And Tufecky and Selcuk Bektas reached the SP. Tufecky: "Nice technical sections and fast to go!"

The organizers are working on the day 1 results.

Duncan McLaren from NZL and his buddies arrived at service point. Expert Klaus Eigl from AUT is back on the track. "Lot of deep mudholes, I crashed 2-3 times. But it's a nice track. Like every year!

Christian Fendt is on the way to the Finish. He enjoys the riding. The German driver is followed by the man from Russia: Sergey Stepanenko.

I checked in with Johnny in the paddock just bit ago. He had some nav issues in the second part of the day. He also lost all his coolant. Fortunately it did not do much damage to the bike. They are going to do a tear down just to inspect everything. - Chilly

He hurt his right leg yesterday on the Prologe and says today it hurts a little bit.

Rome Haloftis has a big smile on his face. "Man, riding here at altitude of 1400 meters is sooo amazing!"

Udi Lapid asked passing the bloggers: "Everything ok?" Yes it is!

He says he's just doing his own thing and trying to make it to the finish, "some long uphills and the black mamba was a never ending river!"

Team riders Veronica Dallhammer and Eric Brandauer arrived home on the Freeride, she said it was a good day, a few challenges but the motorcycle worked well which helped.

Pros, experts, hobby and hobby team are arriving together at the day 1 finish.

Martin Lindtner arrived in around 5th, saying the course was very fast which also made it quite dangerous. He seems to have made up ground on the field as he started much further down the order.

Darryl Curtis once more shows why he loves racing in Romania. It's fun!!! He is the 9th pro rider to arrive at CP4. He's smiling all over. He turns off the engine and asks: "Race over?" Go on, Darryl! There's still lots of fun waiting for you today!

The engine was hot, the lost GPS caused problems, and catching Jarvis ... "I dunno, its a long race, maybe its possible to push"

Oldrich Brazina and Jaromir Lach (CZE) are the first hobby team to stop at CP4. They are ahead of Radek Holcak and Martin Urban (CZE). Next come fellow-countrymen Ales Vondrak and Ondrej Rathousky.

Chilly- my duties done for day. I am now out riding the race course, looks just like idaho city Sent from Samsung Mobile

"After the break it turned into a very difficult day".  He said he didn't get stuck behind anyone so managed to make some time on the rest. He said he had one moment where he went over the handle bars, and finished with saying its nice to have made some time on the rest but its also a long race.

The German rider arrives only seconds in front of Dean Nuttall from Australia.

Spanish Inyaki Gomarin is the first hobby rider at this checkpoint. Right behind him comes Chris Dodd from Australia. German Thomas Eisner completes the hobby single top3.

Reaching CP4 Xavi Galindo tells us his GPS is broken. He turns around to see if there's another pro coming he can ride with. But he doesn't want to wait too long. So Xavi leaves and hopes to find enough marks he can follow.

And just as Walker leaves the tank point Chris Birch comes in.

The german xtreme hero comes 12 minutes behind Jarvis.

The Husaberg rider reaches the Checkpoint at 9.46am. Looks like a solid lead. We yet cannot hear the sound of other bikes.

Kenall is into service area has dropped a couple position but feeling good. Says a couple of those hills made want to cry. Lol, in good spirits Sent from Samsung Mobile

Nesuta, Ch. Wiesner, Ch. Strengberger (all AT). Riding relaxed and having fun

He seemed in good spirits, smiling and laughing with his mechanic but said something about getting stuck on a hill. He now has the forced rest of a minimum of 20 minutes before he can restart.

In a view minutes the first riders should reach this checkpoint. The pro-riders can also get some fuel here. But only the pros. They have some extra kilometers on their gps.

Veronika Dallhammer and Erich Brandauer passed the track near Crint at an altitude of 1394m

Chilly - The top riders have left the service area; Jarvis, Walker, Birch, Letti, Galindo. "Todo muy tranquillo" say Xavi Galindo

Letti, Jarvis, Walker, Birch and GaliGalindoleo all arrived together at the service point. Xavi says the going has been good so far, and the terrain dry which has made it perhaps a little easier, but concluded by looking at the mountains and the next section saying that this may be about to change. Johnny Walker said he struggled a little at first with the GPS and went off track a couple of times, but is learning fast and feeling a lot better with it now. After a while he waited en route for Galindo who was with Jarvis and followed him.

Here are a couple more photos from offroad start

We have arrived at the service area and are waiting for riders to arrive. We expect them in about one hour. I took a quick ride up the next challenge "quad track". I only made it about 50 yards before I realized just how challenging much of this course it. I chose to turn back instead of commit myself to that 4 foot wall in front of me. That was just 50 yards of the entire course! WOW. -Chilly

Galindo,Letti an Jarvis passed Point 2. They are quiet and concentrated.

Galindo, Letti an Jarvis passed Point 2.

Kevin Wilson Archer from New Zealand took the wrong way. Going in a circle he passes CP1 for a second time.

At 7.03 Australian rider Chris Warwick is the last pro at todays first Checkpoint. Right behind him we see Tommy Kunert from Germany, the first of the expert riders.

Two minutes behind Galindo we see Andreas Lettenbichler at CP1.Right behind him comes Graham Jarvis.

Xavi arrives four minutes behind Walker.

At 6.32am Jonny is the first rider at CP1. Thumbs up! Everything's ok, he says.

Kendall takes start after spending a couple of minutes checking gps map for route Sent from Samsung Mobile

"At this level all the top risers will be going for it, so I'll be pushing from the start, but not through choice" he says with a laugh

Walker says he is not sure if he should be nervous for being first on the course. The navigation is new to some of the riders. Letty only got a few hours sleep so he just wants to start conservative and get to the service point before charging too hard Sent from Samsung Mobile

Xavi says he will be going steady for the first day, saying its a long race so he doesn't want to push too hard at the start.

Johnny Walker will be the first rider to start Sent from Samsung Mobile

Johnny w Sent from Samsung Mobile

The morning starts just at first light for the 2012 Romaniacs. Darryl Curtis prepares for the first liason Sent from Samsung Mobile