Mark Kariya | September 3, 2022
Great Britain returned to the FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in a big way at the 96th edition of the race. After missing the last two races due to global COVID lockdowns and then travel restrictions, the British contingent arrived at Le Puy en Velay, France, eager to mix it up once again with the best in the world.
Despite falling on the sight lap, Austin Walton (36) holeshot the Junior World Trophy moto and went on to win, holding off charging Italian Morgan Lesiardo (14). Walton’s teammate Mateo Oliveira was less than a second from making it a U.S. 1-2 but ran out of time and settled for the third-fastest JWT time. Photos: Mark Kariya
And what they showed the world was something they’d been unable to do since 1953: win.
But not only did Great Britain take the lead in the FIM World Trophy (WT) team category on the second day and hold it to the end with Jed Etchells, Steve Holcombe, Jamie McCanney and Nathan Watson, Team GB became only the third country to win the Women’s World Trophy (WWT), joining Australia, France and the United States. Jane Daniels led the British women and was the fastest of all women after six long days of racing in some rugged French countryside.
The one category with a familiar winner was Junior World Trophy (JWT) where Italy repeated its triumph on home soil last year, this time with riders Morgan Lesiardo, Enrico Rinaldi and Claudio Spanu. Finland took second with Australia third.
As for the U.S. effort, there were few bright spots in what turned out to be an extremely challenging week, what with injuries, crashes and admittedly inconsistent riding. The WT team was the only one of its three elite teams to finish intact, placing fifth behind Great Britain, Italy, Spain and France with Layne Michael, Dante Oliveira, Kailub Russell and Josh Toth.
Its JWT team lost Cody Barnes early on the first day due to a terminal mechanical issue; with the new rule eliminating throwaways, incurring a three-hour penalty for each day a rider didn’t finish was more costly than ever and left the team destined for the cellar.
While they also had their ups and downs through the week, remaining riders Mateo Oliveira and Austin Walton managed to end the week on a good note, going 1-3 in the final moto for JWT riders. (Another rule change eliminated engine size for the final moto groupings. Instead, each heat in France would consist of up to 30 riders per moto based on whether they were in WT, JWT or WWT and then grouped according to scores after five days with the slowest 30 making up one heat and going from there. Same for Club team riders, though they were grouped exclusively by scores so there too you had 125s and 450s in the same motos.)
Though the American women were defending champs, losing Brandy Richards to a serious fall on day four torpedoed their hopes of making it three in a row so Rachel Gutish and newcomer Korie Steede pressed on to see how they’d fare individually. It turned out quite well in the final moto, as Steede holeshot and remained in front the whole way with Canada’s Shelby Turner second-fastest in the race and Gutish a very satisfying third.
The Club team motos got the day started and when it came to heat five, the first with an American. There, first-timer Davi Fullmer got the perfect start, exited the first turn clearly in front and remained there for the rest of the race. It was a good start to the last day for U.S. Club riders, though none would duplicate Fullmer’s feat of winning his moto.
Korie Steede also got an excellent start and enjoyed a wire-to-wire victory over Canadian Shelby Turner with Rachel Gutish third. Of course, the U.S. WWT team had no hope of adding a third triumph in a row after losing Brandy Richards in a serious crash on day four. (Richards got out of the local hospital in time to spectate.)
Among the 130 Club teams, after all scores were added up, KBS Team—CZ of the Czech Republic remained atop the Club team standings with XC Gear of the U.S. 25.10 second behind for the runner-up spot on the podium. France’s Enduro Dream Team snatched third with strong performances by its trio of former world champs (Antoine Meo, Christophe Nambotin and Pela Renet).
XC Gear riders did well and were the fastest Club team on the day over Enduro Dream Team and KBS Team—CZ with rookie Craig Delong fourth-fastest, Kai Aiello (also a newcomer) eighth and Tyler Vore 27th.
