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·E D R .' 69th International Six Day Enduro : N U. O • I Despite the comfortable margin, Italy won just one class, with Nicoli topping the Lightweight (L/W) Four-Stroke division. (Fellow coun try man Rina ld i finished second in that same category. ) Nevertheless, it was the team 's consistent top times in the speci al tests that gave the Italian team the victory. Their win d idn 't co me without a scare, though, as a Day Five cras h left Trophy rider Tullio Pellegrinelli with a severely injured sho ulder. But in the face of intense pain, Pellegrinelli took some pain killers, strapped an ice pack to his injured shoulder and forged on to finish an amazi ng 14th in the L/W class. His special test times were only slightly affected by his injuries. Following the event, he could hardly lift his right arm for congratulatory handshakes. For many reasons, this year's IsDE promised to be a good one for the U.S. Trophy team . For starters, this was the first time in 20 years that the Six Days would be held on American soil, and, through the AMA National Reliability End uro Series and a three-day training camp held only a few weeks earlier, the U .S. had p ut together one of its strongest and most promising Trophy teams ever. The squad include d a fivetime Na ti o n al En d u ro Champion Rand y Hawkins; a for mer Is DE "Top American" - Rodney Smith; a former 12Scc Supe rcross Champion and IsDE Top American - Ty Davi s; a for me r 12Scc Nat ional MX Ch ampion - Gu y Cooper; a form er Na tio na l Enduro Champion - Jeff Russell; and a mul titime Hare Scrambles and Cross Country Champion - Scott Summers. This team (Left) For the second yeer In a row . Ty Davis was the top-placing American rider. (Below) Smooth-riding Stephane Peterhanse l earned his thi rd overall IndlvlduallSDE win. By Kit Palmer and Chris Jonnum Photos by Steve Berkner ,,! SAND SPRINGS, OK, sm. 2a;25 t's not that we're jinxed, we just have to pa y our dues." Those were the words of U.S. Trophy team manager Dave Bertram just after one of the many rocks on the John Zink Ranch broke the right han d of Scott ~ Summers on Day Four of the 69th Inter~ national Six Day Enduro . ~ "We're still new at this," continued Bertram . "These other guys have all tt:l been a t it for a while, and we can't I-< OJ expect to beat them at their own game righ t awa y." ..... Yet again , bad luck had.kept the U.S. U team from competing head to head for the coveted Trophy win. Instead, it was the mighty Itali an team's red, white and green flag which .g o 6 waved high as the last rider took the checkered flag at the end of the brutal competition. Not even the rocky terrain that makes up most of the 33,00Q-acre John Zink Ranch, located nine-miles north of the small town of Sand Springs, could stop the Italians. The Italian squad, consisting of Mauriz io Carm inati, Tullio Pellegrinelli, Mario Rinaldi, Fabio Farioli, Amaldo Nicoli and Giovanni Sala, came, conquered and left , hard ly working up a sweat. Though some of the Italian riders complained of the days being too long, and of the trail being too rocky (but, then aga in, who didn't?), the Azurri breezed to a seem ingly easy victo ry, lead ing each and every day of the Tulsa Trailriders-hosted event. When all was said and done , the Italian Trophy team had built up a huge 761.3Q-point advantage over the runner-up team from Swed en, which last won the IsDE on their home turf in 1990.