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/1408163
AUGUST 30 - SEPTEMBER 4, 2021 LOMBARDY-PIEDMONT, ITALY P88 OFF-ROAD I 95TH FIM INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS ENDURO MYOWNRACE 12 LAYNE MICHAEL 3RD WT/4TH E2/12TH INDIVIDUAL "I had—kind of not high expecta ons coming in, but I definitely wanted to do well," said Michael. "Unfortunately, I just struggled with the condi ons. I had flashes of brilliance when the tracks were smooth, but, man, when they got that crumble, marble-ish on top, I wasn't comfortable. I don't have anything to pinpoint it on; it's just that I don't ride that [stuff] at all and, unfortunately, it kind of bit me. Overall, I s ll rode well—this is s ll my best Six Days [result]." He con nued, "The team s ll ended up third, which isn't the greatest, but it's s ll a big accomplishment, and I was definitely glad to be back at Six Days. It was a bummer to have to sit out a couple years." 10 JOHNNY GIRROIR 3RD WT/5TH E1/15TH INDIVIDUAL "My final moto was good," Girroir said. "I'm disappointed I crashed. I had a bad start, recovered well, came back, got up to third, crashed, went back to fi h, charged really hard and actually caught [back up to Mikael Persson from Sweden] and pushed him to the finish line. I wish I had a couple more laps out there; the moto was short, but that's racing, and I really enjoyed it. I had a rollercoaster of a week, a lot of ups and downs. I'm a rookie so that's just bound to happen, but I learned a boatload this week and I'm excited to come back and try again." E2 and overall individual winner Josep Garcia powers through a test on day three en route to Spain finishing second to Italy in World Trophy. In JWT, 2019 Champion Aus- tralia was unable to attend due to Covid lockdown, leaving Italy with one less challenger, though any country would've been hard pressed to surpass the Italian trio. France came closest this time, its total time eight minutes and 31.21 seconds behind Italy with Sweden just over a minute slower for third. The U.S. trio of Cody Barnes, Dante Oliveira and Austin Walton stayed close by holding second place until Walton had to abandon the race after breaking a scapula on day four; they would end up 11th of the 14 countries entered in that division. The bright spot for the U.S. team came in Women's World Trophy. There, Britney Gallegos, Rachel Gutish and Brandy Richards successfully defended the title won in 2019 in Portugal, seizing the lead from the outset and stretching each day there- after. The winning margin over runner-up Great Britain ended up a staggering 15:02.63 with Spain about 53 seconds farther back for third. Much of the credit for this must be laid upon Richards. In her fourth Six Days, the Arizona native may have turned in one of the greatest performances in the history of this, the oldest FIM world championship competi- tion, as she won every single special test, every single day. Every one of them. Not only that, her times beat a considerable number of the men—the fast WT and JWT rid- ers of many countries. As evi- dence, consider the final overall in- dividual standings. The record will show that Richards finished 48th overall—48th against every single competitor and there were 634 of them that left the start at the Riva- nazzano Terme airport on Monday. Granted, the WWT final moto was three laps less than those of the WT/JWT races, but even her 70th overall after day five is remarkable if not unprecedented. While most of the attention is given to the elite Trophy classifica- tions, the numbers are in the Club team competition and 163 of them signed up this year. Though the U.S.-based XC Gear trio won in 2019, this year Team Ostra En- duro 1 of Sweden pulled the team equivalent of a last-corner pass to