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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127400
American David Rhodes proudly displays the Stars and Stripes after clinching the Junior World class at the MX special test. By Kit Palmer "I POVAZSKA BYSTRICA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, SEPT. 2ยท7 t's hard to explain exactl y how I feel. I guess it just makes me feel so p ro ud." Those were th e words of American Chris Smith, a member of th e winning fou r-rider U.S. Juni or World T rophy team following six straig h t da ys of competition at the 66th running of the International Si x Day Enduro in Czechoslovakia. Smith and teammates Steve Hatch , Da vid Rhodes and J immy Lewis finally accomplished what no other U.S. team has been able to do in 18 years, and that's score a victory at the Six Days. ."I'm so happy, I can 't believe it," said Smith's older brother Drew Smith, a longtime Six Days veteran who rode on this year's U.S. Trophy team. " It wasn 't easy for them either. It was a dogfight all the way to th e finish and they didn't crack. I'm also rea l happy for my brother. I've ridden the Six Days 12 times and haven't won anything; he comes over here for the first time and wins!" It was an up and down ba ttle for New York 's Hatch, Wash ing ton 's Rhodes, California's Lewis and .New Jersey 's Chris Smith , as the tea m started out in th ird, dropped to fifth , th,en .shot back up to second bef?re wmnmg. The Six Days in Massachusetts in 1973 saw the only other U.S. team victory when a Jack Lehto-managed Husqvarna team consi sting of riders Malco lm Smith , Ron Bo hn , Ed Schmidt and Dick Burleson won th e Sil ver Vase. The Silver Vase has since been rep laced by the Junior World Trophy, and is no w a competition limited to ride rs 23 years of age and under. Not only was the American co ntingent ecstatic about the accomplishment of the Junior World team, even th e Swedes, who topped the World Trophy di vision, wer e happy for th e U .S. squad , as they were some of the first to rise for a standing ovation wh en Hatch, Rhodes, Lewis and Sm ith took the stage at the trophy presentation Saturday night. The trophy will be kept at th e AMA headquarters in Westerville, Ohio, until next year's Six Days in Australia. " The idea that we won really didn't hit me until th e trophy presen tation, " said R hodes, who co mpe ted on a Husaberg in th e 350cc Fo ur-Strok e class. " I 'm just so happy, you wouldn 't believe it." The Swedes wo n the coveted World Trophy , which goes to the h ighest placi ng six-man team, for the second year in a ro w. They o u tlas ted the a l wa ys -tough Czechoslovakian Trophy team. It was a close ba ttle with th e Swedes hol ding on to a sligh t lead over th e early leaders, Czechos lovakia , u ntil th e fifth da y, whe n a Czech T rophy Team rider dropped out with mechan ical problem s. That effective ly handed the win to the Swedish team, which was made u p o f recently crowned 125cc class World End uro Cha mpion Jeff Nilso n , J o chi m H edendah l, Svenerik J o nsso n, last year's overall indi vid ual winner Dick Wi ckseIl, Kent Karlsson and Bill Anderson. With the Czech team out of the way, Sweden sailed o n to an easy win . The Czech team ended up finishing 10th. Runner-up in th e T ro p hy di vision was Germany, finishing 432.52 points beh ind the winning Swedes, 633.061065.58. Rounding out the top five were France (1173.47 points), Great Britain ( 1635. 85) and Holland (2075.76). A flat tir e and a rid er getti ng lost on day four effectively elimi na ted any chance the U.S. World Trophy team had of posting a top finish. Instead, the team - three -time National Enduro Champion Randy H awkins, defe nding Na tional Re lia b i li ty Enduro Cham p ion Dave Bertram, Fred Hoess, Drew Smith, Kevin H ines and Kelby Pep per - finished a disappointing eighth in the overall sta ndings. However, that was four positions better th an the Am er ican Wo rl d Trophy team did in last year's Six Days in Sweden. T he U.S. is still seeking it s first-ever World Trophy T eam victory. O f the 31 Am erican riders who co m p eted , seven ea rne d gold medals, 15 silver medals a nd five bronze me dals. Four riders did not fini sh. Suzuki R MX250-mo u nted H atch , who finish ed 16th in th e hig hl y co m pe ti tive 250cc class as a member of the wi n n i n g Ju n ior World sq uad , earned the honor of "Top Ameri ca n ," by virtue o f having the lea st a mo u nt of poin ts deducted after si x da ys of compet ition . T ro phy rider R an d y H a w k in s , who fi ni she d eighth in the 125cc class , was Am er ica's to p class finisher riding a Suzuki RM125. Fo r th e th ird tim e i n fi ve yea rs, 250cc class winner Fr enchman St ephane Peter h an sel, riding Yamaha WR 250, was the top o vera ll ind ividual finish er , narro wly beating o u t 500cc class wi nner Li bor Podmol of Czechoslovakia, riding a KT M 300EI X C , by 3.81 seco n d s. Yamah a mo u nted Pau l Edmondson of Great Britain topped th e 125cc class, wh il e H u saberg ri ders Kent Karlsson o f Sweden and Jaroslav Ka tr inak o f Czechoslovakia ac ed the 350 a n d 500cc Four-Stroke di visions. Czech Vladimir Bus, on a KTM , scored the 80cc class win. . In the three-rider Club tea m com petition, Czech team KTM Mefo Sport sco red the win , and the top U.S . team, th e Kin g Philips T ra il R iders (Peter R u ggiero, Raym ond Davis a n d Ro n La wson ), was 12th . T he Merced Dirt Riders team (T o m Webb , Doug J on es and Sha wn H ybarger ) wa s next best i n 17th . The town o f Povazska Bystr ica , loca ted a p p ro xima tely 300 miles east of Prague, the ca p i ta l of Czech oslova ki a , hosted th is year's event. It al so h osted the event in 1982, the las t time th e ISDE wa s h e ld i n Czec hoslo vakia. This year 's event featured two loo ps of trail each day, totalli ng approxirna tely 175 m iles. A gras s track test and cross country terra in test were ru n twice each day. Days one through three used the same tests, then changed to a new grass trac k and cross cou ntry test for days four and five. Day six featured a short 25-mile tra il, which led the rid ers to the final MX special test. Mos t of the trail was two- track throug h mo u nta inous and wooded terrain, tho ugh there were enoug h sin gle-track sectio ns to keep the riders busy. Most of th e riders agreed that the trai l was fair ly easy, but a fast ti me sch edule (approximately 30 m p h) wore mo st of them out by the end of each 5