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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127799
71 st International Six Days Enduro (Left) The Finnish Six Days drew fewer than 300 entries. High expenseS in Finland scared many riders away. (Right) U.S. Trophy rider Chris Smith added yet another gold medal to his collection. (Below) John Nielsen (268) Is greeted by teammate Guy Cooper after officially clinching the Club team win. the Trophy team itself. Ty Davis had 12-time ISDE gold medalist Jeff Fredette keeping an eye on him; Scott Summers had Ch.rl•• Halcomb following him around; Chris Smith had his brother Drew Smith as his chase rider; Rodney Smith had ...... Hyde watching over him, and Steve Hatch and Randy Hawkins had Kevin HI.... and 0.1e Segal (Hawkins' mechanic), respectively, watching out for their best interests. Rider tumout for the Finnish Six Days was significantly lower than usual. It's not unusual for the ISDE to draw over 400 entries, but the rider count in Finland was 259, • It's just too expensive here,' said Ireland's lone rider Ian Graham. 'We just can't afford to ship our motorcycles here; the (money) exchange for us is bad, and it's just plain expensive. Buf we'll have a full team next year On Italy)," Many other countries trimmed back this year as well, including Canada, which was represented by two riders; Poland, the winner of the Dutch ISDE in '93, was unable to scrape up six riders to field a Trophy team, and neither were countries such as Austria and Wales. Some of the traditionally stronger countries, such as Great Britain, Australia, France and Holland did not field their best possible teams, as some of their respective off-road stars chose to stay home. The United States, however, fielded one of the largest teams despite the hi9h costs. (Gasoline, for example, equaled approximately five do:lars a gallon in U.S, currency, and a S15 "bare minimum" meal was consid ered a good deaD. In all, 13 countries were represented in the premier World Trophy class and 10 countries in the Junior World division. (Above) Home country hero Karl nainen surprised no one by winning the 500cc Four-Stroke class. (Right) U.S. Junior World rider Brian Storrie nearly houted out on the last day because of a broken chain. 34 For the second year in a row, the ·re", impoun.... rule was put into effect. Basically, this rule lets a rider who has houred out the opportunity to re-impound his motorcycle at the end of the day and finish out the event. A rider can only re-impound his motorcycle once. However, one who takes advantage of this rule is not eligible for a medal. The rule, which was first put into effect last year in Poland, will be dropped follOWing this year's event. Another new rule that first went into effect last year soon will be history. After Finland, no longer will a rider's worst score on the World Trophy or Junior World teams be thrown out. This rule was tested after the Italians complained following the Dutch Six Days in 1993 that the winning team - Poland - had a worse score than they had incurred, even though the Italian team finished the event with only five (of sixl riders still running, Starting again in Italy next year, all the team rider's score will count towards the team's overall finish. A relatively jovial opening ceremonies were held for the Finnish Six Days on Saturday afternoon. All the teams from each country gathered up in Parc Ferme and marched (ala the Olympics) about 300 yards to the city square in Hameenlinna. There, the vice mayor of Hameenlinna and the president of the