Cycle News

OFF ROAD 90TH FIM INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS ENDURO SEPTEMBER 7-12, 2015 KOSICE, SLOVAKIA P102 With that decision applied, the stand- ings changed immediately and had France creeping up on Australia and finally taking over the lead on day three. That gave the three-time and reigning champs a cushion of two minutes and four seconds over the incensed Aussies with just the final motos to go. That, of course, didn't give Australia enough time to erase the deficit, though its six tried valiantly, whittling more than a minute of the gap away to fall less than 61 seconds short by the end, Spain third for the second year in a row 10:26.76 behind the French. And where was Team USA? Sadly, Duvall DNFed with a dead bike on day four (and after a stellar day three where he finished fourth overall, seven seconds behind Robert) so lacking both his and Russell's scores each day offset anything that Robert continued to contribute, though he did that mightily. In fact, the Arizona native regularly set My Own Race: 21 MIKE BROWN 9TH E3/GOLD "We started out good the first two days there; we were in the lead on Monday and not too far off on Tuesday, then Wednesday started out getting back in the lead and it all fell apart halfway through the day. I don't know; it's part of it—last year [it went] the same way. We lost Zach [Osborne] on the first day then Charlie [Mullins] and Taylor had their complications there halfway through the week. It hurts, for sure." Brown said of his week. "I've been [on the team] for five years and this is the biggest effort I've ever seen that I've been to. It's really good. That's what we're needing to try to win this thing. It shows that now we've got top teams all the way through, from the Trophy to the Juniors, Clubs. I think overall, we're the strongest team out there if you look at everybody, all the teams together. We're doing the right things—we've just got to have a little bit of luck. [Personally], I'm struggling; this is the worst Six Days I've ever had. It's a little bit of me and a little bit of the bike. I struggle with the 500 in the tight trees and stuff. I think that was 99 percent of it. I felt like in the grass [tracks] I was good. When it got tight, I just struggled." 22 TAYLOR ROBERT 4TH E2/GOLD Being disqualified with seven others on day three and then riding under appeal while they waited for a ruling by the FIM jury, one might forgive Taylor Robert for being a bit distracted and less effective, but he insisted that wasn't the case: "I just went out there and rode and tried to learn and use it as practice, really, like I was saying before. I didn't find out until after [day five] that they had put us back in, but it didn't really affect me. I didn't have a great day—I wrecked pretty good a couple times; in the last test I knocked the wind out of myself and laid on the ground for about 10 seconds 'til I could catch my breath. It was just a roller-coaster of a week—a lot of ups, a lot of downs. A lot of really rough transfer sections that you were pray- ing to get through. Definitely not the Six Days we wanted." 26 GRANT BAYLOR 8TH E2/GOLD After teammate Nick Davis dropped out with a bike issue on day five, Grant Baylor said during the week, "It was already a little stressful. I was kind of waiting for some- thing to happen since we've been [down to] three guys the whole week. Ever since then, it's been kind of like, 'I hope everybody just gets through whatever.' I was kind of hoping my bike would make it through; it was kind of act- ing up. It really sucks that we made it this far and Steward rode all week with his dislocated shoulder and it ends up we're not going to be in the hunt for a podium position. It started out a little slower this week in the beginning [but] I felt like I learned more and more every day; I feel like I got faster, I think it made me better racing this race, seeing the lines, learning new tricks on how to ride. I'll be able to ride Junior Trophy for five more years; I'm 18 now." 169 ERIC YORBA 37TH E2/GOLD Eric Yorba is normally a WORCS racer but accepted the invitation to ride on Mexico's Junior World Trophy team that eventually finished seventh. He ended the week on a high note, winning his E2 moto by two seconds over teammate Ivan Ramirez, another familiar face in the west- ern U.S. due to being the heir apparent to the Kenda/SRT AMA Hare & Hound National Championship. "I figured if there was ever going to be a day for me to excel at the ISDE, it'd be the moto day," Yorba said. "I felt good; I got lucky to be in the other division in the E2 class." Regard- ing his final-moto duel with Ramirez, Yorba said, "He started in front of me and he roosted me a couple times coming out of the turns so I said I need to get around him as soon as possible. I was able to capitalize on a mistake he made missing a rut. I got in front of him and I guess I popped out his [goggle] lens so I was able to ride a smooth race and keep it on two wheels [to the finish]." Australia's Junior World Trophy team led from the start. From left are Broc Grabham, Tye Simmonds, E3 winner Daniel Sanders and Tom Mason.

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