Despite sliding to second in the unofficial “scratch” or overall individual standings on day five of the 82nd Maxxis FIM International Six Days Enduro in La Serena, Chile, Kurt Caselli (pictured) continued to be one of the bright spots on the U.S. World Trophy team, which maintained ninth overall.
“I just regrouped today,” Caselli said. “I felt better because there were two tests back to back that were sandy that I knew I would feel good in, and we walked them real good yesterday.”
Of the day’s six special tests, Caselli topped the E3 class in four of them. The rocky, silty, fast enduro test continued to frustrate him, though, and he lost ground to France’s Johnny Aubert, the E2 and scratch leader, as well as the fastest individual on the leading World Trophy team. Italy dropped a spot to second with Sweden in third.
Going into the final day, Caselli is a little over 20 seconds behind Aubert, though he is leading the E3 class, but by less than a second over Finland’s Marko Tarkkala.
Caselli’s teammate Jimmy Jarrett ended up missing a turn and got lost in one section, along with several others, and he dropped a few minutes.
The Junior World Trophy standings saw no changes at the top, with Spain continuing its run at the top followed by France and Australia. Team USA’s Juniors, led by David Kamo, are sixth.
But in the inaugural Women’s World Cup, Team USA remained firmly in front thanks to all three riders staying in the race and going well. Though France’s Ludivine Puy and Germany’s Heike Petrick were the top Women’s performers on the day, Amanda Mastin put in a consistent and strong day finishing third fastest with Nicole Bradford the fourth fastest. Lacy Jones, who is on bronze, focused on finishing the day to keep the team intact.
Virginia’s Joe Giardano of the Sugar Mama Racing Club team experienced firsthand the perils of the desert when he crashed into a cactus Friday morning. For the rest of the day, he rode in pain as his arm swelled up, but he made it to the finish and looks forward to the final day’s motocross test.
