Posted November 18, 2006   Email   Print

Downpour shortens competition on Day Five of ISDE; U.S. Junior Team edges closer to victory

By Steve Berkner

Torrential rain cut short Day Five of the FIM Maxxis International Six Days Enduro, but it didn't slow down the U.S. Junior Team's surge toward victory.

The Junior Team added another 53.11 seconds to its lead over France, meaning the American riders have a 5:25.07 advantage going into the final day of competition.

Day Five competition was called after a torrential downpour made the course impassable. Officially, only two checks and two special tests were used for the day. Once again, the performances of Kurt Caselli and Ricky Dietrich in the special tests kept the team solidly in first place.

Caselli's net score for the day was 9.12 seconds in the E2 class while Dietrich tallied a score of 18.94 in the E1 class. The next lowest score on the four-rider U.S. team was Russell Bobbitt, who scored a 57.66. Both Caselli and Dietrich finished fourth in their respective classes while Bobbitt finished 29th in the E2 class.

The day began on a faster "A" schedule that quickly turned into a nightmare when a light rain turned into a downpour, causing many of the trails, already deep with ruts from being used for four days, into bottlenecks.

"At one point it was so bad on the trail that all you could see were trophy riders sitting around not knowing what to do," said Bobbitt.

Team USA's World Trophy Team remains in 10th place, with Jimmy Jarrett turning in the lowest score for the six-rider U.S. team.

"The bottlenecks were bad," said Jarrett. "Shayne King (a New Zealand World Trophy Team rider) and I worked together throwing logs into the ruts and helping each other up the hills.

"I think the U.S. riders kind of got a bad deal today. Where we shine is when the terrain gets nasty. All of us worked hard to stay on our minute and it sucks when they throw most of the day out."

The rain-shortened day had no effect on the top U.S. three-rider club teams. The Trail Riders of Houston remained in fourth place, while Gofasters.com and the Merced Dirt riders finished the day where they started, sixth and seventh place respectively.

For complete results, visit the official ISDE website.

 © 2006, American Motorcyclist Association