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/128640
75th International S ix D a y End u ro Italian Junior rid e rs Matteo Rubin (1 2 7) a nd Fe d eric o M anc inelli (1 31 ) rec ei ve advise from one of their team 's chase rid ers. The Italians t o ok the runner-up sp ot in that c la ss , but w on the p r e mier Trop hy d ivision. A la ps e of attention or a bad deci sio n could m ean more than los t time. Ga s Gas C lub t eam r id er No la n Knight misjudged a s ection of s pec ial te s t tra il and wound up ca rtwheeling d own a h ill, com in g upright with a broken sh oulder and an e nded Six Da ys. "It was ashame,- sa id h is br other Nathan , who was riding o n th e sa me minute . "He was no more than a ha lf m ile from the end of the test , and from there it was all asphalt all th e way in." Nolan joined American ret irees Lonny Ross and Curt Wilcox, both riding on Clu b tea ms and both suffer ing engine fa ilures in the 250cc FourStroke cla s s. Wilco x was re po rte d ly using a '97 Honda XR250 that had seen service in two other Si x Da ys and in numerable local race s , so he At the co nclusion of the day, Aus tralian whiz Stefan Merriman was leading the event ov erall , with 14 seconds ' advantage ov e r last yea r's overall winner, Mika Ahola of Finland. Merriman was riding smoothl y and blazingly fast all day , doing an incredible job on a 400cc Husqvama four-stroke . His good placing helped kick the Aussies up to sixth pla ce in the T rop hy competition, al tho ugh Aho la 's Finn ish team still combined be st score s to lead the Trophy com petition by a good margin . Spain led the Junior Trophy competition, while the Italian Me Ostra team put forth the best Club effort. USA 's T roph y team had a strong but unspectacular da y to finish 1 1th, with Russell Pea rson putting togeth er the best Yankee score on h is Yam aha to finish 13th in class. USA ' s Jun ior Troph y s q ua d put togethe r a lacklus t er 16 t h - p lace fini sh , with C o d y Ma stin a nd John Be a l having trouble a nd losing tim e o n th e co urs e, Beal m ostl y by being h it by a ca r. DAY 2 The weather to ok a t u rn for t he better on day two , warm and dr y and not as muddy . T he se cond day was a repeat o f th e firs t, witho ut the s lip pery co nd it ions . With more tra ction , spe eds increased , a nd .s o rne of th e riders were s urp rise d by th e deteri orati on of th e be at -up course. If there wa s sa nd on day one, it was whoop d e -d o s o n d a y t wo , a nd wh at h a d be en a muddy tra il was no w a rut. S o m e of the trails were p erfe c t , but th e tests d em a nd ed attention e ve ry second. 8 N OVEM BER 2 2 . 200 0 ' cu e I e n e vv s ca n't compl ai n about not getting his m on e y's wo rth! Poten tiall y serious pr oblems were als o logged by Club riders Glenn Martin s on , Mike Monroe and John Beal , and Junior Trophy rider Kurt Caselli. Ea ch wa s a cc us e d of receiving outs ide assista nce during th e final work per iod of day one, and rode day two while fa cing exclus ion from the event, pending a formal decision by the Int ernational Jury. Our riders weren 't the only ones nabbed by eagle -eyed officials in the pits, and it was becoming plain that the lax security of the past three Six Days was not going to be continued in Spain. Senior Trophy Team rider Hoess seemed to be getting h is ride toge th e r, putting together better specia l test tim es and finishing 25th in class ( 12 5cc) rath e r than the first da y 's 37th . Abbott also im p rove d his positio n, fin ishing 12th in com pa riso n to d a y one's 16th , a nd movi ng a hea d of Russ Pears on to cla im th e m yth ic a l "fi rs t Am eri c an - posi t io n . Pe ars on s uffe red a couple of ba d spe c ial tests that a dded m a ybe 30 seconds to h is s core a nd dr opped h im a fe w pla ces down in class . "It' s to ugh: said Hoess, "You ca n finish just a couple of seconds behi nd so meone in a test and look at the results and see that it bumped you 100 positio ns in the class. " "I think Russ has had a really good day today, " claimed Pearson 's dad , Lee, he lp ing out with support in the pits. "Ye ste rd a y he was a little tight, but tod a y his first te st was on ly half a second be hind Aho la , se cond 'te st he o n ly lost two s econds to him , thi rd test only fi ve. So you know , he 's doing good . If he can ride with tha t guy, he d id really good .Both th e Garra ha n brothers moved up in their cla sses , the 400cc Fo urStrok e class for Brian and th e Ove r500cc Four-Stroke class for Patric k. Hawkins' patch ed-togeth er 400 seemed to be wor king well , with a little horsepower d isad vantage . "I' ve got to find a nother legal silencer for it," he told us . "You might have heard me ride by. Or not heard me ride byl It's quiet , and it passes the sound test, but it's not making any top -end power. I'm getting killed in the fast sections. Acerbis has a better silencer for it, and I'm go ing to try to get one and get a little speed going, if I can." As w ith the Olympics, one of the Six Days' most special aspects is its pageantry and pomp. Though it may be a far cry from the recent Austra lian Games' f es tivi ties , t h e opening ceremony (pictured h ere) was non et h e l e ss an emotional occasion f or competitors a n d s u p p o rte rs.