Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; ENDDR0 65th International Six DayEnduro • ~ Overall individual winner Dick Wicksell (203) led the Swedish Troph y team to an easy victory on his home turf. Sweden sweeps on home soil By Kit Palm er VASfERAS, SWEDEN, SEPT. 3-8 er ha p s U .S. C lUb . ri der John Nielsen said it best in describing th is year's 65th International Six Day Enduro in Sweden : "I felt like a p inball in a pinball machine ou t there." Slick rocks and tree roo ts, deep ruts , thick mud and a fast trail schedule took its 1011 on the 406 riders who competed. But for the Swedish World Trophy and Junior World teams, the event was a cakewalk. To almost no one's surprise the Swedes, with the homecourt advantage, top ped the 19 teams that competed in the World Trop hy division and the 10 teams in the Junior World class. " No problem ; for us (the Swedes). This is everyday trail riding; we're used to the slippery rocks and mud," said a member of Sweden 's sup po rt crew. P Not even the usual ly tough French, Czechoslovakian and Ital ian Trophy tearns could keep the powerful Swedish team in sight, even after the first day. The Swedish T rophy team made up of former MX GP racer Peter Hansson, J eff Nilsson , Dick Wicksell, Kent Karlsson , Sven-Erik Jonsson and J immie Eriksson took a commanding lead after day on e and n~ver loo ked back on their way to Sweden's fourth World T rophy victory. Sweden 's last win came in 1985in Spain. One o f Sweden 's neighboring cou ntries, Finl and, wrapped up second place over France, West Gennany and Czechoslovakia , while the U.S. Trophy team finished a disappointing 12th overall. The U.S. squad, made up of defending National Enduro Ch ampion Randy Hawkins, Kevin Hines, Kelby Pepper, Charles Hal comb, Dave Bertram and Jimmy Lewi s, were knocked out o f contention on day two when Hawkins' Su zu ki DR 350 broke, causing him to hour out of the event II was a bat tle dow n to the final MX special test moto on the last day between Swedes Peter Hansson and Polish Six Days (1987) win ner Dick Wicksell to decide the overa ll individual winner of the Six Days. Wicksell ended up nipping fellow cou ntry ma n Hansson for the tid e by less than a second. In Junior World competition Sweden , agai n , cap tured the title. but the win didn 't come as easily as it did in the T rophy d ivis ion. In stead , th e West Gennan, French and U.S. teams kept close tabs on the Swedes, hoping for a m istake that never came. The U.S. team, consisti ng of Steve Hatch , Scott Drafs, Mall Stavish an d David Rh odes, was silti ng comfortably in third pla ce and was looking to take over second on the fina l day, but two laps from the finish of the final MX Special Test, Rhodes' Suzuki threw a chai n and wedged ilSe1f between th e swingann and the rear wheel, forcing Rhodes from finishing the moto. This dropped the team from third to fourth in the final standings. Of the 406 riders who started the event, 126 never saw the finish line, including 13 o f the 36 U.S. en tra n ts. Only three U.S. riders earned go ld med al s: Former Na tio na l Enduro Champ ion Hines, Pepper and Lewis. Five U.S. riders too k home silver medals, whi le 14 collected bronze medals; 13 riders did not finish. H in es edged out Pep per for " T op American" hon ors by accumulating the lowest amount of evaluation poi nts. For the first time in 20 years, Russia fielded a T rophy team. However, two of the six riders failed to fin ish the event, putting the Soviets out of contention. . The Russians were anned with a Suzuki, Husqvarna, j awa, Husaberg an d two Russian -made air-cooled IZs. The Czechoslovakian riders, who for man y years compe ted solely on Jawas, were th is year piloting KTMs and Husqvamas. The ent ire U.S. team came to Sweden with a variety of motorcycle brands: 14 Suzukis, nin e KTM s, six Kawasakis , three Husabergs, two ATKs, one Yamaha and one Husqvama. The en tire U.S. team spent the final few days before the start of the even t un crating their machines and p repping them for what would be the most gruellin g Six Days in many years. However, whi le worki ng on his mo torcycle, U.S. Trop hy rider Jeff Fredette injured his th umb and was forced to withdraw from the event before it even began. "About two weeks ago I was working on my bike at home getti ng it ready for the Six Days and I cut a tendon in my thumb with a knife," said Fredette the Friday before Monday's start. " I had surgery on it and everythi ng felt great un til today when I re-injured it while I was cha ngi ng a tire." Although Fredette could still ride despite the inj ury , in the Trophy team's best interes ts, he decided not to compete so tha t his position on the team could be filled by a healthier rider. Tha t rider ended up being ISDE rookie Kelby Pepper from Col orado, wh o was a member of the Junior World team . Pepper's posi tion on the Junior World team was filled by club rider Scott Drafs of Wash ington . This year's Six Days featured approximatel y 135 miles of trails each day, mostl y through dense woods , and some road section s. Each day featured on e motocross test and lWO enduro (terrai n) tests. Days one and two used the same trai l and tests run in the same direction, while days three and four featured a new trail also run in the same direction both days. Day five consisted of mostl y new trails, using the same MX test as days three and four . The final day saw a 40mile trail which led the riders to the final MX test Day 1 The steady downpour of rain that dampened the festivities during opening cere m o n ies in downtown Vasteras , Sunday, also left Monday 's start wet and muddy. However, a fairly relaxed trail schedule saw most of the riders arri ving at the checks with around five minutes to spare. Day one was disastrous for the Italian Trophy team, last year's winners. A broken gearbox in Giorgio Grasso's 250 KTM left the Italian stranded on the trail and his team thinkin g about next year. Grasso was the only Trophy rider to drop out on the first day. The U.S. squad suffered its first casualty just a few miles after the start. Club rider Darren Sanford's Suzuki RMX250 seized whe n a piece o f th e spark plug broke off and fell into the cylinder, damagin g the pis to n rin g. had just hopped on a road sectio n right after the sta n a nd it just seized ," :'1

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