International Six-Day Enduro
Trois Province Hell
despite an overall-winning performance by 500cc Four-Stroke rider
Mika Ahola. Australia attacked the
French with a vengeance, putting
their team in second on the first day
and keeping it in third for four days
with stellar performances by Shane
Watts (125cc Two-Stroke) and last
year's overall ISDE winner Stefan
Merriman (400cc Four-Stroke), but
they then saw their hopes for at least
a podium finish dashed when both
riders suffered serious problems on
day five. The Italians recovered with
five men still riding for second in the
World Trophy, while a consistent performance from the Spanish team put
them in third for the week. The Australians begrudgingly settled for
fourth spot, while the Czech Republic
took fifth.
The American Trophy team of
Nick, Russ and David Pearson, Pat
There's no place like France, where
the Intematlonal Six Days Enduro was
held this year. Riding for the American
Trophy team on an unfamiliar
motorcycle (Husqvarna's new 250cc
Four-5troke), veteran Fred Hoess had
a good week, finishing ninth In class.
His team was sixth overall.
team, then fought back into first on
day three and never relinquished the
top spot after that.
Competition from the Italians,
Finns and Swedes was fierce but
plagued with bad luck and misfortune. Last year's championship Italian team was knocked backward on
day one after 250cc Four-Stroke rider
Matteo Rubin suffered machine prob.
lems and lost 'more than 22 minutes
getting them fixed. The intimidating
Finland team tried to recover from
poor performances by two of their
members on day one, worked their
way back up to a challenging spot
but then lost two riders to bike failure
by day four and dropped to the bottom of the team classifications
STORY AND PHOTOS BY
PAUL CLIPPER/TRAIL RIDER MAGAZINE
BRIVE 1A GAIllARDE, FRANCE, AUG. ?:I-SEPT. 1
or the first time in the past three
tries, the International Six-Day
Enduro (ISDE) ran its full six days
this year, and the hosting Trophy
Team took the overall win. The
French fielded a strong team and
fought back all attacks to win their
second World Trophy victory in ISDE
history, the first time being in 1988 in
Mende, France. The sextet of David
Fretigne, Eric Bernard, Cyril Esquirol,
Marc Germain, Oliver Rebufie and
Sebastien Guillaume broke out in
front on day one, were pushed backward on day two by the Swedish
F
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SEPTEMBER 19, 2001 •
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