Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 00 ........ I-< Q.) ..0 o .... u o France' s St ep hane Peterhansel captured his second consecutive ISDE overall win in West Germany. 64th International Six Days Enduro Italy breezes to ·win in West Germany By Kit Palmer WAL LD URN , W. G ERMANY, SE PT 25-30 It was described by many riders as the " easiest" ISDE in recent history, but easy or not, the Italian World Trophy team captured its seventh IS DE victory (five of which have come in the last 10 years) beating th e tough : ' SwediIS h t~am b y a co.mforta ble 33 6.3 -p o m t m a r g m . H o s t 12 co u ntry West Germany fin ished a d istant third, fo llowed by 15-ti me ISD E Champions Czech o slovakia a nd seve n -time Champi ons East Ge rma ny. -T he defen d in g cham ps, th e Fren ch team , was Ital y's closest competitio n in th e early stages befor e o ne o f th eir riders was di squalified for sw itchi ng motorcycl es af ter ex pe rie nci ng a seized engine. Ru n n ing in second p lace a t the tim e, the Fren ch team was relega ted to last pl ace in th e final standi ngs. T his moved Swede n into second wh ere th ey rem ained for the rest of the event, and they never rea lly threatened the stro ng Ita lian team. Fi nis hi ng in sixth pl ace, three posit ions better tha n they did in last yea r 's IS DE in France, was th e Un ited States Trop hy team, consi sting o f La rry Roeseler, Dave Bertram , Kurt H o u gh , J eff Fr ed ette, Jeff R ussell a nd T erry Cunningham. T he tea m was led by nine-time gold medalist (incl udi ng the meda l he earned i~ West German y) Roeseler, wh o fin ishe d third In the 80cc class a nd had the low est eva luation points o f a ll th e U.S. T rophy riders. Roese ler ro de a ' m odified Ka wa sa ki KX I25 fitted with a KX80 engi ne. In Juni o r Worl d competitio n, Fin land ea rned its first-ever Junior World trophy wi th a narro w victory over West Germa ny. T he fina l specia l test moto o n the last da y determ ined the ou tco me betw een th ese . two co untries . Finland finis hed j ust 32.30 points ahead o f West Germa ny , wh ile Fran ce was th ird wi th 1025.99 po in ts. T he U.S. J un ior World tea m two-time Nationa l Enduro Cha mpion Randy Hawkins , last yea r's Top Amer ica n Fred Hoess, Aaron Hou gh and Todd H arr is - got o ff to a bad sta rt when Honda-m ou nted Ha rr is suffered mech an ical prob lems on day one and was 15 minutes lat e to a check. T hi s d ro p ped th e team to last place in the day's resu lts column, but the team wou ld eventua lly work its way u p to sevent h by the end of th e event. The batt le for top individual hono rs was a see-saw du el between last yea r's top performer Step ha ne Peterhan sel fro m France, a nd fellow co u ntry ma n Gi ll es Lal a y. Peterhan sel , ridin g a 360cc Yamah a YZ250WR in the O pen class, led after th e first da y, but in a da y-two terr a in test , the Fren chman cras hed and lost man y poi nts, g iving La lay the lead. Lal a y's H ond a CR 500 , ho wever , fa iled to start in ti me in th e morning on day three, a nd he was tagged with 60 pena lty points, which kn ocked the fo rm er two-tim e ISD E ove ra ll winner ou t of the overall conten tio n. Peterha nsel sho t back into th e lead a fter day three, a nd fro m that point o n the Yamaha rider dom in at ed the event, cap tu ring h is second stra ig h t ISDE overa ll victory. The U.S. rider wit h the lowest tot al score o f th e event was cl u b rider a nd former 250cc MX World Champi on Dann y LaPorte. La Port e, 32, cha lle nged the co m petit ive 500cc cla ss o n a modified 285cc Ka wasa ki KX250, a nd finished a respectable II th o u t o f 84 riders. It was La Porte's fir st try a t th e Six Days. Wh en as ked if he would rid e the Six Da ys aga in, La Porte replied , " Yea, bu t I still have a lot to learn abou t it. " Ap proxima tely 450 rid ers started the event, wh ich included 20 World Trophy a nd 13 Junior World teams. T h e Fre nc h T ro p hy team wa s favor ed to win th e event with prov en members suc h as Peterh an sel, Lala y, four-stro ke ace Laurent Pidoux