Mark Kariya | October 12, 2016
2016 ISDE Day Two Update From Spain: Day two of the 91st International Six Days Enduro in Navarra, Spain, saw Team USA put in another quick and even more consistent performance that saw its World Trophy team hang onto first place by a slim seven seconds over Italy while Great Britain close behind in third.
Taylor Robert had another excellent day in Spain and now finds himself the overall leader individually, though by less than half a second over Spanish Junior World Trophy rider Josep Garcia. The U.S. World Trophy team padded its lead over Italy by another few seconds today with the cushion now a 32.38 seconds, unofficially.
Led by Taylor Robert who now has the best score by an individual (his margin over Josep Garcia of Spain just 0.41 seconds!), the Americans unofficially stretched their lead over the Italians to 32 seconds.
“I had a really good day today,” Robert said. “I had a pretty big get-off right here in the test at the paddock the first lap around.
“Other than that, I rode really good all day. I think the whole team rode really well, actually. Layne [Michael] moved up from, like 41st [yesterday] to 25th [overall individually] so he made up a lot of ground. Kailub [Russell is] fifth, I think, and Thad [Duvall] is [19th].
“We’ve just got to keep pushing and keep everybody healthy. I know a couple guys had some big get-offs today—Kailub and Thad both had pretty good crashes—so hopefully we can keep that under control and keep the bikes together and carry it on!”
The American Junior World Trophy team also saw improvement, moving into third place, unofficially, behind Sweden and Spain. Steward Baylor continued his excellent run with his day’s results putting him 13th overall individually with only two other Juniors ahead of him. He, brother Grant and Trevor Bollinger are less than 25 seconds behind Spain and less than 40 seconds behind Sweden.
Despite crashing in a transfer section due to dust-limited visibility, Steward Baylor enjoyed an otherwise solid day that saw him 14th for the day and 13th over the first two days behind only two other Junior World Trophy riders. More important, he, Grant Baylor and Trevor Bollinger moved to third, unofficially, in the Junior World Trophy standings.
“Right now I’m really pleased with my ride so far,” Steward Baylor observed. “I only made one mistake on the tests; other than that, going over the bars in a transfer—stupid little thing I couldn’t see in the dust.
“It’s been a really solid week [so far]. The tests have changed [dramatically]; I’ve never seen anything change so fast! There’s terraces that were five feet tall that are completely flat now. It’s definitely big changes out on the track. What we walked is completely different from what we’re riding now.”
In the Women’s World Trophy division, Team USA’s Nicole Bradford, Tarah Geiger and Rachel Gutish slipped one spot to fifth behind Australia, Spain, Germany and Sweden. First-timer Geiger leads the U.S. squad and is seventh woman overall, unofficially.
Though Club team results weren’t available as this was written, individually Josh Toth and Ben Kelley of the Trail Jesters and Broc Hepler of the Eric Cleveland Memorial team found themselves 2-3-4, respectively, among all Club riders. After yesterday’s opener, the Trail Jesters (Kelley, Toth and Jason Klammer) were fourth, seven seconds ahead of the Eric Cleveland Memorial squad (Hepler, Alex Dorsey and Jimmy Jarrett) with the Missouri Mudders (JT Baker, Nate Ferderer and Ryan Powell) in sixth.
Josh Toth of the Trail Jesters U.S. Club team is adapting well to the dry, dusty conditions in Spain. After two days, he’s the fastest Club rider in the entire field, while the Jesters (including Ben Kelley and Jason Klammer) are fourth.
A light rain began to fall late in the day, with some forecasts predicting rain through much of the night. That should go a long way towards reducing the extremely dusty conditions of the first two days.
To read ISDE Day One Update, click HERE
