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7 5th Interna t ional S ix D a y Endu r o At the start of the first 400cc moto, the trouble started . Many of the rid ers were c onc erned about cond itions on th e track , knowing they 'd b e going faste r than any other cl ass, and fla tl y re fused t o rid e until th e t rack w as wate r ed . Th e o rganizer s sent the 400cc cla ss bac k and called the +500 class to th e line. The only rid ers who rolled out to the start were Pat Garra han , Canadian Guy Perr ett, and three Sp a n i sh riders . Oth er riders in the cla ss blocked the gate and a pushing match started be t ween some mem o ber s of the Itali an team and the Span. ish team . Meanw hil e , one small fire truck had gone out and wate red the co urse briefly , and w ith t h e riders somewh at p lac at ed , th e +50 0 s were ro lled b a c k into im p o und and t he 4 0 0 c c r id er s, i ncl u di ng M err im an , Sa la , Bri an Ga rrahan an d Haw k in s, lined up for their race. In spite of the waterin g , the start was horrendously d usty. I n the firs t turn , Haw kins stopped dead in mid -pack , blind. "It was horrible. I couldn 't see a th ing. I was right on the fender of th e guy in front of m e. and in that first turn he ju st disappeared," Hawkins said. The cla ss was given on e lap of th e co urse, and th e red flag came out as the leader rounded the final turn. T he riders wer e sent back to impound , and the e ve n t was de cla red over ; t he results of day five would stand as th e final results . A s the riders, te am su pport p eopl e and spect at ors filed toward th e exit s , onl y o ne bik e rema ined on th e course, one rider who would ride his moto no m att er what. It was Brian Garrahan , and he didn 't pull off until th ey chased him off. Go USA! In the fin al c la ssifi c ati on , the Ita lians won a hard-fought Trophy T eam co m pe t itio n, and the Sp aniards to ok the Junior for the thi rd ye ar in a row . F inl an d h ad t h e t o p -fin i sh in g C lu b t eam , w ith the best Ameri can Club team effort being logged by th e Gerrit Ham il t o n M emori al team o f J a son D ahn er s, Bria n Benn ett , and Bri an Spe rle , fi nishi ng sixth . Merri man took the unoffi cia l ov erall wi n , and the wi n i n t he 4 0 0 c c Four - St r ok e c las s . T ia inen won t he .. 500c c class, and Ah o la w o n t h e 250 c c T w o - St r o k e cl ass. Ita lian M atteo Rubin won the 250c c F our -Stro ke class , th e only class with no American riders in it , and the 125cc cla ss was taken by F inn ish Trophy rider Juha Salminen by a wi de marg in , ri di n g on m inut e o ne a n d breaking tra il all week. For th e American effort, th ere were 10 gold meda ls, 14 silver medals, and sev en bronz e medals, o ut of 39 riders st arted and CN 3 1 finished. Hoess was riding tired but finish ing each test consist entl y , altho ugh not happy with is performance. "I can' t remember all the comers in the tests; I'm not nailing the comers like I wan t to ," Hoess said, "A nd then I' m getting te ntativ e, t h inkin g, ' Uh oh ,' when I'm go ing up the blind hills in the rocks." Regardless, he still finished the day 25th in class , out of 79 riders . Abbott also had a good day, finish ing top lOin four of the five tests, finishing ninth in the class for the day . Pearson was close , tho ugh off the pace for the day, finishi ng 14th on day five, but still high er in the overa ll classification. David Pearson (no relation) had been puttin g tog ether a good ride all week , and fin ished day-fiv e 24th in the 250cc Two Stroke class, and J ason Dahn ers was 27th. M ik a Ahola wo n the day in th at cl ass and had a co m ma ndi ng lead on the class win. In the 400cc Four-Strok e class, Brian Garrahan was still riding strong , seeming better as the week went along in spite of a crash that ch ipped one of his front teeth . He scored a seventh plac e in the moming enduro test and finished the day 12th in class. Randy Hawk ins, still plugging away on his patched-together WR400F, fi ni she d 17th and on go ld. Merriman was st ill killing everybody . w ith test times you wou ldn 't be liev e unless you'd seen them happen. Mean while, he was reportedly suffering from a skin rash due to an allergy , and was having trouble breathing. Imagine how he'd do if he were totally well! T he final cl