sat 17th
Womens TDN, Kristy only Aust woman riding. In morning men's team machine examination, section expection in the arvo
Aust women's team (Kristy) 7th.
Sun 18th Men's TdN
Aust start time 09:32, finish time 16:32, 2 laps of 18 sections, 4 hours allocated to first lap, 3 hours for second lap.
Finished with just seconds to spare, Ross was the overall time keeper, no time penalties. No major problems, had fuel shortage with the Gassa's at section group 12,13 & 14. Neil bent header pipe at section 18, it was leaking at flange gasket, it had torn out one of the bolts. The Beta truck Donato had to drill and tap it. The team went on, we missed section one and caught up with them at section two. My timers stop due to rain on the second lap. Riders couldn't walk the sections on the day, could only look from the tape. On section inspection only riders could walk in the sections. Each section had an observer there during inspection. During the event minders couldn't enter section except to catch. Riders could not touch any markers, observers very tough on touching marker.
Aust finished 4th compared to 7th last year and was only 25 points off 3rd place. Aust also finished ahead of the Irish and the USA. The Irish were stirring us up about the rugby world cup until we beat them in the trial.
The team worked very well together, everything flow well without any hassles. Great result, well done everyone.
2012 TDN will be in Moutier Swiztland.
