Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

69th International Six Days Enduro (Left) Danny Hamel roosts lor Old Glory. (Above) Scott Summers impounds his bike on its rim after having trouble mounting a loam Insert. Summers had a good ride going, but crashed on Day Four and broke his hand , ending the U.S. Trophy team ',s chances. :·le " ,B'r'.'. 'f l"y' ' '.': "" , , ~', ,' " " '. . " pace. Of the 540 riders that started on Tuesday morning, a little over 300 of them were still running at the checkered flag on Sunday . DAY ONE Opening day dawned cool and clear, but would later tum quite warm, causin g the ISO-m ile-long trail 'o ver two lo op s to bec ome extremely dusty . A brisk trail pace had most of the top Trophy riders arriving at the checks anyw here from five to 10 minutes early. The riders were given just about nine hours to complete the day. Five special tests were used on Tuesday - two grass tracks (each t imed twice) and one terrain test (timed once), and it was in the se tests where points were taken away from the top riders. It didn't take long to erase any hopes the Ll.S, Jun ior World team had of winning a third title (previously wins came in '73 in Massachu s etts, and ' 91 in Czechoslovakia). Early in the d ay, Brian Garrahan cra shed his CRE 250 on the trail just before the fourth check, breaking the navicular bone in his left wrist. "I was just cruising down a trail - not even pushing it, " said Garrahan. "There was a little bend that I tried to wheelie over and I ju st went over the bars, and caught m y hand in my handguard. I d idn't even know it was broken. I took off m y fa n ny p ack to start fi xing m y throttle, and I noticed that my ha nd wa s b ent all funny . I tried to p ull in the clut ch and I had no strength. Big-tim e bumm er! I w orked all yea r an d w as . s to ke d to be on the Juni or te am, an d then I make it 30 miles." Ga rrahan's untimely d eparture left teammates Smith, Hamel and Davis to fen d for themselves for the rest of the event. The team was dead last at the end of the day. The mood was a somber one in Great Britain's pits as well, because Trophy Team ri d e r Ch ris Koch had b een knocked out of the event in the first 10 mile s. "A stone flicked up and smashed the ig nition cover," explained a team member. " It dented the cov er a n d rubbed against the sending unit, (eventually) killing the electrics." The Italian team quick ly served notice that they were going to be the team to beat, as their Trophy team rid ers consist e n tly turned in so m e o f th e quickest times in all five special tests . As a result, the Italian squad held the first day's lead by a comfortable margin over France, 48.83 - 123.84. Italy had two riders winning classes on the day - Carmina ti in the L/W class and Nicoli in the L/W Four-Stroke division - and two riders fini shing second in the L/W FourStroke and H /W classes. Led by Ty Davis, the U.S. team sat th ird, while Sweden and th e Netherlands rounded out the top five. Ita ly led the Junior World di vision , some 50 points ahead of Sweden, with France third. In the Club Team d iv ision, a U.S. team - the Salt Fork Dirt Riders, made up of Fred Hoess, Steve Hatch and Fred Andrews - was sitti ng in second place just sev en p oints behind the Ita lian A team. Day One Results TROPHY: 1. Ital y (48.33); 2. Fra nce (123.84); 3, USA (177,01); 4. Sweden (191,40); 5, Netherlands (407,82); 6, Finla nd (455.58); 7. Czech (494,44); 8. Australia (565.76); 9, Germany (660.38); 10. Switzerland (874.03). JR: I. Italy (175.02); 2. Swed en (225.84); 3. Fra nce (263.90); 4, Australia (314.61); 5, Neth erl ands (461.76); 6. Germany (525.62); 7. Czech (575.38); 8. Mexico (853,22); 9. Ca na d a (1161.19); 10 . C h ile (29 9 1.4 0); 11. Spain (7687.38); 12. USA (15238.57). (Da,Y One);.: :,'. ,. members. "What we're going to 'd o now ls . J nstau these tubes in' our (pit)' bikes . ride around on them fora while so they'll break downa Iilt1e, then take them out and get them "Ty Davls cOnsistently set the quickest special" ready for Scott later on." Both Summers and , f test times O all the AmertcanriderecnDay - ' HoesS would' later finish mounting their front One : Only former ISDE overall W inners tires du ring'their to-rn tnute work period ' Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel 'and ltal- . before starting Day Two. .. . ' . ". ia n Giovanni Sala were quicke r. In lact, .Davis actually topped both Peterhansel and Rodney Smith injured his wrist during the , Sala in a couple of the tests : and at the end ' first loop. "Icrashed and my left hand buckled of the day,'was just 2.23 ,evaluation points ' under itself;~ sa id Smith. "It's really sore. My . behind HIW class leader Peterhansel. Sala . other,wrist hurts too. I hurt it while training at , sa t in second, a ' scant .31 ticks 6ff Peter- (Guy) Cooper's house the other week." .", : hansel's pace. ..... . . , . " . . In the Mariulacturers 'Team di~ision, the , 'The second fastestoverallArnerlcan on the ,U.S . Suzuk i and Kawasaki teams.were day,wasRodney Smith, who was fifth in the,. 