Vive la France!
By TMX Archives on 11th Sep 08
WITH incidents and accidents aplenty during the 83rd running of the International Six Day Enduro most caused by the extremely dusty conditions France emerged as the Trophy Team competition winners, defeating last year's champions Italy.
In the Junior Trophy category, Italy placed ahead of Australia and France while Spaniard Ivan Cervantes finished as the event's overall fastest competitor – the first time ever a Spaniard has topped the ISDE.
Britain finished a lowly 21st in the Trophy team competition following the loss of two of their team riders on day four, while the British Junior Trophy Team secured a well-earned eighth place finish.
The dust, heat and injuries to both Club and Trophy team riders dominated headlines during the near week-long event as Marko Tarkkala was eventually crowned E3 class winner, Italian Alessandro Belometti the E2 class victor and Ivan Cervantes the E1 class winner. Britain's best performer was Jason Thomas, who finished 11th in the Enduro 1 class
Despite the fact that WEC big hitters Johnny Aubert, Marc Germain and Antoine Meo all decided against competing in this year's International Six Day Enduro, France finished as the deserved winners of the 83rd running of the competition.
Coming out on top following a week-long battle with reigning Trophy Team champions, Italy, France claimed a slender 53-second winning margin having fielded what their top performer Seb Guillaume referred to as a ‘B team'.
A two-country race from the first day to the final motocross, neither France nor Italy were seriously challenged by any other nation as team USA claimed the third place spot thanks in part to strong E1 class results by Kawasaki's Ricky Dietrich.
But it was France, who took the Trophy Team lead on day one, that stole the show in Greece, earning themselves a well-earned victory despite failing to win any of the three capacity classes.
Lead by Guillaume, who placed second in the E3 class, Christophe Nambotin secured third in E3 with Rodrig Thain second in E2 while Julien Gaultier and Jordan Curvalle finished third and seventh respectively in the E1 category.
With Finland's Juha Salminen dropping out of the competition on day six, Alessandro Belometti was gifted the win in E2.
Disappointingly for Britain, 21st place in the Trophy Team competition was as good as Tom Sagar, Dylan Jones, Daryl Bolter, Jason Thomas, Ed Jones and Si Wakely could collectively manage as on day four both Dylan and Daryl exited the competition.
The common theme throughout the event for most riders was the severe dust, which was the cause of more than a few riders ending up in hospital. Among them were BAFMA rider Kev Murray who had to have his right collarbone plated after smashing it into four pieces on day one. Also in the wars was Irishman Robert Lynn who also broke his leg.
Many of the top riders also found themselves coming unstuck in the dust, with US Trophy Team rider Kurt Caselli one of the first big named riders to exit the competition. A close second in the E3 class after the first two days, Kurt crashed heavily on day three and took no further part in the event. Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero broke his leg on day three while Dutch Trophy team rider Amel Advokat broke bones in his back on day two. Italian Trophy team rider Simone Albergoni also ended up in hospital following a heavy crash during his final motocross race.
At the head of the Enduro 1 class, Spain's Ivan Cervantes managed to achieve what no other Spanish rider has been able to do and not only topped his class but, thanks to the final day demise of Juha Salminen, topped the event outright.
"I rode very carefully on the first day because of the dust and then made a big mistake on day two at the end of the second lap when I crashed on the enduro test,” explained Ivan. "I crashed in the dust and lost 30 seconds because my bike wouldn't start. That's where my Six Days started, as I had to work my way back up the classification. My goal was to win the E1 class and finish second overall but, when Juha went out, I realised I could win the overall. It's amazing to be the first Spaniard ever to win the overall at the Six Days.”
Behind Ivan, and having kept him honest throughout the event, was US rider Ricky Dietrich. With the dry Greek terrain similar to the Californian tracks on which Dietrich and the other west coast US Trophy Team riders practice and race, Ricky put in the surprise result of the event placing less than one minute behind Cervantes.
83rd INTERNATIONAL SIX-DAY ENDURO
Serres, FRANCE (Sep 1 - 6)
TROPHY TEAM COMPETITION
1 FRANCE 14:50:25.78 (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 14:51:19.37 (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 14:58:45.82 (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 15:06:52.83 (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 FINLAND 15:08:48.17 (Roni Nikander (KTM) E1, Jari Mattila (Honda) E1, Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) E2, Juha Salminen (KTM) E2, Marko Tarkkala (KTM) E3, Kari Tiainen (BMW) E3).
6 AUSTRALIA 15:12:03.82 (Chris Hollis (Yamaha) E2, Kirk Hutton (Yamaha) E1, Ben Kearney (KTM) E1, Glenn Kearney (Husqvarna) E2, Stefan Merriman (Aprilia) E3, Anthony Roberts (Honda) E3).
7 SWEDEN 15:15:32.88 (Fredrik Georgesson (KTM) E1, Niklass Gustafsson (Honda) E1, Anders Eriksson (BMW) E2, Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) E2, Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) E3, Patrick Wiksell (KTM) E3).
