Mexican brave!
By TMX Archives on 11th Nov 10
THE 85th International Six Days Enduro turned into a Five Day Enduro when the final day of the event, taking place in Mexico, was cancelled with the official explanation stating, to ensure the safety and security of those involved due to an incident which took place some distance from the Morelia venue. No British team or rider was present having decided not to travel to the event - on safety grounds. The results from Friday were the final results and the top-quality French squad ran away with the Trophy Team contest from the Italians and Finns.Words and Pictures: Jonty Edmunds
According to the riders at the top of the E1, E2 and E3 classes the general opinion was that the Mexican event was anything but easy. Days one and two weren't overly taxing, but from day three onwards things got tough. With the exception of a few small river crossings and one special test that was extremely wet, the majority of the week's riding was done over dry, rocky terrain. The event itself was both well organised and well funded, and according to the organisers a budget of somewhere in the region of two million dollars was used to fund the race. The paddock area was behind a brand new, and extremely large, shopping centre, high up on the hills above Morelia.
Barring any disasters France were always going to win the Trophy Team competition, which is of course exactly what they did. From the start of day one it was clear that they would only be beaten if injury or mechanical troubles affected the team. And with the exception of Nicolas Deparrois, who hit a tree with both his bike and knee early on in the event, all other riders made it to the end of day five in good health and having done little other than routine maintenance to their bikes.
Once the first couple of days were completed the French team became incredibly relaxed with some of their Trophy Team members racing each other when changing tyres at the end of each day. Well aware that the win was theirs for the taking all riders did exactly what they needed to do in order to claim a repeat of their '09 victory.
Despite the best efforts of both the Italian and Finnish Trophy Teams neither nation could match the French. Italy's six-rider team enjoyed a largely trouble free week with all riders well placed at the head of their respective classes, but with Antoine Meo, Johnny Aubert, Seb Guillaume and Christophe Nambotin winning, second best was all they could realistically aim for.
Despite not having Mika Ahola within their squad Finland's third placed result was a deserved one. Lacking the necessary firepower to battle for a better result in Mexico but, with the ISDE being held in Finland in 2011, things might be a little different.
In much the same way as France were expected to top the Trophy Team competition, Spain were hot favourites to win the Junior Trophy class.
With Husaberg mounted Oriol Mena delivering the team's best result on all but one day, as the only squad to field four Enduro World Championship regulars they were always going to be hard to beat, which they were. Steadily moving further and further ahead at the top of the class their eventual near six-minute winning advantage saw them finish ahead of Sweden and the USA.
In finishing as runners up Sweden claimed a top three Junior Trophy result for the first time in 11 years. Despite the fact that their team comprised of just two EWC regulars they kept up the pressure on Spain and claimed a somewhat surprise result. Team USA saw their ISDE start in a bad way as one of their top Junior Trophy team riders, Cory Buttrick, crashed out on day one, trying to pass another rider in the dust.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NOVEMBER 12
INTERNATIONAL SIX DAY ENDURO
Morelia, Mexico
Teams
1: France – 16.32:01.55 Johnny Aubert (KTM) E2, Nicolas Deparrois (Kawasaki) E2, Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna) E3, Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) E1, Rodrig Thain (TM) E2, Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) E3.
2: Italy – 16.42:15.57 Alex Salvini (Husqvarna) E1, Alessandro Belometti (KTM) E3, Thomas Oldrati (KTM) E2, Manuel Monni (Yamaha) E2, Simone Albergoni (KTM) E3, Alessandro Botturi (Husaberg) E3.
3: Finland – 16.46:38.80 Eero Remes (KTM) E1, Jari Mattila (Honda) E1, Juha Salminen (Husqvarna) E2, Marko Tarkkala (Husqvarna) E2, Oskari Kantonen (KTM) E2, Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) E3.
4: USA – 16.58:11.40 Mike Brown (KTM) E1, Kurt Caselli (KTM) E1, Jimmy Jarrett (Kawasaki) E2, Timmy Weigand (Honda) E2, Destry Abbott (Kawasaki) E2, Nathan Woods (Husaberg) E3.
5: Poland – 17.31:19.96, 6 Chile – 17.32:54.06, 7 Mexico – 17.43:33.11, 8 Germany – 17.54:00.06, 9 Venezuela – 18.24:20.76, 10 Belgium – 20.09:40.75.
Junior Trophy: 1 Spain – 10.06:25.11, 2 Sweden 10.12:19.95, 3 USA – 10.14:47.89.
Woman'S Trophy : 1 France – 7.44:56.08, 2 USA – 8.55:11.58, 3 Sweden – 9.00:22.88.
Enduro 1: 1 Antoine Meo (Husqvarna), 2 Eero Remes (KTM), 3 Alex Salvini (Husqvarna), 4 Kurt Caselli (KTM), 5 Jari Mattila (Honda), 6 Mike Brown (KTM), 7 Ian Blythe (KTM), 8 Giacomo Redondi (Husqvarna), 9 Victor Guerrero (Yamaha), 10 Mario Roman (KTM).
Enduro 2: 1 Johnny Aubert (KTM), 2 Juha Salminen (Husqvarna), 3 Thomas Oldrati (KTM), 4 Manuel Monni (Yamaha), 5 Rodrig Thain (TM),6 Lorenzo Santolino (KTM), 7 Jeff Goblet (Yamaha), 8 Michal Szuster (Yamaha), 9 Johan Carlsson (Beta), 10 Taylo Robert (Yamaha).
Enduro 3: 1 Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna), 2 Oriol Mena (Husaberg), 3 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas),4 Simone Albergoni (KTM), 5 Alessandro Botturi (Husaberg), 6 Alessandro Belometti (KTM), 7 Homero Diaz (KTM), 8 Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg), 9 Nathan Woods (Husaberg),10 Sebastien Krywult (KTM).