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;:; ~ ENDURO 73rd International Six Days Enduro '- By Kit Palmer Photos by Steve Berkner, Mike Klinger and Palmer TRARALGON, AUSTRALIA, NOV. 10-15 i n la nd and Sweden m ig ht be ~ neighbors in the atlas, bu t their batj tie for this year's top honor at the 73rd International Six Davs Enduro in Australia was any thing butneighborly. The tw o world rivals clashed right from the sta rt, with Sweden ga ining the upper hand after the first day of competition . Th roughout the week, th e tw o teams tra ded the lead back a nd forth, and headin g in to th e deciding d ay-six MX tests, Sweden held an 11.98-second lead ove r Finlan d . Bu t the S wed es we re wo rried . Th ey kn ew tha t ma intainin g th e s lim p oints lead would be tou gh agains t the well-rou nd ed Finnish team. Too toug h, as it tu rn ed ou t. The MX tests favored the Finns, wh o caugh t and pa ssed the Swedes in the final d ay of compe tition to win their second ISDE in three yea rs. "We a re so h ap p y ," sa id a cha mpagne-soaked Kari Tia nen, a member of the w in ni ng six-man crew. "We a re a sma ll count ry, and to come here where ~ everyone is on eq ua l ground and win is 0\ jus t fantastic. It's unbelievab le." ,..... The Aus tralian Trophy team, led by ove rall individual wi nner Sha ne Wa tts on a KTM 125, finished third , ju st 7.45 seconds ahead of Italy, last year's wi nning team . Rounding o ut the top five overall was Fran ce. T he Pro G ri p-s p o nso re d United S ta tes Wo r ld Trop hy Te am ca me to Aus tra lia with high hopes of producing a wi n. After all, the high -powe red team s 1C 8 (Above) Australian Shane Watts ove ralled this year 's ISDE on a KTM 125, His ' team finished third. (Right) Yamaha WR400mounted Ty Davis was th is year 's Top American. He also ended up eighth in the 400cc Four-Stroke class. from Europe wo ul d be working out o f contai ners (just like the A merican team has alwavs d on e in the past) and U er e would ; be n o ho m e- tu r f ad v a nta g e . In a dd i ti o n , thi s wo uld be the third year in a row that the majority of th e Un it ed States tea m mem bers have co m pe ted toget her. Bu t th e results they were hoping for simply d idn't pan out. The team - Tv Da vi s, Scott Sum rne rs vRodney Smith, Chris Smith, Destry Abbo tt a nd Ra n d y Ha wk in s - just co ul dn ' t quite keep pace wi th the Europea n grasstrack specialists in the vario us tests held th r ou gh ou t th e wee k . A couple o f mechan ical breakd owns did n't help their . cause, and wh en all was said and do ne, the United States Troph y Team headed back home a d isappointing ninth. The team spen t most of the week planted in sixth place bu t d ropped to ni nt h on the las t d ay when Rod ney Smith 's Su zuki RM125 seized in the MX test. If there was any kind of a silver lining, thou gh, it wo u ld be that the Ameri- ca n team did d ispla y so me im pro vemen t fro m previou s yea rs. "Goi ng ov er the sco re s af ter w ards, yo u can see that, overall, ou r times are generally abou t five seconds bett er than they 've be en in th e pa s t," sa id team m an a ger Da v e Bertra m. " If w e ca n shave off a few more seconds and eliminate the mistakes, we'll be there. "This was also by far the most organized we've eve r bee n," Bertra m add ed . " 'ow tha t we have th at d own, we' re go ing to ha ve to co ncen tra te on tech- nique and grass-trac k training for next year's ISDE in Por tugal." This y ea r' s "To p A me rica n " was M on tcl a ir Ya ma ha -ba cked WR400Fm ou n ted Ty Da vis, w ho co m pe ted in the 400cc Four-Stro ke class. He drop ped the least amou nt of poin ts of all the 46 American rid ers who travele d to Australia . Of these 46 riders, only thr ee riders did n't fin is h. In all, the American co ntingen t ea rn ed .12 gol d med als, 28 silver med als, one bro n ze med al , a nd tw o went home wi th "finishers" hon ors.

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