Team Maine Racing finishes 4th!!

Well after a long couple of days and ending up 12th overall and 7 hours
behind the leaders when arriving in Churchill Falls Team Maine took did the work needed to their sleds and took off to finish the race at record passes and got the pack of the 2nd thru 12th place teams and ended in 4th place overall!!!!

Thanks a ton to the support of so many, with lots of Team Work and
finally some good luck on the last day we achived and aawesome finish.

We have lots of stories to tell and more info will come later.

Please not that there will be a Team Maine Banquet on Saturday the 29th in Waterville, More details to come.

The Crew at Team Maine Racing

Halfway Update from Rich

hey guys, it's rich. rob and i got into goose around 3 this afternoon, sleds are in "pretty good shape" considering what they have been put through. we have had to deal with mechanicals since the second checkpoint from running out of gas because the drawdown tank not working, to low octane fuel making the sled run in limp mode, to 3 broken track adjuster bolts, to broken rocker arm bolt in skid, to the grand finale of sheering off the left rear hanger for the left rear skid bolt at seal lake yesterday. we slept in a woodshed last night and left for nipishish at 5:30am today with my skid held together with a tow strap and team 1 with a broken arm in their primary clutch. going was slow but we were making progress. our support team, todd, dave, and the milleys were making their way a 6 hour ride one way. we met them 6 km from harveys check and plated my sled with a fabricated piece they sourced late last night in goosebay. they also brought a clutch for team 1 so we were rolling once again. rob and i rode our butts off back to goose to make up lost time from mechanicals and our times reflect our effort. we were happy with our progress today given a 14 hour hold up at seal lake yesterday. a lot of teams are broke and crippled as of right now, in fact there are 3 sleds in the impound lot with no skids in them, just sitting on the ground. tomorrow will be a good day for us, we leave around 8 am after some brief repairs. it will give us a lot of daylight. the trail from seal back to orma is so severe that we will not be able to backtrack and a new track will have to be punched through over the western hills around the lake. this is good for us because it takes a lot of time and energy to do this for the lead teams all the while rob and i will be making up some more ground. i can only hope that our mechanical problems are over and we can finish this race a few places higher than we currently are. we are discouraged with the breakdowns, but realize a race like this invites serious problems. tucker hibberts uncle, Rex, is running pretty well and told my wife today that the iron dog is nowhere near as difficult as Cain's Quest, that says a lot since he has raced the iron dog. keep an eye on us, and think no breakdowns!!!!! THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Team Maine Update 3-11-08

Well it has been a long couple of days. It was early morning when I did the last update at the restaurant at the Hotel. I spent the night over at the checkpoint getting some info from the other teams and getting things ready for the team and the support crew to go out. The rest of the crew got a much needed few hours of sleep. The miley’s headed out on the trail at 4:00 am to have fuel and supplies out there for Rob and Rich. The rest came down to the checkpoint so they could help finish getting things in order, set up a game plan and the girls got to spend some time with their husbands. Rob and Rich got up at Churchill after some rest and they got another good meal. Rob needed to pull his sled in the trailer to do a few minor things but Rich’s was pretty much ready to go after fuel and oil. After Rob thought his sled was good to go he noticed a bent track adjustment bolt as well a broken skid bolt. Both got repaired and off they went. I satyed back to wait for the Miley’s to return and the rest of the crew headed off for Goosebay. Just beyond the Orma checkpoint, Rich bent another track adjuster bolt. Later I got they call from Rich on Seal lake that he had bigger issues. The suspension bracket on his rear skid split in half. The spent part of the night at the Seal checkpoint with Team 1; a team from Lab City that we are friends with that we having clutch issues. Meanwhile, Todd, Dave and the girls were in Goosebay already and got some reinforcement brackets made. I then made my way from Chuurchill with the Milley’s. When we got back to Goose we all sat down and made plans for Todd, Dave and the Milleys to go out on the trail and meet The 2 teams with what they needed to finish the leg of the race at full speed. The support group left Goose at 4:30 am and met Rob and Rich and Team 1 just beyond Harvey’s checkpoint and the teams fixed their sleds and have gotten on their way. The girls have gotten 1st hand experience of why we enjoy this race and why we enjoy the people of Labrador. It would take me all day to describe the hospitality that they have received. As emotionally attached as all of our supporters get I will update more after they arrive here in Goosebay.