GTBN finished the week sixth. Jaden Dahners kept improving all week and in the final moto sped to the seventh-fastest Club time while Travis Reynaud was 20th. Anson Maloney tipped over so he lost time and could only finish the day with the 49th best Club time.
Missouri Mudders (Chase Bright, Huck Jenkins and Nathan Rector) held onto 13th with rookie Bright the team’s best for the day after finishing with the 28th-fastest Club time.
As a desert racer, rookie Davi Fullmer felt out of place in trees but his recent moto training paid off as he became the only American to win his Club moto.
Likewise, Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jeff O’Leary and Shawn O’Leary) held on to 25th despite both O’Learys going down in the first turn.
Wes Habermehl/Bruce Wakeley Memorial (Jonathan McDougal, Jonathan Seehorn and Brian Storrie) maintained 26th with Seehorn also caught up in the O’Leary crash, obviously losing lots of time right off the bat.
Eric Cleveland Memorial (David Fullmer, Benjamin Knight and Gary Smith) remained 86th despite Fullmer’s winning ride that put him 48th fastest.
MojoMotoSport (Joshua Chassaing, Anthony Ferrante and Shane Siebenthall) kept 120th, Ferrante the only team rider to make it to the final moto. After getting taken out, he could do no better than 71st-best time.
Click here for complete 2022 France ISDE results.
DAY 5
Though Great Britain invented what became the FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) and dominated in the early days, it hasn’t won any of the elite categories in nearly 70 years—since 1953, to be exact.
Six Days rookie Jaden Dahners signals confidence before starting test two. He’s learned and applied those lessons quickly as he’s now fifth in C1 for the week and was third today. His GTBN team is sixth among all Club teams, the second American team. Photos: Mark Kariya
After day five of this year’s 96th FIM ISDE, though, the British are poised to celebrate not one but two victories as they closed out day five leading comfortably in both FIM World Trophy (WT) and Women’s World Trophy (WWT) standings.
Though Spain put on a charge, it came up 13.18 seconds shy of toppling Great Britain for the day while Italy finished the day third, 52.59 seconds behind the leader. That’s also the order in WT after the times of all five days are added up. In that column, Great Britain leads Spain by four minutes and 22.94 seconds, and is 5:07.54 ahead of Italy. France sits fourth, 9:46.34 back, with the U.S. still in fifth but facing a challenge from a resurgent Sweden.
For Kailub Russell, the leading rider on the U.S. squad, his day mirrored that of teammates Layne Michael, Dante Oliveira and Josh Toth—some good test results mixed with some subpar ones. It was an up-and-down day.
“I had a decent day [in finishing 14th overall individual],” Russell began. “It wasn’t anything spectacular by any means, but it was back in the realm of being competitive. That’s what we were looking for.”
Indeed, he showed improvement through the first four tests of the day, finishing 13-9-9-7 and was on his way to another heater in the fifth and final test but crashed violently about 100 yards from the finish when he hit a rock in a braking bump. The get-off rang his bell, wrenched his neck and left him rather battered all over as well as bending the handlebar to near uselessness. It also stole any hope of finishing the day well, placing him 20th overall individual. Counting all five days, though, he’s 14th—still not where he expected to be.
The story was much the same for Michael and Toth. Oliveira, on the other hand, paid attention to his bike to make sure it would at least finish. After two slow tests, he wicked it up a bit and went 6-8-13 in the last three tests to finish 32nd for the day. Due to the four-minute penalty yesterday when his bike quit, he’s 35th overall individual after five days.
Junior World Trophy team rider Austin Walton was actually the fastest of the Americans today, beating U.S. World Trophy team rider Kailub Russell by two seconds.
U.S. Junior World Trophy (JWT) riders Mateo Oliveira and Austin Walton had better days today, a day that weather forecasters promised would be wet, though the expected heavy rains dropped only a slight amount on the new trails and tests.
