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
Valiant Effort Team USA struggles but survives the U .S. Troph y an d Juni o r Wo r ld t eam s d id n' t win t h is year' s International Six D a ys End u ro . O kay, s o t hey did n' t even come close . Bu t heck, at least t hey sh o w e d up and p ut t heir hearts a nd so uls into it. And, as a lways, they proudly a nd hap p ily r e pre s e n t e d the Unite d St at e s. in what is conside red by many as the world's most prestigious offroad motorcycle competition . Over 30 American riders, all pretty much paying their expenses out of their own pockets, qualified for the ISD E an d t he n made the long jou rn ey to Polan d in ho pes o f coming away w it h a small piec e o f m e dal fo r t hei r e fforts - and most of them accom plished t hat goal. Of t he 33 American r iders t hat s tarte d this year's Six D a ys , 29 came ho me wi t h a we ll-dese rved m ed al in hand, five of t he m holding Gold medals, S O Nick Pearson (pictured) and fellow Americans Fred Hoess, Kurt Caselli, Jimmy Jarrett and Wally Palmer all earned Gold medals. My OWN RACE Wally Palmer Silver (52nd EI) "Th e dust here was real da ngerous, es pecially with all of the kicke rs," Wally Palmer said. "Everywhere you rod e , yo u had to dea l w ith it. Th e final motocross wa s no better. You could see the guy in fron t of yo u, but you just cou ldn't see the gro und . I kind o f had a slow start at th e beginning of the week and was able to make it up to Gold by day four. Suspe nsion setup was everyth ing, not just for the te sts but for t he trail. We finally go t it wo rked ou t and t hat made the d iffer ence," Fred Hoess Gold (47th EI) "I was riding good in the tests, it was just hard to find traction," Husqvama's Fred Hoess said. ':till of the tests were grass trac ks and sandy, more like a talcum powdertype sand. This is my 16th Six Days, and sometime yo u just can't find the right comb ination. One year you can't do anything wro ng, and the next year you just can't make anyth ing work - this was one of tho se years . The trails here were brutal and the pace was fast, but ifyou kept a good pace going, you cou ld make the chec ks with fou r or five minutes to spare . This is my second Gold medal in Po land ; that's kind of nea t, huh?" 45 Ryan Powell Silver (67th EI) "It to o k me a w hile to figure how to ride thes e sandy spe cial te sts ," the Junior Tro phy rider said. " But by day fo ur, it started to get be tter. I was one of t he few guys w ho got to ride a final moto, and after the mota I left and went back to the parc ferme . Late r, I cou ldn't believe t he stu ff t he people were saying was hap pe ning. Tha t was ridiculous . My best memo ry from he re w ill be day four w he n we [t he U.S. Junior Team] beat both t he Italians and t he Cze chs." 66 Tim Taber Silver (72nd EI) "Being on a smallfour-stroke, it was hard to find traction in the tests ," World Trophy tearn rider Tim Taber said. "Y didn't dare ou ride too high in the berms or you were through. The soft sand in the tests just robbed so much power. As far as the final moto WWW.cycienews.com 20 gras ping Silver medals and fo ur riders showi ng off Bro nze medals. O nly four r iders ca me back empty handed . Not too sha b by when you thi nk about it. U nfo rtu nat ely, one o f t hose rid ers w ho came home medal-less was U .S. Trop hy team rider Nathan Kan ney, but he was hap py just to be co m ing home at all afte r having experie nced a painful e ncounte r with a tree just moments o ff t he start of d ay o ne . Kanney still remounted and fo rge d o n, t hough t he pa in fo r the crash steadily inc reased. It wasn' t u ntil later in the d ay t hat he was pe rs uad e d to get o ff t he bike and get to the hospita l - p ron to ! It w as a go o d move, as he un d e rwent emergency surgery o n his s plee n late r that n ight. "T his was my first Six Days , and I ap p re ciate ge tt ing th e c han ce to r ide o n the Tro phy te am," Kanney said aft e rward . thing goes , it definitely was dusty out there. I rode in the second moto, the organizers just didn't prep the trac k we ll enough. For us [in the second moto] , it was dusty, but it would have never held up. Each moto it would have gotten wors e and worse. Bythe time the last couple of motos would've been run, they would have had extremelydusty,if not dangero us, ridingconditions. Our Trophy tearn really suffered when Nate [Kanney) went out on day one; he's a good rider and his tests time would have helped out a lot I'm so glad he's okay." Paul Neff Silver (66th E2) "The wh ole final mot ocross thing was a joke," Junior World rider Paul Neff said. "Wh at happened was terrible. This spo rt doesn't need that kind of behavior. Otherwise , my week went okay. As a tearn we struggled a lot during the beginning of the week, and then things started to get better. But it was too late ." CYCLE NEWS • OCTOBER 6 , 2 004 33