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/128075
Enduro 74th International S ixDays Enduro The American effort was a combination of brilliance and blah, wit h ad venture, roma n ce, and di sa s te r mi xed toget h e r lik e noth ing w e ' ve seen in recen t yea rs. Th e U.S. s ix-man Trophy team - Brian Garrahan, Ty Davis, Destry Abbott, Pat Garrahan, Russ Pearson and Rand y Hawkins - fought its own gremlins and averted outrig ht disaste r fo r five memb ers of the team , bu t non e of them ever really came close to the blister in g pace se t by the Finns . They finished sixth in the major team com peti.tion, after losing Destry Abbott to a seiz ed engi ne on the fourth day. The American Junior Trophy Team effo rt of Brian Brown, Cla y Boreing , Craig Wesner and Na tha n Knight was crip pled on the first day, after Wesner a nd Kn ight' s two-strokes were given fou r-s tro ke fu el a t an ea rly checkpoi nt a n d both su ffered a lm ost im med ia te engi ne failu res . Both Borein g and Brown finished the event wit h silver medals. Overall, the riders found a mixed bag o f dry , dusty s oil and rocky, gnarly trails in one of the most d ifficult, technica l- ri d ing- packed Six Day s in many years. It was an end u ro that demanded psychol ogical stamina as well as physical endurance. For most riders the sheer difficul ty of the first and seco nd days repeats of the same course - was such an assaul t on the senses that man y rid ers lost any en thusiasm th ey m ight have h ad before even ch ec ki ng o u t o f th e course on day on e. This int ensity, and a surprise twist on the final day, would be the defining not e for the last Six Days of the millennium. . The eve nt started in bon e-d ry terrain that was a lot like the silt beds of Nevada, with trees. Portugal's in terio r resembles Northern California , with grassy lowlands and hill s w it h sparse, to ugh trees here and there. At the higher elevations the cou rse actually passed the tree line, w here check number three w as COIMBRA, PORTUGAL, SEPT. 13-18 or the seco nd year in a row, Team Finland wo n the top pri ze at the 74th Annu al Int ernationa l Six Days Enduro, and they d id it with style. As soo n as the Finnis h tea m rid ers started hitting the special tests, it was obviQUs that they wo u ld leave Portuga l with the World Trophy once aga in - barring any catast rop hes, of course. The stro ng sex tet of riders, led by 175cc-p lu s rider Mika Ah ola, aboard a TM, cha lked up a n average of three class w in s every d ay, a nd no tea m, no t even th e oncein vin cible Italians, could chall enge them with any serious pressure. The Italians d id chase va lian tly, however, bu t still fi n is hed 20 p oin ts b eh ind th e Fin ns. Thi rd place in the coveted World Tro p hy were the Au stralian s, with a great show of team effo rt and so me su rprising ly strong riders of their own. The four-m a rt Junior Trop hy com petit ion in Portuga l fell to the Spania rd s after a week-lon g battle to stay ahead of '" the oppos ing Italia n team , while by the '" end of the wee k the Czech Republic had '" cD clawed its way up to third. Swed en salQl .<:l vaged some of its self-res pect with a win o U in the Club Team com petition, su ccesso fully fighting off tw o German teams that filled out the podium. [? ~ 16 (Above) When the go ing gets tough, t he old guys get go ing: Jeff Fredette was a member of the topfi nishing American Club team - th e Salt Fork Dirt Ride rs. He, alo ng with fell ow ove r-40 ri ders Drew Smith and Terry Cunningham, nearly had third, bul too k fo urth, in the Club division. Frede tte earne d a silver medal. (Left) Onc e again, two-time National Enduro Champion Ty Davis was the top-fini shing Americ an at the Six Days . In Portugal, Davis earned a gold medal in the ultraco mpetiti ve 250ccplus 2-Stroke cl ass .