Chris Blais racing in Moroccan Rally!

[RacerX1]

Starting tomorrow, Chris will be participating in the Moroccan Rally through next Monday. He will be the only U.S. representative and racing under #6. He will be doing another rally in Egypt in September to help prepare him for his 3rd Dakar Rally in Jan '07. Too bad he'll be missing the Baja 500 this weekend but he does plan on soloing the 1000 again for more training. Best of Luck to my hubby!

http://www.npo.fr/content.php?parent_pathid=67

http://raid.racing-live.com/dakar/en/index.html?http://raid.racing-live.com/dakar/en/index.shtml
(go here to follow the race via Iritrack)

[Chase 2]

Good luck to Chris in Morocco! His competing in additional marathon rallies in Africa will greatly enhance his Dakar effort. The last time an American biker took these rallies this seriously was Danny LaPorte on a Lucky Strike sponsored Cagiva back the early 90's. I'm glad to see it happen as the best Danny could pull off in Dakar was second overall. Chris could very well be the first American to overall the Dakar, and that would be way cool.

Chris will be missed in Mexico this week.

[kaw500]

Thanks for the post. Good luck to Chris, quite a challange to take on. I do agree with Chase your husband has a great chance of being that first American to get that overall at DAKAR. Please keep us posted

[Mot51560]

Good luck to Chris. He should do well again. He's one of the smartest riders i've seen in a long time.

[RacerX1]

Hey, thanks a lot you guys!! :D
I'll be sure and keep the updates coming...

[RacerX1]

Ok, so it looks like with "Rally Raid" (for tracking) they have some new thing where they want you to sign up and pay?!

So go to http://www.npolive.com
Then click on the Stage (like today is Stage 1)
Then click on the left to Tracking (for Tracking)
Then click on the blue link (not in English)
Then type in the bike number (Chris is #6)
Or go back and click on Posis or Standings

Anyway, it looks like he finished only 10 minutes behind the leader and has moved up to 4th today!!

1 1 COMA Marc (E) KTM SP / 1 +450 / 1 02h27'08
2 2 CASTEU David (F) KTM SP / 2 +450 / 2 02h31'03 00h03'55
3 3 DESPRES Cyril (F) KTM SP / 3 +450 / 3 02h35'01 00h07'53
4 6 BLAIS Chris (USA) KTM SP / 4 +450 / 4 02h36'58 00h09'50
5 8 VILADOMS Jordi (E) KTM SP / 5 +450 / 5 02h39'55 00h12'47
6 5 ULLEVALSETER Pal anders (N) KTM SP / 6 +450 / 6 02h41'49 00h14'41
7 7 GAU Michel (F) KTM SP / 7 +450 / 7 02h45'13 00h18'05
8 20 LOPEZ Francisco (RCH) HONDA PR / 1 450 / 1 02h45'47 00h18'39
9 11 RODRIGUES Helder (P) YAMAHA SP / 8 450 / 1 02h53'25 00h26'17
10 10 POLLI Oscar (I) KTM PR / 2 450 / 2 03h00'17 00h33'09
11 22 FABRE Michel (F) KTM M / 1 +450 / 1 03h05'50 00h38'42
12 14 CHARLIAT FranÇois (F) KTM PR / 3 450 / 3 03h11'08 00h44'00
13 15 SANNA COCCO Maurizio (I) KTM M / 2 +450 / 2 03h12'37 00h45'29
14 4 ESTEVE PUJOL Isidre (E) KTM SP / 9 +450 / 8 03h14'20 00h47'12
15 12 LAZARD Laurent (ROU) KTM M / 3 450 / 1 03h18'53 00h51'45
16 106 DELTRIEU Hubert (F) POLARIS Q / 1 Q.2 / 1 03h21'40 00h54'32
17 105 DECLERCK Christophe (F) YAMAHA Q / 2 Q.1 / 1 03h24'22 00h57'14
18 21 JOBARD Willy (F) KTM M / 4 +450 / 3 03h29'16 01h02'08

[Chase 2]

4th for the day behind the fastest in the game is very well done indeed.

[Bricoop]

That's awesome, keep up the great work!

[RacerX1]

Just spoke with Chris. He said everyone got lost today ~ :o
Coma, Casteau, Despres were lost for about 10 minutes but everyone else was lost for about 20. He said something wasn't explained the way it should have been on the road book and everyone was twisted around! He's a little bummed because he fell back a couple spots but is still only 2 minutes out of 4th. He's having fun. They raced 350 miles today! He says he's sitting in the bivouac (pit) in the middle of nowhere, but his cell phone works. Ha! :p

[Chase 2]

Middle of Africa, still in the hunt & having fun, dang what a lucky guy to get to live that life! Keep up the good work and the fantastic attitude!!

[RacerX1]

Yep, he's definitely living his dream... what only a handful of us get to really do! He's always telling me "they want me to go here or do this ride or go there"... I always tell him "GO!"

Here's a pic from today ~

[kaw500]

Keep the updates coming and continued good luck to Chris

[RacerX1]

Chris had a great ride today - he's having fun and liked today's Stage 3. They had to be up at 3:30AM this morning... UGH!! He moved back up to 5th spot. All is good.

[kaw500]

This appears to be one tough rally and 3 days to go. As long as he's having fun then its all good. Kinda cool following this race with the an American contender to cheer for. Continued Good Luck to Chris.

[RacerX1]

Spoke to Chris today (in between my moto-x races). He said that he had some major problems. The mount that holds all the meters and navigation stuff on one side broke 10 kph out from the start of the race. This is his Dakar bike and he says that the mount must have been stressed too much. (they were supposed to have him on a new bike... wasn't ready!)

While racing, the other side of the mount broke and everything started flopping around and was cutting into the wire harness, oil cooler lines, and causing steering problems.
Well he said that he was lucky to finish after some guys tied the mount up with something to help him out. It will take 8 hrs to change that bracket the mechanic said.
OK, about the wrong way on the course, well he says that they were on course and that was the new route that they had them on after rerouting the course after all the rain washouts. :eek:

He's ok, still hanging in, tomorrow is the last Stage!