Let's not jump the gun on this one. First, the IBR will undoubtedly consider all the facts in reaching a just and reasonable result, shich I hope means that Ken Meese can ride in the next IBR. I know I'll be wanting to watch what this guy does again. I also hope that SPOT tracking can again be available to us keyboard spectators, so I hope none of the gallery blows that chance.
Second, Ken's friend, who had his SPOT link (over on the linked
bmwlt forum site really wasn't giving out his locations. He only started posting about getting concerned for Ken's welfare around 9 pm PDT. A little after midnight, and clearly out of concern for Ken's well being, he posted about locating Ken, given what he'd seen on his tracker, which had minimal location information and times that
might have been put together to get some idea of where Ken {i}MIGHT[/i} be. Special circumstances, IMO, and even then, appeared to be as discrete as possible.
I logged on around 8 am this morning and first read about Ken being out of the rally due to an accident in Tom Austin's IBR site report. Ken's friend really didn't post specific info on Ken's locations until an hour after I read Tom Austin's report on the IBR site (see above link). When it comes to the safety of a rider who might be down, I'm thinking that it's nearly certain to be some common sense leeway applied by an IBR that is clearly very concerned with making this challenge as safe as it can be, and that they won't be simply applying form over substance. (The animal strike exception reported above seems to prove exactly that.)
My condolences and prayers for a full and speedy recovery to Ken Meese (whom I have never met), and kudos to him for the 98% of a monster ride in which he apparently made one of the all time most epic of LD rally efforts.