Cycle News

OFF ROAD 89TH FIM INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS ENDURO NOVEMBER 3-8, 2014 SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA P56 ert's bike quit after ingesting some of the silt. He eventually fixed the problem but was nine minutes late to the next check, thus dropping him to 12th in E3 for the day and effectively ending his chances of winning. But at least Robert managed to keep going, unlike many, many others. At the end of the day, 112 of the 347 original starters DNF- ed the day. It's likely the single largest drop rate in the history of the race. Of that number, a dozen were Americans, mostly Club rid- ers but also Sarah Baldwin and Rachel Gutish of the Women's World Trophy team. Of course, the Americans weren't the only ones affected, and remarkably, the U.S. World Trophy team found itself back in second behind the French at the end of the day. Robert won the last four tests outright after being second in the first two. Had it not been for the penalty, he would've overalled the day easily. At this point, France had enough of a lead—16 minutes— which they could play it safe and still control the race. As Kallonen pointed out, "That really was the turning point where basically we were just chasing France, hoping that something would happen to them, but at that point they were also able to take it a little easier, not pushing as hard because they knew we [only] had five guys. They had all six guys still in the game so they were able to control the race with a big lead." And though it shrunk each day—from 16-plus minutes at the end of day three to 12 to 10 and finally 9:46—as America whittled away at the gap by winning the remaining three days. Russell and Brown capped off the week by winning the final E2 and E3 motos, respectively, on the final (Top left and right) The impound area on day one and again before the start of day six. Attrition due to bike failure has probably never been this high, at least in the modern era. (Right) Pela Renet typified the French approach to strategy, going out hard in the beginning to establish a lead, then backing off when conditions warranted. Here, he rides to third in the final E2 moto, which helped seal the French victory in World Trophy. day. They ended up second and third in their respective classes. Robert was right behind Brown in that final moto of the week to end up fourth in E3, while Duvall placed sixth in E2, Mullins a dis- appointed 20th. Looking back, Kallonen sum- marized, "We all felt like this is our year because it suits re- ally well our riding style and the team we picked for both Junior and Trophy—those riders were suitable for these kinds of con-

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