'engaged ina serious dogfight. After the first , H/IN class at the,end of the day. Only Italian ., day, the'·Suzuki team (Randy Hawkins, Guy' Tullio Pellegrinelli separated Smithfrom his ' Cooper and Rodney Smith),sat in fifth: just' 'teammate Davis. Smith's overall time was 14 . . e ight points'ahead of the sixth-placed seconds slower than Davis'..The next-fastest.. .' Kawasaki iea m (Larry Roeseler, 'Ty Davis ' American rider was Dariny Hamel in 13th, and Danny Hamel). In ninthwas the ,Works" fol,loV/ed byFred Andrews in 17th'.,: ' CRE team (Chris Smith. Drew Smith' and , :'Kevin Hines).' ' , All 'e yes focused on Guy Cooper as he took.: " to the special tests forthe ·first time in ISDE : at' the 540 riders that physically start~d the ,competition. The former,125cc National Mx , ','event, 45 dropped out'after the first day: and ' Champion was loudly cheered on by the: " about 30 'of those non-finishers were Amerispectators that sparsely lined the tests , and can riders. One of those riders Included he looked good, riding hard and under con-: . KTM's Greg Zitterkopl, who took an ,early, .t rol.: But his times were slightly' less than ' ' '."Ight', ol'fle when his ignition gave out. . .. h , , those of the veteran Italian riders, and Davis " and Smilh were also faster ..Cooper's best , ' . Many people ,were surprised to .see French: lest olthe day was 'his second; where he was : Trophy rider Cyril ' Esqulrol on ' a 125cc , , sixth,fastest.· He sat 10th lnctass .at the end " Husqvama, as the Gilles Lalay Classic win.. " , ,', ner normally rides a 250CC machine. Appar-·. olthe firSt day. . . ' . ' ·ently; theFrench squadhadan abundence of Ottier 'notable' U.S. class 'finishers included , :25OCC riders, and Esquirol was.drattedtoan Scott Summers;.who held onto fourth 'place eighth-Iitef bike so that his team would have in the HIW Four'Stroke class, just 23.41 :. , riders in more classes, Esquirol competed on , points behind'class 'ieade( and World 'Oharn-, -at zscc a'few seasons ago, and was impras- : pion Karl Tla lnen of Finland . Five-lime , sive. He didn't appear to have trouble adept- · 'National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins ,'ing, finishing the day thirdin class. settled into sixth' in the lJW division, 26.49 ' points behind class leader.Maurlzlo Carmi- ., .:The wrist lnjurY of Brian Garrahan,was both . nail. ,. " unfortunate and ironic. Brian had filled the ... . . ' J.unior "team spotot tlis'brother.Patnck .Gar..'. ,Guy Cooper looked like an old Six Days pro" : ratian: Why hadn't Patrickbeen able to ride?' , when it came to changing' tires at the end of, He too had broken ,his wrist earlier In the the ctay. On his fir'st lire-ehanging attemptthat .. year; and was not yet 100%-.' .. . 'was 61ficially on the clock; he replaced bOth. ', ' ' front and rear rubber in under 15 minutes, ' . While many 'riders were complaining 'that the and it must be noted that he. ,like just about..... course was too tough,.others were seemingly . all of Ihe Trophy team .riders, used hard-Io-, , unaffected by the rocks, heat and longdeys. , change foam inne r iubes . Cooper' had .Aft,ercompillting DayOne, Steve Hatch liter'. . enough time left over topertorm other main- ·.;allyoran the entire length of two-mile grass tenance duties to his Suzuki. .. " :track testto be used on Day Two; He did it in , under 20 minutes.:, ' , Scott ,Summers and ,Fr8d Hoess'had tire, ' changing diffieullies at the end 01 the day. :: ',The apprOximately.2oo U.S. 'riders that start-: Both riders 'rode into' the impound areas on ed this year's ISDEwore 'the tradnionalbloe ' -bare front rimswith their fronttires hanging ' and -white , ~ s ku n k~ helmels. Those who : around their wastes.,Summers arid l:Ioess : qualified 10 ' ride at Tulsa via the AMA National had already changed their rear t ires before . Reliability' Enduro'Series and who chose to , struggling,with. their front tires. "Apparently. ,.' wear.Arai .helrnets were.given 'those helmets ' some of the front '(foam), tubes are s lightly '.. free' of charge from Arai, and printed on.the, over -s ized and ,are hard 10 mount ," said -. visors 01 those helmets were the:words "94 . Chuck Miller,' one ' of Team Honda's crew ' ISDETeamaualilied .~

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