Walton actually finished two seconds ahead of Russell at 19th in the day’s standings via test results that hovered mostly in the 20s: 25-19-26-25-21. When all five days times are added, he’s 24th overall individual while Mateo Oliveira is 34th.
Finland top the JWT standings for the day over Australia and Italy, which lost for the first time this week. However, the Italian trio remains ahead of their Finnish rivals by 1:47.71 while Australia lies third, 6:26.96 back.
With Brandy Richards crashing out yesterday, of course, the U.S. Women’s World Trophy (WWT) team forfeited the chance to make it three in a row with Great Britain taking over the reins, thanks to Jane Daniels who won four of the day’s five tests.
American Korie Steede won the only test that Daniels didn’t take, though a bad result in test two left her behind Daniels and Canadian Shelby Turner for the day. For the week to date, however, Steede is second woman, 2:33.87 behind Daniels.
Rachel Gutish had a somewhat slow start to the day with her 14th-fastest in the first test, but the remainder saw her go 4-4-6-6 to end the day sixth-fastest woman, a position she also maintains after all five days are added.
“It was pretty challenging; I think it was a tough one [for everyone today],” U.S. Trophy Team Manager Antti Kallonen sighed. “The facts are, these are the worst results since I started [as manager]. It’s definitely a little disappointing.
“We’ve had—every year—at least one team do well and this year was just rock bottom.
“On a good day, probably, I would [predict] that we could’ve fought for a podium [here], but none of the days were good for us.
“It’s one of those years that we’ve got to regroup [from] and see what we need to do different. We thought all the preparation was done, but clearly now with the rule changes [that there are no throwaways and all scores count for the team] and the other countries are also very competitive and consistent. We’ve got to regroup now and think of a new strategy for next year.”
KBS Team—CZ of Czech Republic topped the Club team standings for the day, besting XC Gear of the U.S.—yesterday’s winner—by 14.38 seconds. Team Italy was third, 20.31 seconds back.
XC Gear’s Craig Delong once again proved to be fastest of all American Club riders, finishing the day third-fastest behind Czech rider Krystof Kouble and Italian Kevin Cristino. Though Delong didn’t win a test today, he still recorded excellent results with top-10 times all day, culminating in second overall Club rider in the final test.
Jane Daniels of Great Britain was the fastest of the Women’s World Trophy riders. The British stand on the cusp of winning both Women’s World Trophy and FIM World Trophy (for the men) with one day to go. The last time the British won any of the elite categories was 1953.
Along with Kai Aiello and Tyler Vore, XC Gear remains second though the team lost a little ground and is now 41.90 seconds behind KBS Team—CZ. France’s Enduro Dream Team (legends Antoine Meo, Christophe Nambotin and Pela Tenet) is third, 2:34.00 behind.
Vore once again finished the day second-best in C3 by 2.03 seconds behind Nambotin and posted the best C3 times in the last two tests of the day. When all five days are tallied, Vore trails the Frenchman by 37.89 seconds.
GBTN (Jaden Dahners, Anson Maloney and Travis Reynaud) remain sixth after today with Dahners again pacing the team. Fifth fastest Club rider overall for the day, rookie Dahners is 11th-fastest Club rider after five days and fifth-best C1 for the week so far.
Missouri Mudders (Chase Bright, Huck Jenkins and Nathan Rector) climbed one spot to 13th after today; Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jeff O’Leary and Shawn O’Leary) remains 25th; Wes Habermehl/Bruce Wakeley Memorial (Jonathan McDougal, Jonathan Seehorn and Brian Storrie) move up another spot from yesterday to 26th; Eric Cleveland Memorial (David Fullmer, Benjamin Knight and Gary Smith) dropped a couple positions to 86th and MojoMotoSport (Joshua Chassaing, Anthony Ferrante and Shane Siebenthall) is now 120th with Ferrante the sole survivor. The highlight of his day had to be finishing third-fastest C1 in the second test. He hopes to find 17 seconds in tomorrow’s final motos in order to move from 25th to 24th overall Club rider.
