Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127971
. .;> 73rd International Six Days Enduro (Abov e) Summers (127) walt s for the start on day one . (Abov e righ t) Randy Hawki ns added yet another ISDE gold meda l to his co llection . (Bel ow) Th is Br itish ri der was one of many whose speci al test sco re was ru ined by this hid den mudh ole. (Above) U.S. c lub rider Br ian Storrie prep ares fo r a special test. Desp ite starting the even t wi th a dis located sho ulder, he took home a silver medal. (Right) Rod ney Smit h was the top U.S. rider before breaking down ·on the last day. 00 0\ 0\ ..... C'J ' l-< (I.J .c E (I.J u (I.J c 14 into one of th os e ruts a nd it cos t him dearly. He end ed up fini shing the second test some 11 seco nds off the classbe st tim e turned in by Italian Stefan o • Pa s s eri . Summ ers a lso struggled through both tests, later ad mitting that he was d isgu sted with his times. " l' m as ha m e d o f m yself a n d asha med to be wearing this (Team USA) helmet," he said . "In a test that's four minutes lon g , I'rn 23 sec o nd s off the (Eriksson' s) pace . I was determined to make up my time the second time through, but [ crashed right off the sta rt. After that , I was so mad I couldn't even think. I'm sick to my sto mach about it." Summers' tim e was nea rl y 45 seconds slower than Eriksson's the second time around the test. "I think m y problem is," Su m mers reason ed , "that I'm good at going pr ett y fast for a long tim e, but bad at go ing really fast for a sho rt time." Like Smith, Davi s go t hung up in a rut in the first test, resulting in an unDa v is -lik e tim e . H is seco n d ti me th rou gh ' was o n ly s lightly b ett e r . Hawkins' times wer e abo ut on par wi th Davis' . Chris Sm ith was the only Ame rican Trophy rid er findi ng some success.in the day-four test. His times in the 250cc Four-Stroke class were fifth and seven th fastest. In the team competition, the Finnish Trophy riders fared well in the two tests, taking ov er the lead from Sweden. France also did we ll , moving up to th ird , followed by Italy and Australia, who d ropped back d espite Watt s' thir d class-winning performance of the wee k. Team USA held its gri p on sixth but allowed th e seven th-p la ce team fr om the Czech Republic to close to wit hin 20 seconds . . Sweden, ho we ve r, ma naged to hang on to their lead in the Junior World divis ion , bu t by only tw o seconds over Spa in . A d istant thi rd sa t Fra nce, fol lowed by Italy an d Aus tralia . Ga rrahan, Raines, Jenks a nd Lafferty co ntinued their hold on sixt h. Effects of the rain still lingered int o day fiv e, a day th at wa s su p posed to have been one of the longest and tou ghest of the event. But washed-ou t trail s a nd d eep streams forced major cou rse a lte ra tio ns. Manv secti on s were eliminated, and the da y was short ened from the usual nine hours to jus t six relati vely easy h ours of r iding . Empha si s w a s again p laced heavily on the 'd ay' s spe-· cial tests and - once again - the Swedes, Finn s, Italians, French and Au stralians controlled the clocks. Th e Am erica ns posted decent times, bu t it wa s obvious at this point tha t a medal finish was out of the question. Heading in to d a y six, Sweden led Finland by just a few seconds, w hile the American Ju nio r World tea m sat in a solid sixth . Things didn't ge t any bett er for the Ame ricans at the final MX specia l tests on the last day of competiti on . Rodney Sm ith was threaten in g to pas s for secon d pl a ce in h is moto w he n hi s bike came to a screeching halt with ano ther seized top end . This misfortune not only cost the United Sta tes Pro Gri p Trophy te a m one to tw o places in th e fi nal standi ngs and d ropped him from go ld to silver sta tus, but it also robbed Smith of "Top American " status . At that time, Smith's scores we re better than tho se of Da vis. Watts, on his KTM 125, went on to blitz th e mot o, clicking off th e fas test time of the dav, A dramatic ra ce took pl a ce in th e "fas t" 250cc Tw o-Stroke mot o. Shavne King scored a narrow win over Sala, -bu t Sal a 's runn er-up performan ce in th e moto put him .46 seconds ahead of Finn Mika Ahola for the class championship. Seventeen-year-old Aussie Ben Grabham, aboard a Honda XR250, walked away w it h the 250cc Four-Stroke moto win and wit h it the overall class champions hip. Th e lar ge .American co ntinge nt was hoping for a Ty Davis / joel Smets showd own in th e "fas t" 400cc Four-Stroke moto, bu t a bad s tart sa w Dav is swa llow ed up in the pack. Smets went on to win th e m ot o a n d th e class cha m p ionship, whil e Davis wor ked his way up to a 10th-best tim e, fi nis h ing eig hth overall in class . "I had a great ju mp, but I hit neutral and nearly went over the bars when the back wheel hit the ga te," Davis said . "It