MCN's BMW GS Trophy diary: Day seven

Tough day for team UK as South Africa extend lead
 
After running in the top two during the opening two days of the 2016 GS Trophy, team UK dropped to joint fourth today alongside the Central Eastern Europe and Brazilian teams.
 
Third place is now occupied by Germany who turned around a tough day yesterday with the best overall score on day three, with Latin America in second after yet another strong performance.
 
Day two leaders South Africa continued to perform well, posting the second best score of the day to extend their lead at the head of the standings.
 
The long 265km off road trail from Mae Hong Son to Mae Sariang was a demanding and dusty affair. Due to the distance and technical riding, teams began leaving at 7am with the last teams returning at 6pm. Along the way there were two special stages. The first was a series of questions relating to altitude, guessing the number of bamboo trees within a certain area and climbing a tree to find a special code.
 
The second challenge was a braking competition with each three rider team having to accelerate from a standing start before braking as hard as possible on a dusty track and stopping in a marked out box. The team with the fastest combined time was the winner.
 
Throughout the opening two days the UK team had excelled at each skill-based riding challenge – taking a measured approach and delivering fast and consistent times. Unfortunately the urge to push hard and try and win the special saw James over shoot the box and lose valuable seconds – dropping the team down the pecking order to 14th.
 
The teams also secured points on yesterday’s photo competition and subsequent votes. The UK team gained an impressive 592 votes but it was only enough to score nine points with the South American teams dominating proceedings with Mexico on 1901 votes, Brazil with 2267 and Latin America 2839.
 
Tomorrow’s stage will see the 19 teams complete a 140km loop starting and finishing at Mae Sariang. The first half of the day will be riding up a river, with the second half dusty off road trails. There will also be another photo competition tomorrow along with two further special stages, plus an additional special stage on the arrival back to the paddock – making it a crucial day for team UK to get back in the mix.
 
Team UK will be paired with the in-form German team for tomorrow’s stage.