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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127954
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC B yGeoff M eyer h is year's Internati onal Si x Day Enduro, which is scheduled to get under way in Trar algon, Aus tralia, N ovember 20-15, is looking alittle brittl e a t th e ends foll owing so me major changes tha t have tak en place over the past few weeks. This yea r's running of the Aus tralian ISDE looks likely to be on e of the great Six Days of this decade - mu ch of whi ch ha s to do with the brilliant landscape in the Trar algon area, the friendly nature o f th e Au stralian people, a nd th e fact that the event will be on some what even ground for the American and European teams (only the Aussies will have th e upper hand ). Additionall y, th e event will be run in the month of November, leaving air-ticket pric es to Oz at an alltime low and weather conditions (ho pefu lly) nearly p erfect. And Au strali an enduro supporters are lookin g forward to the return of their ow n World End uro Cham pio n, Shane Watt s, who has spent the pas t few months sit ting ou t with a knee injury. Also pi quin g Aussie inte res t is the fact that four yo ung Aus tra lians have followed the lead of Watt s and con tested the 1998 World Enduro Cham pionships, a nd th ey w ill all be read y fo r a ctio n come Novem ber, giv ing th e once-so ft Australian team the look of real winners . Fo r America ns ; thi s ISDE w ill ru n after the AMA Nation al off-road seaso n is ove r (the last ro und wi ll be the Grand National Cross Co u ntry Seri es in October), giv ing th e American rid ers th e chan ce to go all ou t at the ISDE, withou t the wo rry of sus tai ning inju ry and the po ssibility of losin g a USA number-one T plate. Also, the Americans will be still in race-fitness, whi le the Euros will be two months out of their racing season. Neither will the Aussie scene be as d aunting for Uncl e Sam 's men as the cold , wet shores of Europe, wher e language, terrain and attit udes are so different. What, then, you may ask, is the problem wi th the Aus sie-held ISDE? In the mon th of June , A us t ra lia's lead ing end uro course design er , Norm Watts (fa ther of World 125cc En d u ro Cham pion Shane Watts), resign ed from his rol e aft er being u nab le to co me to terms w ith the or ganizers of the eve n t. No w comes the new s that event director Daryl Broadbent has stepped d own, giving the role of even ts director to on e of Au stralia' s leading end uro lights, John Hall. With th e e ve n t o nly th re e m onths away , the cou rse is not co m plete, and seve ra l m aj or pr obl em s a re bein g ad d ressed by H all , wh o ran th e ve ry su ccessful 1992 ISDE in Cess nock, Aus tralia. That event was considered to be one of the best , and a lot of the credit must fall on the should ers of Hall and his fellow Aussi e crew - many of wh om were not involved with the organization of this 1998 Six Days. Broa d bent , who had been the eve nt d ire ct or s inc e th e e ve n t w a s fi rst ass igned to Aus tral ia some thr ee yea rs ago, wa s n ot a mot or cycle en thu siast, and man y of the problems occurred du e t o h is la ck of kn owl ed ge of th e w ay enduro peopl e sho uld be treated . When Walts r e si g ned f ro m th e course-d esign er job , his press stateme nt wa s an ything bu t friendly. "I will leave th is ship ," Watts sa id , "before it sinks .' Watts was also worried the treatment he recei ved w ou ld tro u ble other ISD E volunteers. "I am worried that the other vo lun teers will suff er the same way I d id, " he said. "I have put man y hours into thi s course, and I wi ll no longer work w ith th ese in con siderate people who appear to be in this for their own selfish ga ins." Walts left no d oubt that he would not be coming back to finish the job. It was, to sa y th e lea st , a savage b lo w to the eve n t. Watts had pu t in some se rious h ou rs to prepare the se ction s of the course that wer e completed . Mentioning that the event was abo u t to sha tter int o a thou sand pieces was not some thing anyo ne in vo lved in th e ยท lSDE w an ted to hear . Only w eeks a ft er Wa tt s resigned , Broad bent - the person many conside red to be th e big problem - was also gon e. Many were wo nd ering if a t thi s point the d amage to the eve n t cou ld be co rrected . One of the greatest problems to occur has been the combina tion of paid workers and volunteers . Hall, though , is optimistic that the trou bles are a thing of the past. "It is critica l to av oid conflict; it' s the one thing tha t can destroy an event like the ISDE," Hall said . "The ISDE is abou t to rea lize mor e than tw o years of hard w ork a nd ... th e g ro u nd wor k h as not been able to be realized . Issu es suc h as sponsorship and land