7 Bth In t e rn a t io n a l S ix Day s E nduro
Beach P a r k Res ort
has ha d a lo t of p rac tice doin g. The
p la yi ng field was abo ut as eq ual as it
ha s ever been.
T eam US A w ent into th e st art of
r
r
'/
,
I '
,
;(
"
/ F1n'and domInates In the Brazil sand;
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I
USA fInIshes a dIsappoIntIng seventh
,
J
~
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" you w ere w ondering who
is the best all-around
motorcycle racer in the
world, one candidate must
be Stefa n Everts.
M otocro ssGP champion,
MXdN cham pion , and now
ISD E champion. Everts w on
the overall at the Six Days.
take home the World Trophy fo r the
first t im e . A ft e r all , wh en yo u g et
B y K IT P ALM ER
PHOTOS BY S TEVE BERKNER AND PALMER
guys like Rodney Smith, Mik e Lafferty , M ike K ied rows ki, J ason Rai ne s,
FORTALEZA, BRAZIL, NOV. 2-7
an d , hot w eather and dust: t h e
perfect ingred ients for a USA win
. or at least a pod ium finish . That was
the idea when GNCC Ra cing o rqa nized and sponsored on e of the m ost
potent t ea ms that th e Un ited States
has ever sent to the International Six
D a y s Endur o , o ff - roa d in g ' s m o st
esteemed eve nt. T his was go ing to be
" o ur" year, eve ryo ne was say in g, th e
y ear t h at Team US A w as g oi n g t o
S
6
NOVEMBER 1 9, 2 0 0 3
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c
u
e
Ty Davis and Bar ry Haw k - all for me r
or c urren t A M A Champ ions exce pt
for ri sin g st ar Raine s - t o agree to
tea m up and race for th e gold , even
the na ys ay ers cou l d n ' t say th at w e
d idn 't have at least a sm all c ha nce,
espec ia lly when yo u consider the ter rain and the fact that all of th e team s
were go ing t o be work ing o ut o f ship p ing conta iners; so me thing the U SA
I
e
n e v u s:
Stefan Merriman won the 250cc
Two- Stroke class and fi ni she d second
overa ll to Everts. His Australian team
finished fifth.
th e Bra zilian Si x D ay s en t h usi astic
and perhaps the m ost p repared that
th ey 'd eve r been . But q ui cker than
yo u can say , "H ere we go again ," the
ISD E gods wiped the sm iles off the
Amer icans' fa ces and bu rst all hopes
Team USA had of winnin g this year's
ISD E.
It wasn 't m ore than an hour into
day o n e that t he bad news started
t rickl ing into th e Amer i can c a m p :
Recently crowned GNCC champ
Barry Haw k was a lready ou t of th e
" race," his YZ250 m eltin g a p iston in
the ve ry first specia l test.
U po n ar rivi ng in Brazil , all of the
