Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

125cc class, st ill o n g old . The com bi ned efforts o f thi s group left the A merican Trophy team in l Oth place , st ill w it h p lenty of room to move up. T he Junior Trop hy team 's fate was U.S. desert racer Destry Abbott fi na lly shook h is ISDE ham-luck streak, finishing the event i n 15th In the u ltracompetitive 250cc Two-Stroke class. sea led, however, b y the ex cl u sio n of J ohn Beal and Kurt Caselli , bo th five and th e second cross test of the day in a comp letely sc ram b le d order , but none of the riders had an y m aj or accused of ru le infrac ti ons. Cas elli had a radiator failure and replaced it outs ide of a work area , which is a no no , and John Beal was accused of difficulty in the cross t est. They rod e from there to check six and th en b ack home to a fina l cross t e s t be fore impound w ithout further i nci d e nt. receiving outs ide as sistance - sup p o se d l y som eon e els e was caught Basica lly, it was a tough day, a real enduro day, but not impossible. Once the riders go t ba ck to im pou nd , word started getting around tha t tests were being thrown out o f s p rayi ng chain l ube for h im. B e a l denies the he lp, say ing he was c o nfused w ith someone else in t he Americ an c am p, but the International Jury uphe ld t h e acc u sati o n, and Bea l w as n ' t allo wed to start da y th r e e. Spa in, w h ich h as won the J unior Tro phy competition tw o o f t he past three ye ars, was le ad ing it aga in , and th e enth u si a sm o f th e Span ish p it m arsh als m a y b e p artiall y ex pl ai n ed b y t his. Both Beal and Caselli were d ev astated by th e decision. Two other American rid ers , Mi k e Monro e an d G lenn M artin son, we re exc l u de d an d accuse d of o utsi de as sistance as w ell , CAY 4 Da y four dawn ed cool an d w et . t he result o f m ore rain overnig ht. The ri d ers w e r e fa miliar w ith the co u r se , since d ay fo u r was a re pe at of d ay th r ee , but the mud made everyt hing much more difficult. The T roph y and Junior T ro p h y ri d ers o nce aga in led the w a y o nto the c o u r se , a n d they arri v ed at the fi rst enduro test at Los O l ivar es w it h their bikes cov ered w ith thick m ud t he consistency o f p ottery clay . S l i p p e r y as the course m u st h ave been , th ey arrived at the enduro test in the ap proxima te order they 'd sta rted that m o rn ing , save for a m ixup of some of t he 125cc numbers as they struggl ed wi th t h e h i ll s . Th e endu ro t e st wa s prio r to c h ec k tw o , and it f o ll o w e d a c ross t e st a w a y d own th e road in Capa racena , where t h e y h ad go ne thro ugh check one . Fro m t h er e, t h e ri d ers moved on to c hec k thre e w ith li ttle trouble, and th en to c heck fo u r in t he mountain to wn o f M on t e f r i o , w he re th e y en cou nte re d d ifficul ty i n a t ec h n ical rid in g section a few ki lo m et ers before Montef r io . T h ey stra gg le d into c h eck the da y 's results , because " th ey were too d ifficu lt. " As you ca n imag ine, t hi s w a s g ree ted b y a l e s s - t h an ent h usi a stic response fr om th e A m erican c am p. " Every t ime the Si x Da y s sta r ts ge tting a little tough , they start ta k ing out c hecks and t ests ," sa id Brian Ga r raha n . " It' s st u p id! What's the se n se o f all t ha t? They took o ut c ross test two , and th ere' s no reason for it. Tha t te st w as sweet." In the en d, t he Jury voided all th e t im e s of c r o s s tes ts on e a n d t w o, a n d t oo k away a ny tim e p en alt i e s r ide rs m ay h a v e h ad g o in g int o c heck four in M ontefri o . Th is ca used pl e nt y o f gr u m bli ng t hat t he " en d u ro" w as b eing ta ken ou t of t he Six D ay s , and specu lation as to how the Spanish teams may have b en e fited by having their ti mes th rown out. T h e o ne o bvious th ing about l e a v ing c ro s s t e st on e i n was the b en e fit i t gave to th e l a t e r riders . M e rr iman , who had been se tting most lea di ng ti mes in the special t e st s , onl y m a naged a 22nd-pla ce fin ish in th at test , and Sw ed ish T ro phy rider Anders E r i ksso n finished 15th i n that test , tho ugh he had been chasing Merrima n all week so far . Ins tead , C lub t e a m rider s A lessa nd ro B ott u r i an d Jarno Boano, b ot h from It al y an d r idi ng o n n umbers 625 an d 40 1, respect iv el y , set th e f as t es t ti mes o n a drier co ur se. B o a n o , w ho spe n t so me ti me i n the St at es th is su m mer r idin g a co u pl e of GNCC ro u nds, n early wo n t he da y ove rall , o n ly mi ssin g it b y fo ur - 10 ths of a seco nd b ehind Eriksson . B o ano did set fast est time i n the 2 5 0cc Tw o - Stro k e c l ass o n It takes all kin ds : Rather than spend the evenings i n a hotel, American Club rider Curt Wilcox lived on top of the American transportation container until dropping out of the competition with a b lown engine. Funny, but we don't see any shower facilities up the... da y f our , bea t ing Aho la b y 18 f u ll secon ds . All th e c h ang es to the scoring did little to c h ang e the status of the Trophy com p eti t ion , with the USA tea m still stuck in 10th. The Ita lians were threaten ed by the loss of veteran r ider Mario Rinaldi , who fell and broke his an kle, ret iri n g from competition , but sin ce only five scores are cou nte d o f days one and tw o , although the nasty hill that stopped so m any riders was t aken out of the cou rse. There we re no su rp r ises, and all o f the American riders finished the day w ithout major i n ci d e n t s . Club team r ider L u c a T rus sard i , an It al ian national wh o has been living in California and qualified to r ide on t he Am eric an squad , put together a st r in g o f g ood tests in the 125 c c cl ass , incl ud ing a fifth place in the fi rst c ro ss test , and fi nished t h e da y 1 5 t h i n cl a s s . T r op h y R ide r the six -man team , the y w ere still in firm cont rol of first place, four min utes ahead of the Swedes . The Span ish team wa s only 23 seconds away from the Swedes , while the Australian sq uad was another m inute ba c k. CAY 5 T h e p en ul t im at e day of competi tion was a re p e a t of the t r a il f rom The U.S. Trophy Team was managed this year by ISDE veteran Drew Smith, who retired from competition last year after riding the ISDE 20 times. He is a true veteran of the sport , with an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and a sense of humor besides. We talked to him about his role in this year' s Am erican Six Days effort. "I leamed I was going to be the trophy team manager at exactly the first Team USA meeting (in Spain): he told us. "I had no frame of reference for this job, and no time to prepare any kind of a strategy. The first tim e I called for a meeting, it didn't work out, but after the first day we had a real team meeting and I think we got some things together, got some really good ideas going. Aft er a couple of meetings, now I see a spirit of cooperation. All the guys are helping each other, and I have to say, out there I've seen noth ing but fierce determination." When asked what he saw as the U.S. team's weak and strong points, Smith replied, "Our strength is the enduro tests. You get us out in the open where there's true enduro riding, and we're as good as anybody. I mean, Destry [Abb ott), on the second day, his test was only four seconds slower than the fastest guy. That' s competiti ve, that's good for an America n rider. We're a nation of endurance riders, not sprint riders. If we could j ust get ourselves to the level in the cross tests, that we are in the enduro tests, then we would be a podium team. "I watched the cross test for al the Trophy and Ju nior riders, end I learned a lot, particularly from the top 10 guys in the world. I can see that sometimes the way they approach things in a special test is completely different, and it's not ju st that they're 'sweeping the lines.' or not pivoting the tums like a woods rider does. I'm passing on what I've found, and I think we're leaming a few th ings that will help us." What about the rumb lings in the pits that America had sent a "6- team of riders? "I' m convi nced that this is the best team of enduro riders available in the United States right now; this is no ' 6 ' team. There was talk earlier in the year about recruiting some pro motocrossers to participate in the Six Days, and I don't think those pro motocrossers would take very kindly to having to push up the hill in the moming, the hill the riders have had to push up ev ery day . T hat ' s not something somebody can come here and leam at the last second. They would have seen that hill and said 'Well, we can't go up that hill, this must be the finish of the event.i.?' We need people here with the determination to push when they have to push, and the people we have, have tha t det ermination . "I'm still convinced that the Am erican riders, in a difficult sit uation , are always going to prevail , and always going to be strong. If we keep on shaking up that box of dice, one of these tim es it's going to come out good for us. As far as cross tests go , we'r e still novices at that , and hopefull y we can institute more emphasis on that at the Am erican qualifi ers." What about himself, what "bout his feelings about this job after so many years as an active rider? "I'm really pleased. so far. I am really tic kled to be asked to do this jo b." cue I e n e .... S • N OVEM BER 22 . 2000 11

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