Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Finnish Motorcycle Association welcomed all participants. Even Finnish hero. Four-Stroke Enduro World Champion Kari Tiainen, got up on the stage and said a few words. Other activities included a trials demonstration, a log house-b . ding contest and a live rock band that pia ed late into the evening. Vintage motorcycles also were on display, and a huge beer garden was set up for those who wanted to try some of the local Finnish brew. Tech inspection got under way Friday, August 8, and most of the American riders made it through relatively easily. Usually the sound tests give the riders the most grief, havIng to pass the 94 dB. limit. but only a few were sent back to the pits for more packing, Including Scott Summers and his XR600. It took him two tries, Italy hosted the traditional "next year's ISDE host-country" party In Finland. The 1997 ISDE will be held in Brescia, Italy, located at the foot of the Alps and .approximately 125 miles north/east of Milan. Just like in Finland, the event will be held In the warmer month of August, 19·24. The last time the ISDE was held in Italy was in 1986 in San Pelligrino, near Bergamo. Bergamo is about 53 miles south/west of Brescia. This will be the ninth time the event will be held in that country. In 1998. the ISDE will return to Australia, fol· lowed by Portugal in 1999 and France in 2000. The U.S. Trophy and Junior World teams wore red, white and blue uniforms in the opening ceremony parade (and later on at the closing ceremonieS> that was donated to the teams by Oxbow. Randy Hawkins worked out that deal with Oxbow. a company more associated with soccer. "It's hard to take a soccer company IOtO sponsoring a motorcycle team," said Hawkins, "especially this year with the Olympics. But they really helped us out. " road as everyone thought," he said. "But it was nice to see the road now and then. 1I While Hatch posted some good times in the tests, his day already was blown with 20 late-start penalty points that occurred right off the start when his Suzuki fouled a plu~ "This is my seventh Six Days and I've never had to change a plug. It died and I had to push it across the flags. That was kind of a bummer." Hawkins blazed the tests, finishing seventh in the 12Scc class at the end of the day. "We've been fighting jetting all day long, scared to go hard the first two tests," Hawkins said. "We finally got the jetting right so the last two test rode really hard." Despite his promising test scores, Hawkins still was no match for the Finnish Husqvarna rider Silvan, whose combined times were 43 seconds faster '. '.,:& than Hawkins' times. Silvan topped the .j" day's 12Scc scores by 1.57 seconds over" ::? teammate Ahola. _ ',.) Swede Anders Eriksson topped al1 ;:./: the 400cc Four-Stroke riders, while'.,:.',} Tiainen smoked the SOOcc Four-Stroke .:', class. Scott Summers put together':-::~' good test scores but was docked 360. ~:.'i: route points for rolling through the:.');' second-to-last check early. During the'. :;:.course of the day, the organizers;';~" added five minutes to that particular.. .-:j' check to give riders plenty of time to:' ;" ~ork on their motorcycles before ;';,' (Left) Finland's Petterl Silvan dominated the 125cc class. (Far lett) Offroad superstar Stephane Peterhansel of France had a quiet Six Days, finishing ninth >overall, ..~) A .... i Helmats also donated 30 blue and ite "skunk" helmets to the U.S. team riders. and CycoActive Products also gave all the American riders Sco.-.card Holders and six Sar9acks to the chase riders.. pening day began under clear blue skies with temperatures . reaching as high as 80 degrees, which would pretty much be the standard all week long. Most of the riders had come to Finland prepared for cooler temper

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