access canno t be locked down overn ight. There are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied down. It is vital that the vo lun teers are respected and th e profess ion al team can do its job." Late la s t yea r, a no ther re spected Au ssi e e n d u ro fig u re he a d, Gra em e Anders on (w ho , lik e Hall , is a maj or player in th e organizat ion of th e Australian ISDE), was assigned the position of op erations manager. It was a way of saying the local en d u ro fana tics did in fact hav e som e of their guys running the show, yet still the position of the ma nagement was questionable. With a public meeting finally called in May of this year (just prior to Walts' resignation), it was a lso expected that the probl ems would be add ressed . Sin ce th at Ma y m eetin g , ma ny changes have occurred , wi th the greatest piece of news bein g the appoin tmen t of Hall into the lead role. While the Austra lian-held ISDE looks like it's back on tra ck, it will tak e a hu ge effort by Hall a nd h is merry men to ge t it in to th e sa me sha pe as th e br illiantly run 1992 event, and Hall kn ows this. "I ca n se e all the gro u n dwork th at h a s b e en d on e ," h e s a id , "and w it h e ve r yo ne m a kin g an e ff o r t to wor k toge ther, the last pieces of the ISDE jigsaw pu zzle are all set to fall into p lace." So now it' s time for the likes of Giovan ni Sala, Ty Davis, Shane Watts, Scolt Summer , A n der s Erik ss on and Ka r i Tiainen to ge t prepared for wha t hop efu lly will live up to the expec tat ions we all had so me three yea rs ago, wh en we first heard that the ISDE was returning to Aus tralia. Then ma ybe we can all say , "C'day, mate - ho w's it going?" withou t getting the reply, "It' s not ." f:\ LOO ING.B C ... K .AK 30 Y SAGO... EAR AUGUS T22, 1968 k ip Van Leeuwen (Tril raced to his third AMA G rand Natio na l win in a row and becam e the only rider ever to win the 50-lap Ascot IT twice. Dan Haaby (H-D) fin is h ed se co n d , with Dusty Coppage (Tri) ta kin g t hird .. . O ne d a y la ter , Fred d y Nix (H-D) broug ht Va n Leeuwen ' s streak to a hal t, as he rod e a facto ry KR to victory a t th e 10-m ile N a tio nal in Santa Rosa , Cali fornia ... Ducati w as boa sting of flat -tra ck a nd sc ra m b les w in s by rid er s aboard its 250 a nd 350cc Scra mb ler singles ... Lance Margeson (Tri) backed up his heat-race victory with a main -event win at the Sidewinders IT in Oregon ... Bart Markel e nd o rsed Buco helmets ... Don Emde , Val Howard and Tony Nicosia were all winners at the AFM Ca rlsbad roa d ra ce ... Dared evil extraord ina ire Evel Knieve l completed a su ccessful ju m p over 13 ca rs at Fairgrounds Speedway in Utah. S 20YE SAGO... AR AU T9, 1978 GUS a n k Scott (H-D ) s tor med to h is se cond A MA Gra nd Na tio nal mile victor y in a row at the Du Q u oin Mil e . Def e nd ing se ries champion Ja y Sp ringsteen (H-D) passed Ted Boody (H- D) off the las t corner to sna re second . Bood y was th ird ... America ns swep t the top three spo ts in the 250cc Ll.S, GP at Unad illa Valley Spo rts Cen ter in New York, as Marty Tri pes (Hon) scored the overall win, follow ed by Jimmy Ellis and Bob "Hurricane" Hannah (Yam) ... Earlier in the month of [u lv, Vlad imir Kavinov (KTM) had won the French 250cc' MX GP ... Bernie Schreiber (Bu l) was on fire in the World Cha mpio nship Observ ed Trials Series, cap ping of his fourth w in in the last five roun ds at the H series sto p in Pinero10, Ital y... We tested the Yamaha IT175E, toutin g it as a "bi g th in g in a s m a ll p a ck a g e " .. . Bob Balentine (KT M) celebra ted his 22nd birthday by racing to hi s n int h s tr a i g h t AMA Distr ict 37 h ar e scrambles victory in Californ ia Ci ty, California. 10YEARSAGO... AUGUST 3, 1988 d ec a d e a ft e r th e first 250cc us. GP came to Una d illa, and Americans scored a sweep, Tea m USA d id it aga in, thi s time wit h Rick Johnson (Hon ) taki ng the overa ll victo r y . Bob Hannah (Suz), who was thi rd overa ll 10 yea rs ag o, finished seco nd ove ra ll in thi s o ne, w i t h Mick y Dym ond (Ya m) t hird o v e ra ll .. . Bubba Shobert (Hon) became the fastest miler in history, as he set a new sing le-lap record of 104.721 m ph and also set a new ave rage speed recor d for the 25-lap main event at the Du Qu oin Mile. The w in was Shob ert' s 36th ca ree r wi n in Grand Nati onal co m pe titio n... Wa yne Gardner (Ho n) ro d e to his third successive 500cc GP victory in Rijeka, Yugoslavia . Yamaha riders Christian Sa rron an d Wayne Ra iney w ere secon d an d th ird , re spect ively ... Rex Staten (Kaw) w o n th e SMX Ve t Na tionals at Perris Raceway... Tea m De nmark won the ,~ Diamo nd Jubilee Speedw ay Series in Eng land . A , l.C) Bernie Sc hre iber is the only Ame rican to have won the World Trials Champions hip. He did so in 1979.