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/128344
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September 13-18, 2004
OFF-ROAD
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79th International S ix Days
Enduro
[Jay Six - The
Motocro§§ Fia§co
Spain's to p enduro riders Ivan Cervantes and Arnau Vilanova,
along w ith their Junio r Trophy teammates C ristabal Guerrero
and Xavier Galindo, brought the 79th International Six Days
Enduro to an ugly and uncomfortable close on day six, after
Gue rre ro assaulted British Trophy team rider Juan Knight during the fiasco that was the final day's motocross test.
Following the incident, the Inte rnat io nal Jury decided to
punish the Spanish team by exclud ing Arnau Vilanova from the
competition, which knocked Spain from the top spot in the
Junior Tro phy team competition and moved Poland into sec o nd , ahead of Austra lia in third .
With only the three Enduro I-class races tak ing place on the
final day. it soon became clear that condi tions were too danger.
ous to race, so t he majority of Enduro 2 class riders - with the
exce ption of Knight - decided t hey had no other option but to
take the decision that they weren't going to race on the ground
of safe ty. With blinding dust and the organizer's lack of crowd
con trol a concern to most. the organizers simply refused to liste n and requested that the day's proceedings continue.
What angered many riders, supporters and team manage rs
was the fact that neither the clerk of the course nor the FIM
nor CER representatives present on day six w o uld tak e control
of the situation and cancel the day - once again passing re sponsibility onto the riders.
With the same piece of land on wh ich the final day's
motocross races took place having already been used for on e
of the event's specia l tests earlier in the week, it was obv ious
to all during the event that unless days of continued heavy
wa tering took place before the final motocross races, the 79th
ISDE would end in the same way as too many others have w it h riders refusing to compete.
Problems arose soon after the Enduro 2-c1ass riders completed their two warmup laps as a standoff between competitors and officials resulted in the Polish organizers making a
comical attempt to wa ter the track. Using fire engines and personnel that clearly had no idea what they were doing , the start
straight and the grass on the outsides of the first half-dozen
corners were pretty much all that got watered.
W ith the E2-c1ass riders once again tak ing to the track fo r
one lap to reassess the situation, they returned w ith the exact
same fea rs about safety. Most riders then placed their bikes
inside the pare ferme and took no further part in the competi-
started t he event as t he favo rite to to p t he
class , a nd he did so desp ite constant pres su re fro m Knight . Topping th e E3 class on
all but one of th e d ays - d ay four - Aro
aga in p roved that he is t he W orld 's best
ove r-SOOcc fo ur-stroke ride r. In topping
the class, Aro fin ishe d as ru nner-up to
Merrima n in t he ind ividu al clas s ificati on.
Hop ing to be a b le to to p th e E3 class,
David Knight's event started in t h e worst
possib le way after a dodgy CD I un it all but
set h is silencer on fire at t he e nd of t he
opening d ay 's seco nd special te st. Losi ng
a rou nd 30 seconds on t hat one special
te st alo ne , " Kn ighte r " ended th e event 32
seconds behi nd Aro. Man ag ing to top day
four, Knight plac ed a close second to Aro
on all but the opening d ay.
W ith Cervan tes p lacing th ird , Finns
Ahola and Marko Tarkkala placed fourth an d
fifth. res pective ly, and fello w Scandi navian
Bjome Carlsson claim ed sixt h.
With Merrim an topping the End uro 2
32
Look closely ond you can see a person sticking a
post through Knight's rear wheel .
tion - all ride rs except Juan Knight.
Deciding that he wanted to compete alone, having been
angered by the fact that many club riders weren't being allowed
to complete their sixth day, the Gas Gas rider got no further
than the second corner of his warmup lap before he was pulled
off his bike by a Spanish supporter. With Cervantes, Vilanova,
Guerrero and Marc Puigdemont (the former WEC rider
appointed by the Spanish federation to assist and develop Spain's
up -and -coming you ng riders) taking matters into their own
hands , they wa lked on to the track to try and obstruct Knight.
With Vilanovaand Guerrero arming themselves with track
marking posts , Guerrero struck Knightwhile the Brit was wrestling
with the Spaniard that had pulled him from his bike. With British
Junior Trophy team rider DylanJones and Army Yamaha rider
KevinMurray trying their best to keep an angry Vilanovaaway
from Knight, Marc Puigdemont placed a track marl