SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 5, 2013
OLBIA, SARDINIA, ITALY
OFF ROAD
P46
88TH INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS ENDURO
Snowmobile racer
Keith Curtis barely
knew what the
ISDE was at the
beginning of the
year. Now he's got
an ISDE medal.
I get on a regular bike and work
on sprints a couple of months before ISDE. It's definitely different
and it's tough, and I feel like it's
harder for me to jump back and
forth between bikes.
'You know, it's nothing that I
feel like I can't do, but it's going
to take concentrating more on
the specifics of riding a rally bike
and riding an enduro bike. But I
feel confident that it'll work out."
NO SNOW HERE
One of the competitors on this
year's ISDE club teams is Keith
Curtis, a professional snowmobile racer for the factory Polaris
team. The tall and lanky rider
from Dillon, Montana, had an impressive week, considering his
limited time on a motorcycle.
"My main job is snowmobile hillclimbing, and I'm a 'Terrain Dominator' for Polaris Industries," says
Curtis. "I compete on the Rocky
Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimb
circuit and I travel around Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah
and do races there, which is how
I make my living."
Curtis cross-trains in the summer on dirt bikes, which is how
he got into this year's ISDE.
"Since I train on a dirt bike, I
naturally do a few off-road races
in the summer," explains Curtis.
"So one of my buddies talked me
into racing the ISDE qualifier in
Idaho City so I gave it a try and I
qualified."
"It's interesting," adds Curtis.
"This is a little different than I
expected. It's more motocrossy
than I thought it would be. It's a
lot of grass tracks and really highspeed track, and for the special
tests it's something I don't normally practice. At home I ride single-track to the mountain lake, so
this was a little different for me.
I'm used to riding perfect, prime
trail, where this is rutted out, silty
dust, and pretty whooped out."
SALVINI'S WOES
If there was a pre-race favorite
going into this year's Six Days
in Sardinia, it had to be newly
crowned Enduro 2 World Champion Alex Salvini, as this year's
ISDE is pretty much happening in
his own back yard. The two-time
Italian Enduro champ's 2013 resume is impressive, having won
nine rounds of this year's World