Click here for complete 2022 France ISDE results.
DAY 4
Great Britain made it three day wins in a row in the FIM World Trophy (WT) category to extend its overall lead after four days of the 96th FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Le Puy en Velay, France. Spain enjoyed a solid day to overtake Italy for second while a tough day for the U.S. squad saw it drop time to France but remain fifth.
Despite being a rookie at Six Days, Craig Delong is adapting well as he was the fastest of all Club team riders in one test. That and the rides by his XC Gear teammates Kai Aiello and Tyler Vore got them the day win, gobbling up 13 seconds of the gap to the leading Club team, Czech Republic’s KBS Team—CZ. They’re now 27.52 seconds behind with two days left. Photos: Mark Kariya
Speaking of tough days, the heretofore dominant U.S. Women’s World Trophy (WWT) team saw the wheels fall off early when overall Women’s leader Brandy Richards crashed in the first test. Last year’s division individual winner gutted out two more tests but finally acquiesced to suggestions she go to the hospital. There, preliminary information indicates a slight concussion and lacerated spleen. She will remain overnight at least before the next course of action is implemented.
With all scores counting this year, of course, that means the American women’s hopes of a three-peat are dashed. Combined with the U.S. Junior World Trophy (JWT) losing Cody Barnes on the first day and the struggles of the U.S. WT team, day four was unkind to Uncle Sam’s kids.
“After the first test I was pretty worried about her—she had a pretty gnarly crash,” Richards’ teammate Korie Steede shared somberly. “I caught her in the test and I realized she’d probably just [crashed big].
“After test three—that enduro test—she came off and she looked pretty banged up.
“My head [afterwards] wasn’t really here [in the race]. I was just kind of worrying about her because I could tell she wasn’t feeling too hot. I tried to keep my head on, but I was worried about my teammate all day. It’s a bummer that we lost her and are out of the fight now, but the biggest concern is making sure she’s okay.”
Spain’s Josep Garcia retook the top spot for day four, Italian rival Andrea Verona once again second overall individual—but first E1 by almost a minute with Garcia obviously the E2 leader. In the team standings, though, Great Britain put time on both after winning the FIM World Trophy category for the third day in a row.
As a result, Great Britain supplanted the U.S. at the top of the WWT standings, led by FIM EnduroGP regular Jane Daniels. Steede was third-fastest woman of the day behind Daniels and Mireia Badia (the only Spaniard still going) while Rachel Gutish was sixth-fastest. As a team, the U.S. plummeted to sixth out of eight with Great Britain, France and Australia at the top.
In the WT competition, Team GB’s Jed Etchells, Steve Holcombe, Jamie McCanney and Nathan Watson combined efforts to defeat day runner-up Spain by one minute, 9.49 seconds. Josep Garcia of Spain returned to top form and took his third day win of the race by winning all five tests over Italy’s Andrea Verona, his margin of victory 24.49 seconds followed by Watson, Holcombe and France’s Hugo Blanjoue.
The American men were once again off the pace. Kailub Russell rebounded from a physically painful day three and after having his knee drained by the team doctor last night, Russell put in better rides today though he was still inconsistent and ended up 16th overall individual for the day. Teammates Josh Toth and Layne Michael were 20th and 21st, respectively.
As for previous U.S. leader Dante Oliveira, a sporadic mechanical issue that remains unresolved cost him four minutes, dropping him to 102nd.
Team-wise, the U.S. was sixth for the day. Theoretically take away the four minutes Oliveira lost and the team would still finish fifth for the day but farther behind France.
The one bright spot for the squad was Michael’s eighth-fastest time in test two. He said, “I think [Oliveira’s situation] kind of sucked the mood out of all of us a little bit. It’s not his fault; it’s just a freak thing. Luckily, he was able to get it running again and it’s still running so that’s cool.
