Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ENDURO 73rd InternationalSix Days Enduro (Above) Robbie Zimmerm an earned a silver medal In th e 125cc class. , (Below) American Club ride rs Jim Con ne r (193) and Eric Ducray (195) mi x it up during the final MX special test. Conn er took ho me a sil ver meda l and Ducray finished afte r reimpound ing . (Top ) Rick Higgins (223) and Alan Deyo (244) get a li tt le close in th e fina l MX test. (Ab ove) Mike 'Laff erty was the top fi ni sh in g U.S. Ju nio r Tr ophy rider . (Left) Drew Smith competed in his 19th ISDE. His bik e brok e in the final MX tes t, but he still earned a silver meda l. , N l-< Q) ..n E Q) u Q) c 10 rumors while his brok en bike rested in the back of a pickup truck outside the Ame rican pit s. "Two co rn ers from th e en d o f the cross test, the motor let go," a dejected Abbott said . " 1 pushed it across the finish and figured it was the lower end that gave out. It's strange, because there was no warning at all; otherwise, I might not have pushed so hard in the test. "I' m bummed ," Abbott ad ded . "This is the wo rs t feeling I've ever had racing. You wo rk so hard , you ge t the op po rtunity to ride on the Trophy tea m, and this happens. No w I'm jus t a spectator ." Still, the United States team was not out of th e hunt. With the th rowaway ru le in affect - a relati vely new ru le that allows each team to tos s out its worst score at the end of each da y, in this case Abbott's - th e American team cou ld push on, bu t th er e would be no more room for erro rs. Mean while, in the d ay-tw o special tests , the rest of the America n Trophy te am was tr ying to make up for los t time. One rider to improve was Dav is. "I beat Joel (Smets) in two of the test s toda y, bu t it was close," Davis said after his ride. "But, in the other two tests, he beat me by lik e three seconds! I don't kn ow wha t to d o. Otherwise, eve ry thing is going good ." Aft er co m pleting his top-end ove rhaul in the m orning , Rodne y Sm ith headed ou t on the trail, but he could n' t get warmed up in time for the first special test of the dav (the cross test). " I was just too cautious on the wet grass, especially wit h used tir es," said Smith, wh o did not hav e time to mount a fr esh se t of knob bies a f te r h av in g spent all of his spare time repl acing the piston and cylinde r.:" After that, my test tim es wer e okay, but I was sti ll abo ut th ree se co nds off (]25cc-class lead er ) Shane Watts' times ." Despite post in g decent specia l-tes t times through d ay tw o, Su m me rs was not con tent with his performan ce thus far . "It' s kind of frustratin g," Su m mers sa id. "I' m 13 seco nds off th e p ac e . I do n't think I'm carrying enough speed throu gh the corne rs. I'm jus t no t used to s p rin ti ng he re . I tri ed ' hard er tod a y ; maybe 1 need to slow down to go faster. Ma intain in g corner speed is th e main part of the gam e in the Six Days ." H awkins continued to p ost solid times on da y two , as did fellow Trophy team rider Chris Smith. "It's ro ugh ou t th ere," Smith said . "T he t ra il s a re g e tt i ng chop py . I' m ga ssing it, but it d oesn 't see m like I' m goi ng forward - jus t bouncing up and down." Af te r da v tw o, Team 'USA m a in tai ned. its ho ld on sixth place but wa s losing g ro u nd on the le adin g teams. Co ntinued quick times by Watts helped lift Tea m Au strali a from fifth to thi rd , while Sweden slightly extended its lead over Fin la nd to 16 seconds. Italy s till held on to fourth, with Fra nce dropping from third to fifth. Spai n and Austra lia d ue led for the d ay' s to p results in th e Ju nior Wor ld d ivision . A fter add ing up a ll e ig ht rider 's times through the day's fou r special tests, less than one second separa ted the two teams, with the nod going to Sp a in. Swed e n was on ly 13 second s b eh ind in third , followed by It al y , Fran ce and the United States . Just as he had done the previou s day, Lafferty had th.e best d ay of the four American Juni or World rid ers . "I kept it up on two wheels all day, toda y," Laffer ty said jokingly. One of La fferty's teammat es, Brian Garrahan, said, " I 'm not doin g too good in the grass tra cks (cross tests), but my terr ain (end uro) tests have been oka y." In the overall s ta nd in gs a fter da y two, Spain had overtaken Sweden for the Ju nior World lead ; w hile Italy had s lip p ed p a st France for th ird . Cl ose behind in fifth was Australi a, follo wed by the United States. And then the rains came. Throughout d ay two , clouds slowly accumulated a n d eventu all y tu rned black with moisture. By the time riders started impound in g thei r bikes at the en d of th e dav, th e w et stu ff sta r ted coming down'. It ra in ed heavily a nd steadily throughout the night and into the next da y. As the riders left the sta rt line to begin day thr ee, it started to rain eve n ha rder. Sma ll s trea ms turned in to sw ollen rivers, and the once dry and dusty Australian cou ntryside tu rned int o a slippery mess of brown goop. Before slithering into check three, the early-nu mbered riders managed to get through the first three special tests and at least on e dangerously fas t-flowing river. It was at check thr ee that the day's

• Cover