Missouri motorist douses Race Across America rider with gasoline

A Missouri motorist made national news this week by dousing a competitor in the Race Across America (RAAM) with gasoline as he rode near Camdenton:

A tired but happy David Haase rolled in to Atlantic City shortly after the awards banquet finished on the night of the 29th. Dozens of RAAM finishers came out to welcome him in, in one of the most rousing receptions of the race. Haase finished with a time of 10 days, 12 hours and 41 minutes. At 6.28 a.m. Valentin Zeller of Austria crossed the line after a ride, the low point of which was almost certainly being dowsed with gasoline by passing motorist near Camdenton, Missouri. Zeller’s finishing time was 10 days, 20 hours, 25 minutes. Almost exactly four hours later, the Swiss rider Pius Achermann finished – like Haase at his second attempt in two years – with a time of 11 days and 26 minutes. In the early afternoon, 1.13 p.m. to be precise, Ben Couturier of Eagle River, Alaska, became the youngest rider to finish RAAM. Aged only 18, Couturier beat the record set by Chris Kostman in 1987 at 20 years of age. Couturier’s finishing time was 11 days, 3 hours and 10 minutes. Alexander Gepp of Austria, Chris Hopkinson of Great Britain, and Jim Trout of Seattle, Washington, are expected to finish inside the official cutoff time of noon July 1st. Mark Metcalf of Duncanville, Texas, would need to increase his speed to do so.

Read the rest of the RAAM results at RaceAcrossAmerica.org.