Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 18, 2014 P55 Briefly... somebody, and I go, 'Man, it sucks to be an American today,' because I'd seen four, five, six of them already at that point, just sitting along the trail and stuff." He solemnly concluded, "It was tough to see." At the end of the team meeting af- ter day five, the American contingent honored a very moved Jeff Fredette with a retirement cake and cham- pagne. For the record, his record now stands at 34 Six Days ridden, re- sulting in him collecting 11 gold med- als, 20 silvers, two bronze and one DNF. He's ridden all of them since 1983 on Kawasakis. "It was tough to take, not finishing and stuff, but 33 [finishes], I guess, is better than most," he mused. "I've had a lot of people go, 'You've got to do another one now!' I don't have to do any- thing! I didn't have to do the first one. It's time to go on. With the results the U.S. team had this year, it's time to make room for somebody faster. It's been good for this long." But Fredette isn't abandoning Six Days altogether; he'll just be transitioning to more of a behind-the-scenes role as a team advisor and possibly the AMA's delegate to the FIM Jury. Taylor Robert estimated he and much of the World Trophy team walked 50 miles worth of tests in four days the week before the race. One day alone accounted for 21 miles! By the start of the race and after many hours of running around in rental cars to walk the various tests, Zach Osborne refused to get into a car if Mike Brown was at the wheel. (Far left) In his last Six Days, Jeff Fredette unfortunately experienced his first and only DNF. (Left) The Wellard trio of (from left) Gary Sutherlin, Chris Bach and Andrew Delong came out swinging and owned the Club standings until Bach's bike blew on day three. Sutherlin was the fastest Club rider at the end of the week. (Below) San Juan wasn't a complete dustbowl. Toby Price of Australia keeps the splash down on day two en route to winning E3 and finishing second overall individually. only spend their careers charging hard at all times. Those five put in superb times all day, finishing a minute and 19 seconds behind the French 5:07 far- ther back. Already, the race was taking shape. Day two saw America's best get off to another strong start, Robert setting the fastest time in the E3 class as well as the entire field. Unofficially, the U.S. took the lead early in the day—though the time at the top was brief. Mullins crashed twice in consecutive tests, the second one a high-speed get-off in test four, an en- duro test in a mostly dry river bed littered with large, round rocks and silt pockets. He managed to make it to the finish, followed by Osborne who was now a chase rider, and went to the hospital that afternoon after he started coughing up blood. "Day two is a day I want to forget," he said. "I posted some fast times in the first two tests." But the crashes changed the week for him. The time he lost dropped him to 35th in E2 with the team likewise plummeting to fourth behind France, Australia and Spain. "That really did a number on us," U.S. Team Man- ager Antti Kallonen admitted. Brown observed, "Now all we can do is work and see what we can come up with by Saturday." Remarkably, Mullins was cleared to ride and suited up for day three, getting better as the day wore on despite still being battered and bruised. The day's loop was different from the one used on the first two days and was characterized by a lot more sand and especially silt, found mostly in the transfer sections, as well as temperatures in the 90s. There, another issue struck Team USA when Rob-

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