“For myself, personally, I rode really well today. It’s just that I had two crashes, [one] in the first test and [one] in the third test. The third test is the one that really killed me—I kind of got stuck in a fence and lost a lot of time. That was pretty frustrating, but as for my riding, I rode really well today. It just sucks that it doesn’t show [in the results].
“[Despite the team’s misfortunes], I still plan to go out and ride the best I can. I want to consistently be trying to put test times in the top 10.”
U.S. Junior World Trophy (JWT) team riders Mateo Oliveira and Austin Walton also had comparatively solid days with Walton getting better as the day went on to score a seventh and fifth in the final two tests. That put him 18th overall individual for the day and fourth Junior. For the week so far, he remains 25th and sits 11th in E2.
Mateo Oliveira bounced back from a couple disappointing days with some promising tests, saying, “I kind of turned it around with a couple tests today but still not where I want to be. Day three was definitely a struggle for me—I was NOT feeling it at all; it was a long day. But from what I’ve heard, day three is normally the hardest, the most beat-down and it definitely was.
After some painful knee draining last night, Kailub Russell led the charge for the U.S. World Trophy team, though he and the rest of the team is still frustratingly off the pace. While they lost time, they remain fifth after four days behind Great Britain, Spain, Italy and France.
“I felt pretty refreshed today and kind of brought the fun back to it and just went out and rode my dirt bike.”
He did move up in the overall individual standings to 25th for the day and 32nd for the week so far and remains 11th in E1.
In the Club team competition, XC Gear of the U.S. gained a good chunk of time on KBS Team—CZ of Czech Republic and sliced some 13 seconds off the gap after winning the day. Craig Delong once again turned in the best results of all American Club riders at fourth fastest individual behind former world champ Antoine Meo of France, Italy’s Kevin Cristino and Czech Krystof Kouble. In fact, Delong posted top-five times in every test, even winning test three. He’s third overall for the week so far behind Kouble and Cristino.
Delong’s teammate Tyler Vore also enjoyed a good day, taking the C3 win to earn eighth overall. He set top-10 times in all but the third test and after four days is second C3 behind the legendary Christophe Nambotin of France by 35.86 seconds.
Third XC Gear rider Kai Aiello ended the day 22nd overall individual, 10th in C1 though he’s ninth in class after four days.
GBTN (Jaden Dahners, Anson Maloney and Travis Reynaud) leapt up the standings to sixth, thanks to some excellent early tests from Dahners who was fourth through the first three tests before slipping to ninth then 15th. He’s fifth C1 after four days in his first ISDE.
Missouri Mudders (Chase Bright, Huck Jenkins and Nathan Rector) remain 14th; Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jeff O’Leary and Shawn O’Leary) jumps up to 25th; Wes Habermehl/Bruce Wakeley Memorial (Jonathan McDougal, Jonathan Seehorn and Brian Storrie) move up another two spots to 27th; Eric Cleveland Memorial (David Fullmer, Benjamin Knight and Gary Smith) plunge to 84th after Smith DNFed and MojoMotoSport (Joshua Chassaing, Anthony Ferrante and Shane Siebenthall) is now 119th with just Ferrante going. He’s going fairly well, though, ending the day 14th C1, 13th after four days.
Click here for complete 2022 France ISDE results.
DAY 3
Great Britain proved yesterday’s win in the FIM World Trophy (WT) division was no fluke as its quartet of riders once again pooled excellent test times throughout day three to repeat that victory and extend its lead at the 96th FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Le Puy en Velay, France.
Josh Toth discusses gearing with mechanic Charles Marchant (left) and U.S. Trophy Team Manager Antti Kallonen. Like the rest of the U.S. World Trophy team, Toth had a somewhat up and down day on day three’s new trails and tests. The U.S. slipped to fifth but is just 0.03 seconds behind France. Photos: Mark Kariya
The team of Jed Etchells, Steve Holcombe, Jamie McCanney and Nathan Watson bested second-place Italy by 58.38 seconds with Spain 1:30.63 behind the day’s victors. That’s also the way they sit in the standings after three days with Great Britain 2:23.16 in front of Italy and 3:00.27 ahead of Spain.
