Racer Robertino Pietri missed the start of Friday practice for the first round of the Venezuelan National Championship being held near Caracas, because his racebike was still sitting at Miami International Airport. A series of communication failures involving employees of freight forwarder KC Cargo and Santa Barbara Airlines and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials resulted in the machine being delayed. Once Pietri’s situation was explained and documented, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials bent over backwards to waive the usual 72-hour hold on vehicle exports, implemented to allow time to verify that vehicles presented for export have not been stolen. According to Special Agent Zachary Mann, the hold system has resulted in the recovery of dozens of motorcycles stolen during Daytona bike week and slated for export to Europe. The bottom-line problem in Pietri’s case was KC Cargo’s failure to deliver the crated racebike and associated documentation in time, with the bike officially entering the U.S. Customs and Border Protection system on October 24. KC Cargo employees then blamed the delay on U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. Staffers at Congressman Darrell Issa’s field office in Vista, California worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to help unravel the problem. But it’s still not known when the bike will actually make it on a flight to Venezuela, or if it can clear Venezuelan Customs in time for this weekend’s double-header races counting toward the Venezuelan Championship.