Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DAVSIX By .Kit Palmer " Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!" said Mr. Policeman, whose Polish dialogue left me with a blank stare on my face. I turned to my wife for help; she was sitting in the passenger seat of our rented jelly bean - an Opel Corsa. "What do you suppose he's saying?" I asked her, knowing good and well she, like me, didn't have a damn clue. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, documents," he said louder and more sternly. Did he say documents? Ah, I remember that from last time. I knew what he wanted. It was approximately 10 o'clock Friday night and about an hour earlier, we had just crossed the border from the former East Germany - now unified Germany - into Poland. After experiencing brutal traffic jams leaving Dresden, Germany, earlier that afternoon, we were finally nearing our ultimate destination of Karpacz, a small ski-resort town near Jelenia Gora, the si te of this year's International Six Day Enduro. The cops, their cars parked along side the road, were standing next to their well-used blue and white-striped police...err, polizei cars, and they had just pulled us over for apparently no reason at alJ; we were driving slowly trying to find our hotel. "Well, I guess things haven't changed much since I was here last (in 1987 before the collapse of the Berlin wall)," I told my wife. I handed over to the cop my international driver's license and my passport, and he carefully inspected them very closely, taking his good sweet time making sure everything was in order, or perhaps to make me sweat a while, just for the fun of it. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," he said. I just shrugged my shoulders. "Blah, blah, blah," he continued as he handed me back my documents. "Blah, blah, go," I heard him say. C-ya. Whew! WelJ, here we go again, I thought. Poland. When do we go home? But little did we know that seven days later my wife and I would be reluctantly packing our bags in preparation for our flight home. As it turned out, I was wrong when I said Poland hasn't changed. Very wrong. It has changed a lot since the fall of communist rule in Eastern Europe. Okay, so we would be pulled over by the cops and play the same game of charades over and over again before the week was through, but, once we discovered that these stops were - more or less - nothing more than sobriety checks, well, our attitudes changed. I guess I can deal with that. You know, looking back, I never once even thought about having a sip of Zywiec (the local beer) until the very end of the day and was within walking distance of our pension. Drinking-anddriving was seemingly nonexistent in Poland. As the 70th ISDE approached, I was anxious to return to Poland for a couple of reasons. For one, I wanted to see the new capitalistic Poland, and compare it to the socialistic Poland of old. Would there be a difference? If so, would it be better or worse? My questions would soon be answered. ( Right away I knew things had changed. The first time I parked my car outside the hotel where the ISDE event headquarters was located a man suddenly appeared and demanded a fee for parking on what seemed like a public road. This was definitely a change, but for the good or bad? Well, I figured this was good for the local economy but bad for me. Luckily, parking was cheap. I barely recognized downtown Jelenia Gora. Eight years ago the place was lonely, a seemingly desolate place. Back then, the primarily graypainted buildings looked a little tattered, and the few shops tha t were open didn't have a whole lot in the way of merchandise, or customers for that matter. This time, the city square was an entirely different place. It was buzzing with excitement and crawling with people, including many young kids skating around on Rollerblades and riding whee lies on mountain bikes. Needless to say, there were no Rollerblades or expensive mountain bikes eight years ago. Today, many of the buildings in downtown Jelenia Gora are painted in bright colors, reminding my wife and me of that popular amusement park in Orlando. Cozy pubs and small restaurants have popped up all over the place, and a Pizza Hut became a popular lunch spot for the Americans. Coca Cola signs where everywhere, as were new neon signs and photographs of Arnold Schwarzenegger's face on many of the video-store windows. Unfortunately, the dollar-to-zloty exchange rate wasn't as good as it was eight years ago (no more black market), but it still isn't too bad today, especially when you compare the dollar vs. the pounds, marks and francs of other European co un tries. This, combined with a revitalized and a ready-to-please Poland, makes this country a serious contender when choosing your ski vacation getaway. But most of all, I was anxious to see a good Six Days again. Last year's ISDE in Oklahoma was simply a disaster, at least from a spectator's point of view. The riders will tell you it was a good event, but ISDE fans who came out to see the best off-road riders in the world compete, will tell you otherwise. Basically, they weren't allowed to see them. The year before in Holland ... well, six straight days of rain will put a damper on anythin& and it certainly did there. Prior to Holland, Australia hosted the ISDE and did an outstanding job, so outstanding that the Six Days will return there for 1997. But, for some reason, it just didn't feel like a traditional Six Days. Perhaps it was the fact that all the teams had to ship their motorcycles and tools to Australia and work out of ugly containers, something the U.S. and Australian teams having been doing for years. Plus, chase riding was