Team Maine update Early AM Monday

Hello Team Maine,


Well the 1st day has been a long day again! They guys were pumped at the starting line, Rob was up and ready to go at 5am…. Not much sleep for any of us.

Well as you may have seen they made awesome time at the beginning. At the 1st checkpoint I got a call from them saying their draw tanks weren’t working. Todd and Dave were already out on the trail waiting for them so they went south to meet them as Rob and Rich ran out of fuel before the 2nd checkpoint as many did; there was no fuel at the 1st checkpoint this year. We don’t have that issue solved yet but will in the morning.

2nd issue was Rich must have come down just right of a snow drift to shear off both Track adjuster bolts. Rich called me as I was in route to Churchill Falls, I called todd and Dave to go meet them as they were 25 miles from them. Rob fixed it enough to move slowly on but they decided to stay of the slush covered lake that they had planned to run in case Rob had to tow Rich and they missed them. Meanwhile I had sent David and Andrew Milley to meet Wayne and Irene at the Gabbro checkpoint, Andrew took the adjuster brackets of the spare sled in Todd’s trailer and had everything ready for them to fix Rich’s sled.

Meanwhile in the issues with the tanks Rob’s auxiliary tank cap fell off and water had gotten into the system and the sled was running awful all they way on the last 45 miles to Churchill.

We have already put plans into place for what is needed in the morning for most of what needs to be done when they go back on the clock at roughly 8:00 am Eastern Standard time.

The lead team set a record pace into Churchill but they have issues with their sleds as do many of the teams that pulled in. Also they Goosebay end of the course will be very slow and if Rob and Rich take care of the equipment once they leave they will catch up and pass many teams.

They guys are very upbeat and ready to move on.



Dana
Team Maine Racing

Team Maine Racing Update Saturday 3-8-08

It has been a long 2 days, sorry for the delay in getting this out to you. Yesterday when running errands with the Big Truck and trailer, we smelt something funny under the hood, Something was burning. I pulled it over in front of the Chevy Garage and we looked under to find a belt pulley locked up and the belt ripped apart. No problem we had one over nighted from Montreal, It didn't show up today. We found the right belt but it was on a truck in for service work and got the dealer to take itoff and put it on the Duramax so we are all set for the race.

Last night was Registration, GPS testing and Rob's 35th Birthday!; thismorning was more errands, work to double check on the race sleds, Tech and gear inspection, final prep of the support sleds and tag sleds, Racers meeting among other things.

SnowmobilerTV is hear to film the race and they have asked Team Maine to be one of 3 teams featured throughout the race. They have interviewed us all, filmed us at registration, installed a helmet cam on Rob's Helmet and are planning on more interviews. Both Rob and Rich have been interviewed by CBC and the WeatherNetwork as well as several local News Publications and Sledworthy Magazine. Rich drew the 15th starting spot so they will be starting the race at 11:30 Atlantic Time and we do change an hour here tonight just like you at home. This puts them in the middle of the pack and then they will have a 24 minute holdover at the 1st Checkpoint so all the teams will be on the same time when they leave the 2nd checkpoint. We are all very excited for the race to start, we have all of our plans in place and barring any sled issues we are prepared to be very competitive.

We can't say thanks enough for all the Support. I will update after the start of the race as I will be in Lab City for another hour or so after the start.

Dana and the Crew

Team Maine Update Friday 3-7-08

Hello Team Maine,

It is Friday morning and we have been in lab city since Wednesday afternoon. We have been very busy with people coming over to see us at the hotel. We weren’t in town 5 minutes and had other race teams stopping in to say hello and see what type of information we are willing to give up. Everyone is talking different things about the race from being very fast to being very slow going especially at the Goosebay end of the course as they have gotten over 2 feet of fresh snow in the last several days.

They weather is actually very nice; Yesterday was clear and got up to 9 deg. F. It is expected to get to -5 plus a wind-chill on Sunday, the first day of the race. We went out for a ride yesterday to run a couple of sections of the race course that were easy to get to.