8 GERMANY 15:32:31.11 (Mike Hartman (KTM) E1, Stefan Mau (Husqvarna) E2, Marcus Kehr (KTM) E3, Marko Straubel (KTM) E3, Ralf Scheidhauer (KTM) E3, Christoph Seifert (KTM) E3).
9 HOLLAND 15:37:11.50 (Ralph Hubers (Yamaha) E1, Amel Advokaat (KTM) E1, Alex Van De Broek (Honda) E2, Hans Vogels (Yamaha) E2, Erwin Plekkenpol (Honda) E3, Mark Wassink (KTM) E3).
10 POLAND 15:39:13.49 (Lukasz Bartos (Yamaha) E1, Michael Szuster (Yamaha) E1, Waclaw Skolarus (Yamaha) E1, Jakub Przygonski (Yamaha) E2, Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) E3, Sebastian Krywult (KTM) E3).
11 CZECH REPUBLIC 16:08:29.58 (Martin Gottvald (Husqvarna) E1, Tomas Loukota (KTM) E1, Jakub Horak (KTM) E1, Rudolf Michal (Husaberg) E2, Michal Kadecek (Husaberg) E3, Toman Radek (KTM) E3).
12 PORTUGAL 16:15:02.76 (Joao Soares (Honda) E1, David Merge (KTM) E3, Pedro Oliveira (Suzuki) E2, Fernardo Ferreira (Yamaha) E1, Mario Patrao (Suzuki) E2, Paulo Felicia (Husqvarna) E2).
21 GREAT BRITAIN 20:15:09.12 (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 COMPETITION
1 ITALY 9:02:23.57 (Thomas Oldrati (KTM) E1, Oscar Balleti (Honda) E2, Mirko Gritti (Beta) E2, Vanni Cominotto (KTM) E3).
2 AUSTRALIA 9:14:36.57 (Jarrod Bewley (Yamaha) E2, Geoff Braico (KTM) E3, Blake Hore (Yamaha) E2, Andrew Lloyd (TM) E3).
3 FRANCE 9:17:21.88 (Sylvain Lebrun (KTM) E1, Jeremy Joly (Sherco) E1, Benoit Fortunato (Husqvarna) E2, Yannick Bossi (TM) E2).
4 SPAIN 9:21:56.76 (Guillum Pares (Yamaha) E1, Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) E2, Armand Monleon (Yamaha) E2, Lucas Puerta (Yamaha) E2).
5 FINLAND 9:26:10.83 (Jari Pulkkinen (Honda) E1, Olli Turma (KTM) E1, Antti Hellsten (Husqvarna) E1, Oskari Kantonen (KTM) E3).
6 GERMANY 9:32:24.83 (Andreas Beier (KTM) E1, Jorg Haustein (KTM) E1, Edward Hubner (KTM) E3, Derrick Gorner (KTM) E3).
7 PORTUGAL 9:36:40.25 (Concalo Bandeira (Suzuki) E1, Antonio Maio (KTM) E1, Gustavo Gaudencio (Yamaha) E2
8 GREAT BRITAIN 9:38:47.15 (Lee Edmondson (Honda) E1, Ashley Wood (Honda) E1, Ollie Moyce (Yamaha) E1, Jamie Paget (TM) E2).
9 SWEDEN 9:43:22.87 (Karl Svensson (KTM) E1, Voctor Karlsson (Honda) E1, Robert Kvarnstrom (TM) E1, Martin Sundin (Husaberg) E2).
10 NEW ZEALAND 9:48:34.72 (Adrian Smith (Yamaha) E1, Morgan Dransfield (KTM) E3, Rory Mead (Yamaha) E1).
11 CZECH REPUBLIC 10:03:31.53 (Milan Engel (KTM) E1, Lukas Sedlacek (KTM) E1, Peter Husek (Sherco) E2).
12 USA 10:28:51.14 (Joshua Morros (Kawasaki) E1, Joe Giordano (KTM) E2, Ryan Powell (Yamaha) E2, David Kamo (KTM) E3).
CLUB TEAM COMPETITION: 1 Slovakia Hant Team 9:21:47.41, 2 Moto Club Italia 9:31:03.56, 3 Team OSTRA GOTA 1 9:44:23.72, 4 Moto Szkola Team Bembenik 9:54:41.73, 5 DMSB 1 ADAC 9:54:41.73, 6 Vastra Junior 10:10:11.93, 7 WALES A (Andrew EDWARDS, Tim FOREMAN, Jon HINAM) 10:10:44.70,... 13 WALES B (Gethin PRICE, Craig BOUNDS, David BRICK) 10:20:59.45,... 38 WEST OF ENGLAND (Justin WILSON, Julian CRIMP, Andy ELLIOT) 14:55:11.29,... 44 SOUTHERN MCC (IoM) (Karl GREENALL, Andy WALTON, John BURROW) 17:24:55.49,... 47 FASTLANE (Robert LYNN, Phillip McLAUGHLIN, Gordon CLARKE) 18:34:33.04,... 55 BAFMA (Darren HUGHES, Darren WILLCOCK, Kev MURRAY) 19.09:15.03.
