Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Annls h Trop hy team ri der Mika Ahola jumped out int o the early lead on day one, won his class every day, won nearly every spec ial tes t ove rall, and was plainly t he fast est enduro rider in thi s worl d cham pionship event. , (Right) Up until day five , the only water on the course was t his tri cky rive r crossing. Mark Mill er eases through on hi s way to a sliver medal in the 250cc FourStroke class. (Below ) Terry Cunn ingham rode the ISDE for the first time in 10 years and came away with a silve r meda l. found - in the cold and wind - on an air strip. In between , forest plantations eucalyptus trees, cork oaks, other hardwoods and evergreens left the trail shaded from the sun but still terminally d ry. The soil mix of silt and sharp rocks was terribly dusty, and it was obvious from the first mile that seeing where you were going was going to be a major headache. The second s u r p r ise - more of a shock, reall y - was the early d iscovery that the Portuguese love their trails difficult. American riders for years have bemoaned the fact that the Six Days has turned into a "road ride" between the special tests . Well, this year many of the riders were pleased to simply get to the special tests, both Trophy and Club riders alike. The deciding factor for da y one was the hills themselves, or at least trying to get u p them . "Man, there was one hillclimb that just went up and up, and kept going up," said Club Team rider Mike Sigety. It was a tough climb, but other sho rte r climbs wer e just as bad , stopping some riders in their tracks . Some had to push up , some were very bus y turnin g around and taking another shot at them.. and in all the dust it was pandemonium. Accustomed to an easy outing for the first day of the event, rid ers from every team were scrambling to get to the checks on time, with most of the club riders losing trail points. This made for anxious moments in th e service areas before the lime checks, and in the morning gas checks, the frenzy reached pan ic level. It was here that the first American disaster struck. In th e days before th e s ta r t, twostroke fuel was mixed and sto red along w it h the straig ht gas fo r the fourstrokes, all in unmarked and iden tical cans. When the fuel was d ist ributed to the check poin t crews, m istak es wer e mad e, and a large num ber of two-stro ke rid ers were fed straight gas by nervous and inexperienced pit crews. or "I almos t d id it myself," said Ame rican suppo rt team member Lindsa y Pirie. "I started pouring gas into Brian's bike (Garrahan) and it d idn't look right. Sure enough it was straight gas . We figured it out at my check but som e of the guys weren't so lucky." Junior Trophy team rid ers Crai g Wesner, on a Kawasaki, and Nathan Knight, on a Gas-Gas, were both taken out by the s traigh t-gas bug, crippling th e tea m and ta king it to las t place, where it would remain for the rest of the week. Gas Gas-moun ted Mike Monroe also received straight gas at a check. His bike sto pped on a trail section, and he pushed it out to a small village. "They told us to never leave the bike on the trail, or it would be stolen," Monro e said . "So I found a hous e and knocked on the door, and begged th e woman to allow me to store it in her garage." Understand that Monroe had bleached his hair white, then dyed the sides red and blue. "I must have looked like an alien, but sh e let me," he said. "And then I went back to the course and started walking. I walked back to a stamp check and then just waited for the sweepers to help me down. "It's so frustrating: ' he said, "to work thi s ha rd, this lo ng. I was riding my bicycle every day, working out, practic ing . I've been to Six Days before, and I wanted a gold med al; that was my goal this year. And then to ha ve the bike destroyed by someone els e's mist ak e. It's just so frustrating ." Club Tea m rid er Ma tt Stavish a lso we nt ou t w ith a freaki sh problem . He had a return spring - abou t a $2 part break in the shi ft mechanism of his Gas Gas . H e co u ld upsh ift fi ne, but he could n' t d ownshift w itho u t s to p ping and remo ving his clutch cover to manually sh ift the bike to a lower gear . "With all the hills in the loop I was at a severe d isad vantage. I struggled as I i! hard as I could to get in and get it fixed, but I wound up hou ring out by about three minutes at the end of the day." By the end of the day, Cl ub rid ers Blake Plonsky, Brian Sperle and Steve Silvestri were also out of the even t with a variety of problems, and John Burgar d dropped out with a knee injury. It was a . disap po in ting day for the Club rid ers, en and a number of those who rem ain ed en en lost a lot of trail lime getting to the finish. One veteran Six Day rider who took 'cD it all in stride was Jeff Fredette. o "It was an okay day," he said. " I U o did n't d o anything stupid, but it cost a lot of points. We sat at the second spe- 17 ~ .8

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