Motorcycle Classics at Motogiro America – Day 4

Reader Contribution by Richard Backus
Published on July 17, 2008
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The 1966 Moto Guzzi 125cc Stornello our man Dave Miller is riding in the Motogiro America
Yesterday was day four of the Motogiro America, and Dave Miller, who’s riding for Motorcycle Classics and Moto Guzzi in the Super Sport Class on a 1966 125cc Moto Guzzi Stornello, tells us that Day 4 saw the first accident of the event. Dave reports: “It was a very good day except for the gentleman who crashed. The medical teams are all volunteer, and they responded and were on scene within two minutes, it was incredible how well dispersed it was. This guy overcooked it in a turn and hit a parked car. One of the first  doctors on scene is part of the Ducati owners group in San Louis Obispo, Doctor Rushdi; I’m not sure of the spelling. From what I can gather he laid it down, and the bike went under the front of this parked truck. He got off the bike before it went under the truck, but from what I’m hearing he broke his pelvis, his arm in three places and his leg in two places, and had some internal bleeding. They did surgery on him here and then airlifted him to Stanford. The last word is that he’s stable and it all looks good and he’s expected to make a full recovery. There was definitely a little bit of somberness because of the crash. The organization that put these people together … this medical team worked … my hat’s off to the teams that did everything.

“The wreck was on Peach Road, and the route today took us from Paso Robles all the way to Morrow Bay, and then through the back country where we ended up at a little roadhouse, semi-resort, a little out of the way place with excellent food. And we came back from there.

“Today was a medium day, maybe 130 miles. Yesterday was long, like 171 miles. It was hot again. And nice roads, but nicer roads today, except for Santa Rosa Hill road, an extremely steep hill, almost like motocross and extremely difficult on the little Guzzi. It’s so worn out, it’s hard work. We were also in the neighborhood of where James Dean was killed, or so they said.

“The big highlight was the dinner auction. Doctor Rushdi, he and the Ducati owners group here support an orphanage in Sri Lanka with something like 150 young girls and they had an auction to support the orphanage. They ended up raising maybe $2,500. It was pretty touching. I mean, most of these people here are high rollers, and they weren’t being shy and were throwing money, and that was really cool.

“As far as positioning, Hill and Ingram dropped their spots. Positioning is pretty fluid, except for the top guys. Tomorrow’s the last full day. The final banquet is supposed to happen.”
We’ll get one more report from Dave tonight, after the final banquet and awards ceremony celebrating the end of the Motogiro America. – Richard Backus

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