The U.S. Junior Trophy Team moved up from second to first place, overtaking France during Day Two of the FIM Maxxis International Six Days Enduro. The U.S. Junior Team now holds an 80.78 second lead over France. Germany is in third, 207.38 seconds back.
The majority of the U.S. Junior Team’s advancement came by way of the efforts of Kurt Caselli and Ricky Dietrich. Caselli, who is riding in the E2 class, put in a stellar ride, moving him up seven positions from eighth to first-place overall. Caselli now leads Finland’s Juha Salminen by 18.04 seconds. France’s Marc Germain is in third.
Caselli’s Day-Two showing also makes him the first U.S. ISDE/ISDT rider in history to win his class and lead the overall. No less of an accomplishment was Dietrich’s E1-class performance, which saw him beat two of the French Junior Trophy Team riders by 47.06 and 51.06 seconds, respectively.
Caselli’s efforts drew a lot of attention at the New Zealand ISDE, as the Californian took the overall lead when he won the second special test of the day. Caselli said, “Today went good. I felt comfortable in the tests. I’m not trying too win anything out there. I’m just trying to ride consistent.
“Potentially, we have what it takes [as a Junior Team.] We just have to keep focused on riding the way we know how. This team has two current National Champions on it, Ricky [Dietrich] in WORCS and Russell [Bobbitt] in the National Enduro Series. All we have to do is ride like we know we can.”
David Pearson is the fourth member on the U.S. Junior Trophy Team.
In the World Trophy Team division, Finland overtook France for the lead, while Spain remained in third place. The U.S. Trophy Team moved up from 14th place into 10th, led by the charge of Jimmy Jarrett, who was again the fastest U.S. Trophy Team rider.
In the three-rider club team division the United States has three teams in the top 10. The Trail Riders of Houston club team, made up of riders Cole Kirkpatrick, David Kamo and Luke McNeil, are in fourth place, while the GoFasters.com team, made up of Patrick Garrahan, Brian Sperle and Daniel Janus, and the Team Oregon team, made up of Jonathon Seehorn, Rory Sullivan and Mason Harrison, are in sixth and seventh place respectively.
According to U.S. ISDE Team organizer and U.S. FIM Jury representative Rick “Gunny” Claypoole Day Two of the New Zealand ISDE is the strongest showing any U.S. ISDE team effort has ever shown. Claypoole said, “We had a lot of firsts today. First overall performance, first class win and three club teams in the top 10. We also had all 40 riders make it into impound. Today was a good day.”
