For those of you who have been trying to track Don on-line it has been a frustrating day, from all reports it has been far worse for Don.

Don had another bad night and day with his stomach problems but made it to the start of the special stage this morning.

However shortly into the stage Don fell victim to bad gasoline in his tank. This same problem afflicted many riders including favorite Marc Coma. Don persevered for a long time, but this stage has been described by many as one of the toughest they have ever encountered in any rally! The sand was really tough and it was incredibly hot. Don and many other riders were forced to ride in first or second gear as that was the best their engines could do on the foul gasoline.

Eventually we had word from Natalie that Don had arrived back at the Bivouac. However it seems that he and most of the other riders listed as withdrawn, had to cut the stage short, in effect disqualifying themselves from competing in the rally.

At one point Don and British rider Duncan Tweedy were visited by a Doctor on the course. Apparently Duncan had briefly passed out due to the heat, the temperature was about 45C. The Doctor told them that there were no helicopters available to evacuate them since there were so many people stuck in the Dunes. The Doctor also said “you should not go on – you will die in the dunes, but if you leave the course now, there is always next year”.

This evening in the bivouac Don is still really sick with stomach cramping and diarrhea. The only reason he is not throwing up is because he is on anti-nausea medicine.

We hope to update this report later on and say that Don gets to ride another day, but that is probably just wishful thinking.

Don, while your dream may have been cut short this year, your team and supporters are very proud of you for what you have accomplished. If you don’t get to race again in Dakar 2010, at least this year you will be healthy enough to enjoy Argentina. Thanks for the experience.

Today didn’t start out too well for everyone here in Morocco as two of the ERT technicians were killed and three of the organization officials were seriously injured in a car accident en route to the start of the special. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and co-workers who must now carry on without them.

Now to today’s stage —>

As a result of the accident we had a two hour delay which was really tough as we were sitting in the hot sun with no shade at all. The course today was very very rocky, in fact, every single member of our team did not like it. The 690 KTM enduro that I am riding is definitely not suited for this kind of terrain – the suspension is absolutely stock so it cannot absorb the kind of impact the bike is receiving…so it is very difficult to ride. My body is taking a huge pounding, particularly my injured hand. On the positive side I went from last place to 5th place on Stage 1 and today I only dropped 1 place. Given how hard I was fighting the bike, I am pretty happy with that, in fact just happy to have finished today. The rest of the team had their own issues. David Dickinson (from UK) had an encounter with a rock that resulted in a big crash – he damaged his bike pretty good and will have some nice bruises tomorrow, but other than that he is ok. The same cannot be said for Rick Hatswell of Vancouver. I visited him in the medical center tonight and he showed me his xrays. It looks like a very bad break in his leg. He seems to be in good spirits…last I saw him he was trying to convince the medical staff to allow him a beer which they declined. Justin Carter (UK) is fighting the flu and feels pretty rough tonight. Tomorrow we encounter sand and sand dunes. I am hoping that the KTM will perform better in that terrain.