Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GOFF ROAD ~ 68th International Six-DaysEnduro also topped the 250cc class on a Kawasaki KX250. For the U.S. competitors, an y hopes of an "easy" Six Days were w iped out when the American contingenl step ped off the airplane in Amsterdam nearl y a week before the start, and was rudely greeted by rain . The U.S. riders and support crew, more than 150 people in all, soon learned tha t it had been raining for the pa st 36 days st ra ight, and that the water table in Holland was higher tha n it had been in years. Even the trail-master for this yea r' s e vent, former GP motocrosser Gerrit Wolsink, announced in a meeting wit h each cou ntry's team managers a few days before the s tar t, that this yea r's Six Days would have a high attrition rate, thanks to the extremely wet conditions. "I'm afraid there's going to be a lot of rid ers dropping out, and there's not mu ch we can do about it," said Wolsink. These conditions, however, didn't worry the de fend ing champion Swedish (Above) Course marshals point out the best line to Auslrian rid er Rudolf PoschI in a day-one special test, which was laid out in a manmade sand pit. (Right) If the mud bogs didn't get you, the soft sand would, as Dutch rid er Marcel Veld en finds out. (Below) American Steve Travis was forced to use an alternate line up th is sandy hill when a Dutch rider got sluck in a deep san d ru t. 6 Tr ophy team one bit. The Swedes are notoriously good mud riders and have four World Trophy team wins to prove it. Another pre-race fav orite wa s the team from Holland. The Dutch are considered "sand specialists," and of course they had the "home court" advantage as wel l. Holland had also wo n th e even t the last time it was held in Ihe Netherlands in 1984. The Italian team was a major Ihrea t as well, armed w ith Ihe likes of tw olime 250cc Worl d Enduro Ch ampion G io rgio G rasso, 1992 500cc World Enduro cha mp Tulio Pellegrinelli, and last yea r's overall ISDE winner Giovan niSala. The U.S. World Trop hy tea m also came to Holland rea dy to a ttack with what was argu ably its fastest team ever. It featured tw o former top mot ocro ss racers - Rodney Smith and J"y Davis - as well as some of this cou ntry's fastest offroad racers - Randy Hawki ns, David Rhod es, Fred Hoess and Steve Hatch. Un fo r tu na te ly, though, s ho r tly after arrivin g in Assen, it was app are n t that having the fastest team might not be so importan t this year. As it tu rned out, d urabili ty - not speed - would be th e key factor. Terra in-wise, Holland offers very little in the way of variety. The ground is extremely flat and is made up mostly of farm land an d com fields. Much of the wide, "two- track" cou rse skirted along farm fields a nd through giant corn field s. But it wa sn't as ea sy as it may sound. The rain had made the ground so soft in places, that after a few riders had passed, the so il turned into clutchburning mud bogs. The event was centered at Van Drenthe, a road racing circui t on the outskirts of Assen . It w as here th a t the riders would s tart and finish, and impound their bikes every afternoon for six days . World Trop hy Team division To no one's surprise, opening day dawned cold, grey a nd we t. The first three-rider row left the starting platform at 7:01 a.m. an d led the way aro und the m uddy, approximately 70-mile- Iong loop that was completed twice. Riders were timed in five special tests, but even before the riders reached the first special test, it was obv ious that test scores would mean li ttle; the muddy conditions had made a rrivin g at the checks on time nearly impossib le . Wi th route/ pen alty points add ing up fast, se t ting fast s pe ci al - tes t tim es becam e almos t trivial survival was of primary co nce rn . Most o f th e top ride rs were d ropping rou te points at every check, so . b y th e ti me th e y r eache d - t he 12 th a nd fina l ch eck o f the d ay, many were in da nger of ho uri ng ou t of the event. Most of the trail s had quickly turn ed to m ush, a nd th e trails soo n go t w id er and wide r as the riders searched for better lines; us ua lly, none we re found. By t he time th e 488-ri de r field had com pleted the first loop, mu ch of the course had deteriorated so bad ly that th e tr a il was barely passabl e the second time around, especially for the late-numbered riders in the back of the pack. Honda CR500 rider Steve Trav is had the unenviable honor of being the last U.S. rider ou t each day, with a late number of 531. " Bei ng las t m ad e me a li t tle nervous, " said Travis. "I knew tha t if I got s tuck real bad in th e m ud, that th ere would be no American ride r behind me to help me." Desp ite the disadvantage, Travis was one of the 17.U.S. rid ers to earn a Bronze medal. By the end of the first da y, only eigh t competitors ha d zeroed the course, three of whom were Dutch Kawasak i riders: Henk Knuim an (125cc); Jan Van Oorshcot (250cc), and Gerard [immink (500cc). Only one rider fro m the U.S. managed to zero the cou rse and that was the "rn ot ocrosser," Trophy -tea m rider Ty Da v is, who was pilo ting a Kawasaki KX500. " I kind of s u rp rised myself," said Davis, wh o was compe ting in his firstever Six Days. "1 wo uld come into the checks jus t in time to see that I had to keep goi ng . Having an Open bike was good ; you nee d ed the power to ge t through the bogs." The next-best Ll.S. Trophy rider on the day was Hu sqvarna's Fred Hoess,

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