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/128241
the week . The Fi nn s ended up fin ishin g a full si x m inu t es ahead o f th e o nc e- migh ty -bu t -still -respectabl e Ita 1i a n t e am . Fr a n c e e n de d up t h i r d , ahead of Spa in and Australi a. T eam Belg ium . led by seven -time W orld Mot oc ross Cha m pio n St efan E v erts , got off to a good sta rt and wa s sitting in third place aft er d ay o ne. But the Belg ians' luck would run o ut soon . O n day two . o ne of th eir ride rs wa s reportedly al most k illed w he n he collided with a ca r, and then, o n d ay f iv e , th e team h ad anot he r rider dro p o ut. knocki ng th em com pletely out of contention . The tea m ended up 11th o T he Swedes were also favored to do well in th e South American sand , b ut the y only had th ree riders left still ru n ning at th e end of t he six days . w hich was o ne rider better tha n the two team s tha t finished beh ind them , the Nethe rla nds and Colom bia . As fo r T eam USA , they co nti nued to ri de hard a nd pu sh o n . YZ2 5 0 m ounted Da vis certainly g ave eve ry thi ng he had , de spi te no hope fo r a te am go ld m eda l. Davis, w ho pos ted ex celle nt times in t h e t es t s on d ay o ne in the 2 5 0 c c T wo -Stroke class , started feeli ng sick on da y tw o (T uesda y ) . By that ni ght, he had a fu ll-o n flu . " I start ed gettin g w eak [o n d ay two]. an d [ felt horrible th at ni g ht," Da vis said. " D ay three was the wo rst. I fel t so b ad , th e heat . bu t [because o f ] the team , I ke p t go in g . It wa s tough : I co ul dn't see - cou ldn't foc us ahead. Th at nigh t I went to the local pharm ac y an d got a sho t and som e pi ll s. That m ad e m e feel better . so day four was better. " D espit e feeling ill , Davis still p osted good times in th e tests. Many of the U.S. T roph y tea m ri d ers weren 't happy wi th their d ay -o ne tim es and admitted they mu st "s te p it up " on da y two , w hich they see med t o do . Suzu k i -m oun t ed Ki edro w ski, c om pet ing in h is first Six Days, posted sig ni ficantly be tter t im e s in th e Juha Salminen fi nishe d second in the 400cc Four-Stroke class to Everts and third ove rall. However, he led his consistent Finnish team to the overall title. co mpe t itors w er e ve ry c o nc e rn ed abo ut ju st. th is sort of th ing happenin g . Th e h ot weathe r and t he very dee p sand th at woul d m ak e up m ost of thi s year's course were go in g to be abs olute torture o n the bik es - espe ci all y th e sm all-bor e two -st ro kes. T o be o n th e safe side, everyone je tted th eir b ik es as rich as po ssibl e, and th en some. Som e were sai d to have in cr eased th eir carb uretors ' m ainj et s as m an y as seven si zes. E vi d ent ly , Haw k ' s ca rbu reto r se tti ngs were n ' t qu it e rig ht. " I rea lly don ' t k n o w wha t hap p ened ," Hawk said at th e end of the day . "It ju st seized it up . I wa s goi ng up a hill, and it just we nt from fi ft h gear wide open to - it did n' t lock up , it j ust shu t off on m e like I h it th e kill butt on . W e d o n ' t k n o w what h ap p ened. I mea n, we ro de it fo r th ree d ay s [prior to th e start]; it wasn 't li k e it was detonating real ba d and t hen it h a p p e ned . .. I don 't k n ow w hat th e d eal w as. Ou r jetti ngs are a ll real close o n the Yam ahas . It j ust stinks; you do so much effort, put so much in it, ti me. t hen so m ethi ng like this happens. I c an't beli eve it. " Unlik e the Club teams , T rophy rid ers ar e n ot a ll ow ed to re im p ound their bik es and co nti nue the next da y if they br ea k do wn or h our o ut. So Hawk 's Six D a y s w as o ver a l mos t before it eve n beg an . Th e good new s. however , i s that each T ro phy team is all owed to thro w o ut o ne rid er's sco re eac h d ay , so t ec h n i c a ll y , th e U .S . T roph y t eam was st ill v er y m uc h in the running , eve n without Hawk . Only now, there wa s e ve n m or e pressu re o n t h e rem aining five U .S. ri ders to do we ll o r, pe rhaps m ore im po rta ntly , to st ay o ut of tro ub le . T he bad news is that tr ouble di d c ome later that same day , wh en Ro d n e y Sm it h 's sc h ed uled arrival t im e at the l ast c hec k ca m e and went with no sig n o f th e RM 125 ri der. For every m inute a rider is late to a c heckpoint at th e Six D ays, he is docked o ne route point, wh ich equals 60 seconds/pena lt y po ints (added to o ne 's score) . A nd wh en just seconds separate th e to p rid er s in th e spe cial tes ts , an d u su a ll y the overall , o ne rou t e po in t usua lly m ean s d i sast er. T w o m inutes later , n o Smith . F i v e m inut es later , still no Smith. F in all y , after 14 m inut es, Smith rolled into th e checkpoint claimi ng th at he had gott en lost. " I came o ut of the last dun e test; so me ho w I w a s s t i ll o n da y - on e arrows an d ended up bac k at t he last check befo re c om ing to the next d un e te st, " Sm ith sai d . " So mew here they had to have a sp lit-o ff. I wasn 't the o nly one lost, so ..." Th i s a ll b u t drove t h e nail s into T e a m U S A' s c offi n - o r at l east knoc k ed t he w ind o ut of the t eam 's sails . A ll th at they cou ld do now wa s hop e that eno ug h other riders got lost in that secti on to forc e offic ial s to re - adj ust their scores. No suc h lu c k . Th e IS DE j ury d ec i d ed th at th e co u rse mar k i ngs were ad equ at e a n d th at Smith's 14 route po int s would sta nd. Th e U.S. T roph y t eam starte d d ay two in 12 t h pl ac e w ith n o rea lis tic cha nce of co mi n g hom e wit h th e gold. Even a top-th ree fi nish w as all b ut hopeless . St i ll , the t eam di d n ' t q uit. W hi l e th i ng s co m p l etely wen t dow n the toilet fo r th e U. S. Troph y tea m on th e fi rst da y, the same co ul d not be said fo r th e powerful F innish Tro p hy tea m , th e d ef end in g ISDE c hampions . T he team, made u p of Europea n off- ro ad superheroes Mika A hola , Samuli A ro , Juha Salm in en , K a r i Ti ai ne n, Ja n i L a a ks on e n and Mi k a Saare n kos k i, c a m e to B r azil favor ed to win , and they did not di sappoint. T he sand spec ia lis ts were all blazing fas t in the m an y " dune" spe cial tes ts and jumped o ut to an early lead , never lo o king ba ck th e rest of Kurt Case lli was th e surprise t op American In th is year's ISDE, even though he wasn 't on the World Trophy team. His Junior Trophy team fin ished ninth overall. - -- -. . . cue I e n e vv s ' N OVEM B ER 19. 2003 7