The official results from day four of the 77th ISDE are out and Finland continues to lead the way in the World Trophy class, while France continues to hold down second place. Sweden, however, has been bumped back up to third after a scoring dispute had them down in 13th after day three. Day four results shows Great Britain back in fourth, followed by Italy, Spain, Slovakia and Australia.
The U.S. Trophy team rode day four under protest, following stiff penalties that were handed out to Brian Sperle and Greg Gillian for small infractions. Last night at the jury meeting, the protest was pretty much denied. Gillian, who was charged with riding off course and excluded from the event, was re-instated but assessed a five-minute penalty, while Sperle, who was accused of pouring gas into his bike with the engine still running, was not let off the hook. He has been excluded from the event. Unfortunately for Sperle, the person who says he saw him pour gas into his bike with the engine still running was an FIM official, and he’s sticking to his story. Case closed. Still, just the five best scores from each country’s Trophy team count, but the five-minute penalty handed out to Gillian pretty much ends any chance the U.S. team had of finishing in the top 10. Currently, the U.S. Trophy team is 14th, but there are still two days left.
In the Junior World Trophy division, France continues to lead, while Italy and Spain have moved up to second and third. The U.S. Junior team has moved up to 12th.
Yesterday’s muddy course took its toll on the American team. Many riders either houred-out or suffered mechanical problems, making the total number of American riders out at 18. Some riders, however, have re-impounded their bikes and will (or either have) continue riding.
Yesterday we reported that U.S. Club rider Eric Moberg had broken his collarbone, but we spoke with Moberg at the hotel this morning (Saturday, day five) and he said that the collarbone isn’t broken after all and that he’s going to try to ride.
“I thought it was broken,” Moberg said. “I broke it [the collarbone] eight weeks ago and when I fell yesterday, I fell on it again and it hurt worse than it did when I first broke it. I had it x-rayed last night and it shows no break, just a bad bruise. So, heck, I’m going to try and ride today.”
U.S. Club Ken Tomeo, who went to the hospital to get his injured leg checked out, was seen at the American hotel hobbling around on crutches with a large icepack on his thigh. He’ll be okay.
This morning, the clouds and the drizzle are back, and the riders are probably in for another tough day, but with today being the final long day on the trail (tomorrow, day six, a short course leads to the final MX special test), you can tell that the spirits of the remaining American riders are rising back up again.
Fred Hoess is still “Top American.”