ass of th e event , the Over -500 Four-Strokes, was the exclusive property of T iainen , as it has been fo r the past few ye ars . He was being ke pt honest by Anders Eriksson , who was very close beh ind, separated by only two second s at the end of the day. O ur top rid er in that class was Patr ick Garrahan, who was piloting a 520 KTM for the first tim e and enj oyi ng it. He fin ished 12th in class for th e day; the only oth er American rid er rema ini ng in the class was Jun io r Tro ph y ri de r Co dy Ma stin , who was 4 5th in cla ss fo r th e day but still on bronze. DAVS Th e final 'm otocross started on time at 10:00 a.m .. and it was im m ediately apparent that it was going to be a dan gerous course. Unwatered all week , the track was dusty and extr em ely fast . a bad combination. Two 125cc motos and two 250 Two-Stroke motos were run , with questionable success. We watched one unidentified rider cartw heel into the crowd in the first 250cc m oto . T hen , during the "big " 250cc moto that included A ho l a , W at t s, Edmo ndson , Ru ss Pearson and Abbott, Pearson rnis -judqed a jump while blinded by dust, and went over the bars at extreme ly high speed wh ile runn ing about seventh . He crushed the rear subframe of his Yam aha and generally bru ised himself all over, but remounted to finish the race. 12 NOVEMBER 22 . 2000' c u e 75th International Six DayEnduro Granada, Spain The Six Days offers f oreign expatriates living Stateside an opportunity to race for their countries. Newly crowned GNCC Champion Shane Watts (p ictured) a nd newly crowned AMA Hare Scrambles Champion Paul Edmondson represented Australia and England, respectively. (19 :48 .95) : 5. Germa ny (20: 16.67) : 6. Finlan d (22:45 .87) : 7 . France (23 :01. 07) : 8 . England (31 :06. 14 ): 9 . Portug al (33:31. 02): 10 . Mexico (44:39.58): 15. USA (10:38:20.44). CLUB: 1. Kangasa lan Mootto rik e rh o • Finland ( 13: 0 1.23); 6 . Gerrit Ham il t on Memorial · USA (36:39.32): 9. Net Leased Club - USA (39:45.26): 20. Boise Ridge Riders -USA (1:17:29.20): 24. Team Senior . USA ( 1:50: 09 .78); 37. Salt Fork Dirt Riders USA (4:22:17 .05) : 59. Daytona Din Rlders USA (8:54:58.05) : 66. Little Burr - USA ( 10:24:59.96): 71. Merced Din Riders - USA ( 11:46:53.30): 85. Team iowa - USA (21:40:38.00). 125 2 - 5 : 1. .Juhe Sa l min en - Finla nd ( I :43: 44. 39) Gold : 14 . Lu ca Trussard i • USA ( I :47: \ 3.20 ) Gol d; 28 . Fred Hoess - USA ( I :50: 36. 77 ) Gol d: 45. Mark Steve n. - USA (I :5 3 :3 3.24) Gol d: 70 . Ron Law son • USA (2 :2 1:3 4.01 ) Silve r: 73 . Joe Cartwrigh t - USA (2:49:22.62) Bronze. 250 2·S: I. Mika Ahola - Finland (1:40:59.86) > Gold ; 14. Russell Pearson - USA (1 :46:5 1.3 1) Gold; 15. Destr y Abbott · USA ( \ :46:54.58 ) Gold: 26. Jason Dehnera • USA (1 :49:18.91 ) Gold; 31. David Peerson . USA ( I :49:46.07) Gold: SO. Matt Slavish - USA ( 1:53:27.07) Silver. 56. Alan Deyo ( 1:55:17.40) Silver. 58. Richard Lafferty · USA ( 1:55:45.79) Silver. 61. Brian Bennett · USA ( 1:55:10.78) Silver. 64. TIm Taber - USA ( 1:56:35.41) Silver. 76. Jeff Frederte USA (2:00 :30.5 1) Silver: 79 . Mart Geary - USA > (2 :0 0 :4 4 .2 4) Silv er ; 83 . St ev e Sil vestri - US A (2:0 \ : I 0 .8 4 ) Silver: 90 . Scott Hoff man - USA ( 2: 0 3 :2 1.1 3 ) Silver: 93 . St ev e Vanz an t - US A (2 :03: 52.56 ) Silve r; 107 . Al ex Mcely ea · USA (2: \ 6:22.62 ) Sliver: I I I . Ron Schmelzle - USA (2:2 3:27.94) Bronze: 142. David Ca m pbell . USA ( 3 :2 1: 19 .4 3) Br on ze; 143. M ar k Adkin s - USA (3: 2 1:4 7.4 8) Br onze: 171. Tr oy Smith · USA (5:24:24.80) Bronze. 400 4 - 5 : 1. Stefa n M err im Zln - Au str al i a ( 1:40:4 5.22 ) Ov erall Winner; 11. Brien Ga rrehen - USA ( 1:47:04.93) Gold: 17. Randy Hewktns . USA ( I :48: 29 .4 1) Gold : 28 . Bria n Spe rle · USA ( 1:53 : 17 .7 1) Sil ver ; 3 4 . Paul Kr ause - USA (1 :5 4: 4 9.4 7 ) Si l ver ; 72 . Rand y M astin - USA (2:56:29 .95 ) Bronze. + 5 0 0 4 -5 : 1. And e rs Er i ck sso n - Swede n ( I :4 1:39.2 1) Gol d: 16. Patr ick Garrahan . USA ( \: 49 :0 3 .76) Gold : 44. Cody Ma. Un - USA (4:09:21.22) Bronze. BRIEFLY. •• O ne of the most a cti ve support people in the pit s wa s Lee Pear son , father 01 co mpe titor Russ Pearson and Russ' s brother N ick , wh o w as ridi ng chase . With his cowboy hat and se nse of humor, Lee helped ou t as many riders as he coul d du