and the very fast Marc Mo ra les.' The Belgian tea m was a lso to u ted as a to p co ntender a fter stacki ng its tea m wi th some well -k nown G P MXers like Mar c Velk en eers, Alain Lejeune and Marnicq Ber voets, But 80cc tea m member Bernar d Maga in was th e team's wea k li n k a nd he brok e dow n on day two a nd fa iled 10 fin ish th e even t, putting the Belgian tea m o u t o f conten tio n. Ano th er G P motocrosser at th is yea r's ISDE was Hein z Kiniga dn er, a two -time 250cc World Ch ampion from Austri a, ridi ng a KT M. Kinigad ne r was the top scorer o n the Aus trian Troph y team, a nd finished 24th in the 500cc cla ss. T he team pl aced 10th in the Trop hy com pe titio n. The win ning Italia n squad was mad e up o f Mar co Rossi, Stefano Passeri, Angelo Signorelli, Paol o Fell eg a ra , L u ca Tr ussardi a n d Franco Gua ld i. Missi ng from the roster was one o f Ital y's top end uro riders, T ulia Pellegrinell i, w ho broke hi s leg just prior to th e event 'and was rep laced by an a ltern a te rider. _ In th e Ame rica n pits, a record 'n u m ber o f 47 riders qualified for the West Ge rma n Six Da ys, and a ll of the riders finis hed th e even t excep t for o ne, cl ub rider Tom Eh m ke, who was unab le to start th e event a fter breaking his leg while testin g' hi s bike j us t a few days befor e the sta rt. Twenty-th ree America ns earned go ld medal s; 20 took home silver medals, a nd t h ree rider s received bro nze meda ls. T he U.S. su p po rt program was stro ng ly in evide nce with Kaw asa ki , Yam a ha a nd Suzuki represented . Kawasa ki's T eam Green offered th e most support, sending over a nu mber of mechanics, tools a nd parts, as well as su p p lying a ll the U.S. Trophy riders wit h a huge tent to work under a t th e im pou nd a rea, the Pare Farme, Suzuki a nd Yam a ha a lso sent over representatives a nd spare parts. Of the 46 U.S . riders co mpeting, 17 were on Kawasakis, n ine rod e H ondas, seven each were o n Yamahas and KT Ms, five a board Suzukis a nd one on a H usqvarna. T he maj or it y o f the com pe titors felt th at this year's ISDE left a lot to be desired, mainly because o f what th ey ca lled a n "easy a nd ba sica ll y boring" trail for eac h o f th e six da ys. The relatively flat terra in featured mostl y two-tra ck dirt roads o n ope n farm lan d , paved bicycle paths and stree ts. There were no 'single-track tra ils to speak o f. This made th e terrain a nd g rass tra ck specia l tests crucia l, a nd this greatly benefi ted th e mo re motocross -o rient ed European riders. T he America n team ri ders , on th e other han d , were hoping for ru gged terr ain , whi ch they are mor e accus to med to. U po n arriving in West Ger ma ny, it was apparent tha t this yea r's ISD E was go ing to be a n u phill ba ttle for the Amer ica ns, who are still seeki ng their first ISDE World Trophy wi n. It was coo l a nd overcas t when th e first gr o up of riders left th e start area Monday morning for th e sta rt o f da y o ne. T he first gro up o f riders consisted o f the Trophy a nd Ju nior World riders, start ing with th e 80cc bi kes, with th e 500cc fou r-strokes taking up the rear. After the Troph y riders ca me the Club riders. Eac h day, with th e exce p tio n o f th e sixth, featured ap proxima tely 150 mi les o f trai ls in two loops. Each loop featured o ne grass tra ck spec ia l test and o ne terra in test that was tim ed on ly o n th e seco nd loo p. T he re were no acce le ra tio n test s. T h e specta to rs' favor ite event, th e MX spec ia l test, too k pl ace o n th e fin al day. A fa irl y slow tim e sched ule was used o n the trail , and as a resu lt none o f the r id ers had a ny problems maki ng the che cks o n tim e througho u t the week, with most arr iving a bo u t 10 m inutes early. On day five, th ough , the speed a ve rage was bu mped up a little, bu t th e rid ers still had plenty o f tim e in hand a t th e checks. T he U .S. Juni or World team suffered a major setbac k early o n th e first da y wh en T odd Harris had

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