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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128242
BRIEF L Y••• An all-female U.S. club team made up of Lissa Arse nault, Heidi Landon and Amanda Mastin came away from this year's ISDE a little worse for wear. And. unfort unately. without a medal. Arsenault houred out the first day but reimpounded so she could start day two , wh ich didn't go much bette r for her - she ran out of gas and then got lost, resulting in her houring out again. which put an early end to her Six Days. Landon also had a to ugh first day afte r crash ing once and then having to deal with a sticking throttle for most of the day. On day two. Landon suffered another big crash when fellow Am erican Rob Zimmerman and she collided in a special test. Landon came out of that incident with a huge we lt on her thigh and a seve rely bent motorcycle. ending her ride. After a good first day , Mastin crashed heavily on day two. as w ell. and chipped a bone in her ankle. She was eventually fitted with a cast. Even the chase riders had it rough. Former ISDE gold-medalist Kevin Hines. who was "s hadow" riding for the U.S. Trophy team. was hit by a car on day five. which left him with a broken ankle. Hines took an early flight home to recove r. Randy Hawkins was the only Club rider on the U .S. team to come home with a gold medal in Brazil. Hawkins. riding a very stock-looking Yamaha WR250F. finished 11th in the 250cc Four-Stroke class . The medal was Hawk ins' 10th gold in the ISDE. making him .the all-time USA gold-getter. U .S. Club rider Alan Deyo was this year's recipient of the perpet ual Valencia Trophy . presented by the U.S. team to the rider who best exemplifies the true spirit of the Six Days - to persevere when quittinq is a tempting option . Deyo broke a couple of ribs early in the event and was in almos t too much pain to continue. "I've never quit a race in my life. and I'm not about to start now," the 47year-old rider said during the wee k. In spite of the pain, Deyo made it to the finish. earning a silver medal in the 400cc Four-Stroke class. What would the ISDE be wit hout Jeff Fredette on board? This wa s Fredett e's 23rd ISDE. and yes. he finished again. Fredett e earned a silver medal riding a Kawasaki KDX220 in the 250cc Two-St roke class. If there's one rider you can always count on finishing the ISDE. whet her it' s rainy and muddy. or dry and dusty. it's the man many refer to as " Mr. Six Days." You might say that a short circuit made this one a short ISDE for U .S. Club rider Bri a n Garrahan . Garrahan only got to the first special test on day one when the stato r In his rented KTM went out. He ended up replacing the burned-out stator and started day two . but he only got six turns farther than he did the previous day when the stator went out again. knocking him out once and for all. At that poin t. Garrahan dec ided to help out and do some chase riding dur ing t he wee k. and. yo u guessed it. the ignition on his bike left him stranded again. This year's top-scoring American was Junior Trophy rider Kurt Caselli. But he came within a few seconds of not getting that honor whe n he nearly dropped a late point going into the final chec k on day two . Case lli came into the wo rk area at the end of the day extremely dehydrated but was still determined to change two tires . Whe n he realized he wasn' t going to have enough time to finish the seco nd (frontJ tire. he was fo rced to ride in on the rim wit h only a few seconds to spare. Caselli loaded up on fluids that night and finished off the tire-change the next morning. Curio us as to where the upcoming ISDEs will be held? As of now. it's scheduled to be held in Poland next year. Slovakia in 2005 and New Zealand in 2006 . Best In The Dese rt promo ter Cas ey Folks atte nded this year's ISDE in Brazil. causing some to wonder about the possib ility of an ISDE being held in the U .S. again sometime - perhaps in the Nevada dese rt . or maybe even near Las Vegas. But Folks said he just came to Brazil to help out Franco Acerbis. whom he befr iended while conducting the Acerbis-sponsored Nevada Rally. Fortalez a . wh ich hosted the ISDE. is trumpeted as a city of joy to the large number of tourist s who flock there every year . The city is the capital of the nort hern state of Ceara and is descri bed as thus in the official tourist brochure: ..Modern metropolis, green bluish sea, beautiful beaches. wind always blowing . of a people known for its hospitality and joy of living. Lots of beautiful and diffe rent things to see , listen . feel and save as rememb rance. N ever to forget. " And we 're sure that this year's ISDE'e rs won't, In an event where 10 different brands of bikes were in actio n. KTM was the marque of choice, with a whoppi ng 182 riders aboard the orange machines - that was nearly 50 percent of the ISDE clientele . Three hundred seventy-three riders started the ISDE. but just two days later only 323 bikes turned up for wor k. The biggest attrition rate was in the 400cc Four-Stroke class. whic h had 20 ret irements - or 3 percen t of its starting inventory . The 2003 ISDE saw the riders spend around 5'; , hours in the saddle each day. which was a far cry from the nine-hour days at the Czech Republic-hosted event in 200 2. The ISD E programmi ng was thrown into disarray even before a wheel was turned. due to the late a r rival of two trucks car rying ove r 9000 gallons of fuel each. The trucks set out fro m Rio de Janeiro wit h plenty of time to spare. but they only arrived in Fortaleza at 2 p.m. on Saturday - tw o days before the start of the event. ISDE organizers. concerned about the late arrival. sent a helicopter toward the truck drivers to "learn their exact location. " However, it really got serious when Franco Ace rbis con tacted the truck drivers and pledged $ 100 if they arrived by 2 p.m. on Saturday. which wou ld be reduced in $1 increments for every minute they arrived afte r that deadline. Miraculously. they made it on time. The U.S. Trophy team. however. was not worried about the fuel situation. since it shipped over its own Klotz racing fuel. The late arrival of the fuel not only for ced the cancellatio n of the opening ceremony . but it delayed the impounding of bikes into the Pare Ferme by 24 hours - except for Team USA. which chose to impound regardless of the fuel situation. Howev er. the organizer s made up for canceling opening ceremonies by hosting a lively final ceremony in front of the Beach Park Resort . The ceremony featured a parade of teams and. of course. the trophy presentations. Press Release of the Week: " One day before the start of the International Six Days Enduro. three riders from three differe nt countries w ere changed. Spanish Xacob Agra, from the Worl d Trophy team. has had a strong diarrhea for tw o days and was substit uted by a ria Tort ... " Talk about going dow n in a blaze of glory. Unfort unately. Agra' s withdrawal was definitely no joke for Spain. as he finished 14th in the 2003 World 250c c Two-Stroke title despite only competing in a few rounds. c .' . ue I e n e VIl's N OVEMBER 26 , 2003 25