ENDURO 1 CLASS: 1 Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 2:55:23.78, 2 Ricky Dietrich (Kawasaki) 2:56:06.71, 3 Julien Gaultier (Honda) 2:58:32.40, 4 Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 3:00:10.86, 5 Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 3:01:38.10, 6 Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) 3:01:38.53, 7 Jordan Curvalle (Suzuki) 3:02:15.50, 8 Michal Szuster (Yamaha) 3:03:28.00, 9 Mike Hartman (KTM) 3:03:45.91, 10 Roni Nikander (KTM) 3:03:54.40, 11 Jason THOMAS (KTM) 3:0525.40,... 15 Tom SAGAR (KTM) 3:06:51.52,... 19 Oliver MOYCE (Yamaha) 3:09:29.76,... 27 Lee EDMONDSON (Honda) 3:14:49.64.
ENDURO 2 CLASS: 1 Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 2:57:02.61, 2 Rodrig Thain (TM) 2:58:11.21, 3 Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 2:58:14.05, 4 Fabio Mossini (Honda) 2:59:46.78, 5 Oscar Baletti (Honda) 2:59:50.51, 6 Chris Hollis (Yamaha) 3:00:16.97, 7 Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 3:00:19.87, 8 Oriol Mena (KTM) 3:00:50.97, 9 Destry Abbott (Kawasaki) 3:01:10.97, 10 Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 3:01:25.21,... 27 Si WAKELY (Husqvarna) 3:08:46.03,... 35 Ashley WOOD (KTM) 3:14:46.38; 44,... 44 Jamie PAGET (TM) 3:26:23.94.
Enduro 3: 1 Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 2:56:31.87, 2 Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna) 2:56:45.16, 3 Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 2:57:02.15, 4 Stefan Merriman (Aprilia) 2:57:14.95, 5 Alessandro Botturi (Honda) 2:58:54.26, 6 Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 2:59:17.78, 7 Markus Kehr (KTM) 3:00:17.17, 8 Nathan Kanney (KTM) 3:01:03.54, 9 Xavier Galindo (KTM) 3:01:10.55, 10 Vanni Cominotto (KTM) 3:02:35.89,... 32 Ed JONES (KTM) 3:17:03.34.
CLUB 1 COMPETITION: 1 Maurizio Gerini (Husqvarna) 3:07:44.93, 2 Marcin Frycz (KTM) 3:11:28.25, 3 Edoardo D'Ambrosio (TM) 3:11:41.40, 4 Mateusz Bembenik(KTM) 3:12:29.73, 5 Luka Bussa (Yamaha) 3:14:44.43, 6 Fred Hoess (Kawasaki) 3:17:02.90, 7 Rowan Trefz (Yamaha) 3:18:29.37, 8 Ari Jauhiainen (KTM) 3:19:17.01, 9 Davids Roggeri (Husqvarna) 3:21:28.97, 10 Andrew EDWARDS (KTM) 3:21:41.30,...14 Jon HINAM (KTM) 3:24:36.40,... 19 David BRICK (Kawasaki) 3:29:10.14,... 24 Darren WILLCOCK (Yamaha) 3:33:30.93,... 31 Craig BOUNDS (Sherco) 3:38:27.66,... 49 Karl Greenall (KTM) 4:37:22.18; 51,... 51 Andy Elliot (Yamaha) 4:40:20.77,... 58 Alain Flinter (Honda) 6.15:35.88.
CLUB 2 COMPETITION: 1 Robert Kapajick (KTM) 3:05:33.72, 2 Jordi Fugueras (KTM) 3:05:55.19, 3 Calle Sjoo (KTM) 3:09:03.60, 4 Nicholas Beattie (Yamaha) 3:10:31.43, 5 Phillip McLAUGHLIN (TM) 3:10:33.52, 6 Michael Pogna (KTM) 3:11:37.23, 7 Jonas Karlsson (KTM) 3:13:19.50, 8 Fritz Andersson (KTM) 3:13:49.60, 9 Nielsen Bueno (Husqvarna) 3:20:12.56, 10 Larry Gustafsson (KTM) 3:20:39.80,...17 Gethin Price (Honda) 3:23:21.65,... 18 Tim FOREMAN (Kawasaki) 3:24:27.00,... 22 Justin WILSON (Yamaha) 3:31:26.79,... 26 Darren HUGHES (Yamaha) 3:35:44.10,... 64 John Burrow (KTM) 5:18:22.54,... 71 Julian Crimp (KTM) 6:43:23.73.
CLUB 3 COMPETITION: 1 Stefan Svitko (KTM) 3:06:24.49, 2 Rory Sullivan (Husaberg) 3:09:10.48, 3 Radek Matoska (KTM) 3:09:49.20, 4 Ziatko Novosad (Gas Gas) 3:12:04.00, 5 Gerd Pfefferkorn (KTM) 3:12:54.57, 6 Marc Sola (Yamaha) 3:13:47.88, 7 Miroslav Sevela (Gas Gas) 3:17:08.11, 8 Kristoffer Jonsson (Gas Gas) 3:17:14.62, 9 Andre Decker (Husqvarna) 3:19:01.06, 10 Jens Pester (Gas Gas) 3:21:23.60,...13 Gordon CLARKE (TM) 3:23:59.52.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008