A steady start for the Brits!
By TMX Archives on 4th Sep 08
THE 83rd International Six Days Enduro got off to a dusty start on Monday with US Trophy team rider Kurt Caselli claiming the overall win, despite an altercation with a car en route to the end-of-day work area at the end of the day. With nothing but rain in the UK this year the dry conditions took some getting used to as far as the British riders were concerned, but Husqvarna-mounted Trophy team rider, Daryl Bolter, finished highest with 14th overall in the Enduro 1 class.
Dust – thick, choking, and at times blinding dust – is what the 450 riders that started this year's ISDE in Serres had to deal with on the first day's competition. It's also what all riders will likely have to deal with for the rest of the competition unless long overdue rain falls on the mountains and flat lands of Serres – which isn't expected!
With every inch of the opening day's course dry and dusty, many riders reached the end of the day anything but impressed with what the event has in store for them.
And with things likely to remain dusty as the week progresses, the thought of having to spend another five day's changing air-filters at every time check, while repeatedly forced to ‘ease off' on many special tests due to the blinding dust, isn't exactly filling them with excitement.
At the end of the first day's competition, US Trophy team rider, Kurt Caselli, who narrowly missed out on finishing as fastest overall rider at last year's Six Days in Chile, who headed the overall results.
With the conditions right up the Californian's street, Kurt finished close to 15-seconds ahead of Spain's Cristobal Guerrero on his first ride on a 450cc Yamaha.
Not even a collision with a car could stop Caselli, who showed that he was determined to make up for missing out on the overall less than 12-months ago.
Third fastest was Husqvarna-mounted Frenchman Seb Guillaume closely followed by Aussie Aprilia rider, Stefan Merriman.
With big bikes dominating the top of the results, Spaniard Ivan Cervantes finished as the highest placed Enduro 1 class rider in eighth. Five-seconds behind Ivan in the E1 class was Frenchman Julien Gaultier with US Trophy team rider, Ricky Dietrich, third.
Day one brought mixed results for the British riders with BAFMA Yamaha rider, Kev Murray, faring the worst as the experienced ISDE campaigner crashed during the first time control breaking his collarbone in four places.
In contrast the opening day finished without troubles for the British Trophy and Junior Trophy team riders who placed tenth and eighth respectively in their classes.
The ISDE Team GB Trophy squad from left: Simon Wakely, Daryl Bolter,Jason Thomas, Ed Jones, Dylan Jones and Tom Sagar who finished tenthoverall after day one, Tom suffered grazing and a very sore thumb aftercrashing.
Heading the British contingent was MPS Husqvarna rider, Daryl Bolter, in 50th overall and 14th in Enduro 1.
Having opted not to compete in the final round of the British Enduro Championship, the rest seemed to have done Daryl good as he showed no signs of his recent leg injury.
But one rider that found things tough on day one, especially during the opening lap, was Tom Sagar. One of a number of riders to hit a hidden ditch on the test track prior to the event, Tom crashed while putting his bike through a final shake down and badly grazed his left forearm and, more seriously hurt his left thumb.
Despite being in discomfort Tom finished 57th overall.
Sandwiched between Bolter and Sagar in 55th overall was Welshman Jason Thomas – who spent most of 2008 competing in GNCC races in the United States and Canada.
Although he completed the course without incident, the dust caused him problems on more than one of the day's tests.
INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS ENDURO
Serres, GREECE
RESULTS – DAY ONE
TROPHY TEAM
1 France 2.17:38.02 (Julien Gaultier (Honda) E1, Jordon Curvalle (Suzuki) E1, Rodrig Thain (TM) E1, Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) E3, Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna) E3, Nicolas Deparrois (Gas Gas) E3).
2 Italy 2.17:57.94 (Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) E1, Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) E1, Alessandro Belometti (KTM) E2, Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) E2, Fabio Mossini (Honda) E2, Alessandro Botturi (Honda) E3).
3 USA 2.18:37.06 (Ricky Dietrich (Kawasaki) E1, Destry Abbott (Kawasaki) E2, Jimmy Jarrett (Suzuki) E2, Nathan Woods (Suzuki) E2, Kurt Caselli (KTM) E3, Nate Kanney (KTM) E3).
4 Spain 2.20:02.47 (Ivan Cervantes (KTM) E1, Victor Guerrero (KTM) E1, Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) E1, Oriol Mena (KTM) E2, Xavier Galindo (KTM) E3, Gerard Farres (KTM) E3).
5 Australia 2.20:14.72 (Chris Hollis (Yamaha) E2, Kirk Hutton (Yamaha) E1, Ben Kearney (KTM) E1, Glenn Kearney (Husqvarna) E2, Stefan Merriman (Aprilia) E3, Anthony Roberts (Honda) E3).
10 Great Britain 2.25:27.25 (Tom Sagar (KTM) E1, Dylan Jones (Yamaha) E1, Daryl Bolter (Husqvarna) E1, Jason Thomas (KTM) E1, Si Wakely (Husqvarna) E2, Ed Jones (KTM) E3).
JUNIOR TROPHY TEAM
1 Italy 1.24:42.69 (Thomas Oldrati (KTM) E1, Oscar Baletti (Honda) E2, Mirko Gritti (Beta) E2, Vanni Cominotto (KTM) E3).
2 Australia 1.25:40.81 (Jarrod Bewley (Yamaha) E2, Geoff Braico (KTM) E3, Blake Hore (Yamaha) E2, Andrew Lloyd (TM) E3).
3 France 1.26:47.16 (Sylvain Lebrun (KTM) E1, Jeremy Joly (Sherco) E1, Benoit Fortunato (Husqvarna) E2, Yannick Bossi (TM) E2).
4 Spain 1.26:48.04 (Guillum Pares (Yamaha) E1, Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) E2, Armand Monleon (Yamaha) E2, Lucas Puerta (Yamaha) E2).
5 Finland 1.27:09.88 (Jari Pulkkinen (Honda) E1, Olli Turma (KTM) E1, Antti Hellsten (Husqvarna) E1, Oskari Kantonen (KTM) E3).
8 Great Britain 1.28:45.28 (Lee Edmondson (Honda) E1, Ashley Wood (Honda) E1, Ollie Moyce (Yamaha) E1, Jamie Paget (TM) E2).