ring the work peri ods, and chased his rental ca r to as many chec ks as he could du rin g th e day . The S panish terra in . he said , o bviously favored Russ and all 01 the W est Coast riders . " Russ says this kind 01 te rrai n is pe rfec t for him, " he said . " The tests are quite fast. and that favors w estern American riders. Ma yb e the East C oa st boys don 't like it. but the W est Coast . they're going 10 like it." Whether fro m Ihe we st or east , all riders prim ed lor an enduro were disorie nted by the speeds in the special tests. Top gear wa s necessary in every track te st , leading to the destru ction 01 many engin es. including th ose o f A meri can C lub ride rs Lonny Ro ss , Curt Wilcox and Nathan Knight. and Ih e me ltdown 01 Finnish Trophy ride r Silvan' s 125 . Grumbling abo ut the American riders being disqualif ied for hav ing cha in lub e sprayed lor them was ram pant. " I think the officiating was a li ll ie wea k th ere ," sa id Tr op hy ri der Ra nd y Hawk in s . - I und er s tan d there's rules and stuff. but I thi nk so me 01 thos e g uy s who were try in g to police t he ot h e r te am s s o wel l don 't und ersland the effort thes e ride rs go to . I mean . the y' ve got a lo t 01 mon ey l ied up . a 1 of time tied up 01 in this , and then to ge t thrown o ut because so rneones spraying chain oil for yo u. that' s a littl e w eak. If they' re changing w heel s. or have 14 mecha nics wo rking on their bike s . tha t's o ne thing. But chain oil?" The event began and ended eve ry day at the G ranada sports stadium on the southeas tern comer of the city. For many , that mean t braving city traffic coming and goi ng eve ry day . which was a spec ial test in itse lf . The most amusing traffic violators we re the local scooter p ilots , who appea red to outnumbe r cars tw o to one . While autos were bo und to stop at every pedestrian crossing. traff ic ligh t and stop sig n. the scooters appeared to be immune to all law s. Passing on the left or right , rid ing down the side walk and through pedestrian cro sswalks. and running eve ry red light seemed to be standard fare for the scooters . " It' s a w onder w e 'r e no t d riving over bones here. " said one America n part icipa nt. Scary as the loca l scooter pilots may have bee n. they we re nothing compared 10 the parti cipants' c hase drivers in renl al cars . Am eri can s may be agg ressive , but all com plained 01 being pracl ica lly pus hed off the road whi le drMng between test s in the moun tains . It w as co mmon to be passed on blind co m ers and lai lgated at any speed . " So rnebody 's going to die ou t here ." said American sup po rt team mem ber Und say Pirie. Luckily, his predictio n didn 't co me l rue . The f ather a nd so n racing tea m aw ard go es 10 Randy and Cody M asti n. wh o raced together all we ek , bot h finishing w ith bron ze medals. C ody. riding his first Six Day s, at the age 01 16. w as selec l ed for the Juni or Trophy team and al lim es looked overwhelmed by his surro undings . Still . he sucked it up eve ry day and finished the event 44th +500cc Fo ur-St roke on a KTM 520 . Fathe r Randy , vetera n of many Six Days. l inished 72nd in the 400cc Four-S tro ke class. also o n a KTM . They we re ass isted by Randy' s Wile Sh irley and daug hte r M andi, making it a true family affa ir. October 31 • November 5, 2000 TROPHY: 1. It aly ( 10 :25. 36) : 2 . Sweden ( 15:2 5 .7 4): 3 . Spain 17 :19 .06 : 4. Austra li a ( 18:05.02): 5. France (25:11.30): 6. Czech Republic (29:27.38) : 7. Belgium (3 1:54.03) : 8 . Slova kia (3 2 :26 .37): 9 . Englan d (3 2:59 .58) : 10 . USA (33:14.43). JUNIOR: I. Spain ( 10:39.33) 2. Italy ( 13:49.50) : 3. Swed e n ( 16 :5 4. 12 ); 4 . Cze ch. Repu bl ic I e n e vv s It would n't be right to rep ort on the Six Day s and not give a high five to Team M exico . W hen M exico l irst st art ed co mpeting in Ihe Six Days , it wou ld have been l air to call their effo rt sad, if not humilial ing , as they wou ld be luc ky 10 fin ish any ride rs on the lirst day . Year s have go ne by and ex perience acc umulated, this yea r M exico p ut lorth a ve ry prou d effort. w ith 15 riders ente red and 15 rider s finisbild , one go ld medal , nine silvers and five bronze. They finished 14th in the Troph y , l Oth in t he Jun io r. and finished one Clu b team in 40th place. !Ole!