We’re hoping to get a call from Glenn today to find out how things are going at scrutineering.

Birthdays!

There are a couple of birthdays to note although the time zone differences make it hard to know when to light the candles – happy birthday Jacob Smith and Mark Davidson (consecutive birthdays). The fact that save for one day there is a 30 year age gap between these two riders won’t diminish the celebrations and only goes to show what a diverse group GHR have gathered for the race.

In other celebrations I am sure that NYE in Buenos Aires is going to go off with a bang tomorrow night. During a couple of the phone calls from Glenn, the fireworks and crackers that seem to be a nightly feature in BA were clearly audible.

GHR Honda rider numbers

Even though up to this point Jacob’s bike has been shown wearing his trademark #222 on the stickers, it’s worth noting that the actual race numbers for the GHR Honda riders are as follows:

#113 – Jacob Smith
#117 – Mark Davidson
#121 – Warren Strange
#181 – Simon Harslett

Interesting superstitions – from the Dakar site

“According to tradition, the title holder in the bike category wears the number 1. However, after an initial glance at the list of participants, eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that this year this honour has been granted to Marc Coma, who strangely was 15th in the last edition. After a rapid inquiry, it would appear that this starting hierarchy is the wish of Cyril Despres himself. Usually not particularly superstitious, the three times winner followed a fairly logical line of thinking before asking the organisers for this special dispensation: “In my garage, the bikes from my three victories are parked side by side and they all bear the number 2. I thought it would be nice if I could add a fourth, so I asked for this small favour. Since Marc is the current world champion in the discipline, it was fairly coherent that he inherited the number 1 and fortunately he agreed to it”. It is uncertain whether the Catalan is a believer in numerology, but during his two successes, in 2006 and 2009, he was also riding with the number 2. Indeed, to find a rider who triumphed with the number 1 plate, you have to look back through the archives to 2002 and the victory of Fabrizio Meoni.”

Some pics courtesy of Glenn Brown.