all but non-existent in Australia (After all, who could afford shipping over both race bikes and chase bikes? Not many). And there was no rain. What's a Six Days without at least one day of rain, or chase riders zipping in and out of traffic on the public roads, for that matter? Still, it was a good even t. Not since 1991 when the Six Days was held in Czechoslovakia, did the event capture that true IS DE feeling. In Poland that feeling returned, and how. The townspeople were into it, there were motorcycles everywhere, spectators lined nearly every inch of the trail every day. Flags waved at the special tests, people leaned out over the ribbons that lined the tracks, cheering on their home country heros with blow horns, whistles, and vocal cords. "This is what the Six Days is all about," Jeff Fredette told me; he's ridden the Six Days 16 times and has finished them all - a record, no doubt. "You never go more than about a quarter of a mile without seeing someone on the trail, cheering you on. Especially the kids. They just go nuts if you pull a wheelie for them." Some of the teachers at the local elementary schools took their young students on field trips to watch the competitors ride through town. There's nothing quite like the Six Days. It truly is a one-of-a-kind event. In all, approximately 150 American off-road enthusiasts came to Poland to attend the Six Days this year, and what never ceases to amaze me is the amount of support these people lend to the U.5. effort. They are the unsung heros of the ISDE. They end up spending their vacation time waking up before the sun rises every morning only to spend the entire day working checks (many times in less-than-ideal conditions, such as rain, cold temperatures, wind ... ), pouring gas, lubing chains, doing whatever is needed to keep the U.S. riders on the trail. One such person is Rick "Gunny" Claypoole who managed the overall U.S. team effort for the ninth time this year. And then there's Bruce Wakeley, another ISDE hard-core who attends the Six Days nearly every year and takes on the responsibility of rounding up gas cans and keeping them filled and distributed to the proper checks all week long. What a way to spend your vacation, huh? But Wakely loves it. It's a shame that only the riders take home medals. This year's event definitely restored my faith in the Six Days and it took a country like Poland to do it. Hopefully, the U.S. will get another chance to host the ISDE and perhaps more Americans will get the chance to catch the true flavor of the ISDE. And if that day comes, and we do it half as welJ as the Polish did this year, then it will be nothing less than an outstanding event. LOOKING BACK... 25 YEARS AGO... OCTOBER 27, 1970 on't try this at home: Calvin Rayborn set a new motorcycle speed record of 265.492 on a tah salt flat. Rayborn's 90 cu. in. Harley- with at least one rider calling it the worst-scored event he had ever raced. At day's end, Jack Penton in the 125cc class was the only official winner. When the dust finalJy settled, Ake Jonsson was given top overall honors with Bengt Aberg as the runner-up. D Davidson=~~~~ J engine blew 300 feet before the end of the course, leaving his streamliner to coast through for the record... England and BSA made a clean sweep at Unadilla, New York, in TransAMA Motocross Feature-class competition. Jeff Smith, Keith Hickman John Banks and Dave Nicoll took the top four positions respectively for their country and their marque... Confusion reigned during and after the Inter-Am Motocross competition at Linville, Ohio, the title, 153-151... Bruce Penhall made onship at the series finale in Sacramenlike a broom and swept the U.S. Speedto, California. The 29-year-old racer way ationals in Costa Mesa, Califorsqueaked by Kevin Atherton and Chris nia, winning every race he rode and Carr for the 37th ational win of his walking away as the new National career and his third Grand National Champ. Pre-race favorite Alan "Crazy" Championship... Mike Kiedrowski and Christian took second... Marland WhaJeff Stanton topped the 125 and 500cc ley clinched his fifth National Observed classes, respectively, in the penultimate Trials title in six years. National Championship 125/500cc MX 15 YEARS AGO... Whaley's win in the fifth ~'I1rnTTf.:J"..,.~ round at Budds Creek, Maryland, OCTOBER 22, 1980 f,rfif~ round of the series, held ~~'-4l..:J1 without improving their positions eam Suzuki's ~ at Christmas Ranch, in the series. Kiedrowski held on Kent Howerton southwest of Pueblo, Colto his one-point series lead over defied the odds orado, put him out of Guy Cooper, while Stanton with a double moto reach of his nearest comremained 26 points away from th.e win to claim his secpetitor, Morgan Kavantop position of Jeff Ward ... Dan ond consecu ti ve augh, who finished Smith grabbed the lead in this Trans-USA MX fourth on the day. year's National Hare and Hound Series ChampionChampionship with a wire-to-wire win in the sixth round of the series, ship in the final 5YEARS AGO.., TiU d ~ held in Wendover, Nevada. One round in Braselton, l===:;~~!::::" OCTOBER 17, 1990 e u ICllfllinue ar Maryland Nat'l MX round remained between Smith and Georgia. Howerton , and Team Yamaha's Broc he pride of Swartz Creek, his fifth series title. Smith's fellow G lover took it down to the wire for a Michigan, Scott Parker, celebrated KIM rider Danny Hamel took the 250cc winner-take-all final moto, but Howerwith tuner Bill Werner after Parker Expert win to lead that class in series won the AMA Grand ational Champipoints. 0 ton took the win, the day's overall, and T T I.!') 0\ 0\ rl oo~ rl 1-< IlJ .g ..... U o 67

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