The race sleds are sitting in the Milley’s Garage and as we have a few things to do to them before the sled inspection tomorrow. We have registration tonight at the snowmobile Clubhouse, sled inspection on Saturday morning, Racers meeting Sat. afternoon and then a Press meet and greet after that.

Needless to say we are completely overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people up here. We made long lasting relationships last year with other local teams as well as many of the local people. If there is anything we need all we have to do is make a call or 2 and we will be told where we can get it.

Until tomorrow, thanks a ton for the support and many well wishes. Be sure to link onto the blog on our website and you can click on comments below the message and add any comment you like.

The Crew at Team Maine Racing

Team Maine Update 2-27-08

Hello Team Maine!!!Things are coming down to the wire. It is less then a week to go before we leave Maine for the 20 hour truck drive to Labrador City. The last couple of weeks have been very busy with planning and preparation.

Rob and Todd were in Labrador earlier this month for a week they spent lots of time checking out snow conditions as well as exploring some new sections added to the race course. A big expense in personal time and money but it was needed to be done so we have a better chance at competing with the locals in their backyard. Unfortunately Rob found a rock under the snow with his personal Ski-Doo XP Summit that bent up the front end of the sled. They did however get some time on the Race sleds and found a few things that needed to be changed. Meanwhile at the Andy Santerre Ride, Dana, Rich and the girls had taken a longer loop with Kevin Freeman (owner of the Sled Shop in Presque isle) and Rick Salley (The Ski-Doo Rep for Maine) and on the way back to the Caribou Motor Inn, Dana was leading the group, he had a very large Deer jump out from the side of the trail and literally land on the front of Rob’s XP Renegade that he was using and it mangled the front of the sled. This left us with 2 of Rob’s sleds to rebuild before the race as both will be making the trip to Labrador with us as Support Sleds. Fortunately both Rob and Dana were okay from the incidents and both sleds are ready to go.

The Race sleds have had lots of work done to them. Both with Ohlin front shocks, revalved rear shocks and heavy springs, auxiliary fuel tanks, auxiliary lighting among many other upgrades and adjustments for them to stay together for Rob and Rich during the race this year. We can only hope all the hard work pays off to limit down time due to broken parts.

This year Rob’s wife Tina and Rich’s wife Amanda are making the trip up to Lab for the race. Evidently they were not excited to sit up and stare at a computer screen all night again this year; they would rather be there and know what is going on 1st hand. We are looking forward to showing them around “The Big Land”. It will be interesting to get a women’s prospective on the whole event. Perhaps they will be the 1st Women’s team to enter the race next year…….

Also joining Rich, Rob, Dana and Todd will be Dave Hammond, as well as Wayne and Irene Dyer (Sponsors and supporters that want to experience the whole event). Also David and Andrew Milley and Todd Stokes (locals from Lab City) will be joining us up there as support crew Members. We will have 2 groups of 3 out in various parts of the race course to support Rich and Rob.

We will have a Web Blog up and running on the website over the weekend so Dana can post updates and let all the supporters back home post messages to the team and share other thoughts. Rob and Rich will probably update it themselves in Goosebay like they did last year. We will have links on our website to the GPS tracking site so you will be able to see where the racers are as the GPS updates. There will also be links to the Web Cams that are supposed to be up and running for the race at 3 of the checkpoints. We want all of our sponsors and supporters to be involved as much as possible from the comfort of your home or office.

Again part of the goal is to raise Money for Pine Tree Camp so if you know of any other potential Sponsors or Supporters let us know. Special thanks to our many sponsors; Please visit the website to view the long list that continues to grow. Also a special thank you goes to all the friends and supporters from SledMaine.com, Hardcoresledder.com, Dootalk.com and QuebecRider.com

The Crew at Team Maine Racing
Racing to Support Pine Tree Camp
www.teammaineracing.net

Welcome all Team Maine Racing Fans

Welcome to the blog for Team Maine Racing!! Here we will be posting updates during before, during and after the race. You will be able to post coments that we can read as well. Thanks for all the support!!

The Crew at Team Maine Racing.