Once again, Watson was the fastest Brit, though he slipped one spot to third overall individual behind Italian Andrea Verona (the E1 leader since the outset) and Josep Garcia of Spain who’d topped the first two days. Watson’s teammates backed him up ably with Holcombe fourth on the day, McCanney 11th and Etchells 15th. By contrast, Italians filled spots 1, 10, 16 and 28 while Spain’s four were 2-8-23-30.
Proving that he’s human, Garcia clipped a tree in one of the day’s five special tests and the resulting gash required staples. In addition, he also slid out in the final turn of a test so it wasn’t his best day.
Meanwhile, the U.S. WT team put in consistent times with all four within 32 seconds of each other by the end of the day, a day that saw riders tackle new trails and tests that were almost universally praised as being fun to ride, especially after the brief shower yesterday afternoon.
Dante Oliveira, once again, sped to the day’s best time by an American, but in contrast to yesterday when he won the opening test, his day began on the wrong foot.
E1 leader Andrea Verona of Italy showed the speed that let him claim the class championship one round early in the FIM Enduro GPs as he flew to the overall individual win today, handing Spain’s Josep Garcia his first loss of the week. However, Great Britain extended its FIM World Trophy team lead with Italy and Spain in second and third but losing ground to the Brits.
“I threw out the anchor on the first test,” he admitted. “Yesterday I was able to finish fifth overall, then today I think it’s 12th or 13th (he was 13th for the day) so I’m definitely struggling when we get to the fresh grass tracks. It’d be nice if I could start figuring that out.
“It was nice to get the good test [win] yesterday in, but it was a nasty, rough track just like I ride at home. It’d be cool to do better on something that’s more enduro or grass track. I had a couple solid top fives today, but test one and test three really hurt me. Other than those two today, it was a good day.”
Teammates Kailub Russell, Layne Michael and Josh Toth turned in times good for 17th, 21st and 22nd, respectively, so the team slipped to fifth on the day and fifth for the week so far. But they’re not far off. Though France snuck by for fourth after day three, it’s by a scant three-hundredths of a second, 7:05:55.20 to 7:05:55.23.
For the remaining two U.S. Junior World Trophy (JWT) team riders, the new day didn’t really offer much in the way of improvement. Austin Walton echoed Dante Oliveira’s summation of how he generally does better the nastier the track is, saying, “Coming into tests that were fresh again, that’s typically not what I’m the greatest at. I’ve been watching these [top Europeans] and really learning as much as I can to try and be better with it.
“I made a couple mistakes throughout the day, but all in all, I felt good.
“Yesterday was a really good day. We’ve just got to keep the ball rolling. We’re going to do the [same five] tests again tomorrow so I like rough tests so I’m looking forward to that.”
After three days, Walton is 28th overall individual and 13th E2. Teammate Mateo Oliveira expressed disappointment with his day and sits 33rd overall, 11th in E1.
Once again, the U.S. Women’s World Trophy (WWT) team provided the biggest headlines for the American effort as the trio extended their lead over Great Britain to 11:03.15 with France third, 20:15.18 behind.
Brandy Richards once again sped to the quickest times in all five tests and remains 94th overall individual after three days. She’s also 35th fastest in E2.
Jane Daniels of Great Britain was over a minute and a half behind with Korie Steede the third-fastest woman of the day. Rachel Gutish was satisfied being third-best on the American squad that continued to put time on the field, the gap to Great Britain now 11:03.15 with France 20:15.18 behind.
“The nice thing about an event like this, it’s almost how I approach a National enduro, in a way,” Gutish shared. “Every test is its own race so even though I completely [blew it] in that one, I have a brand-new test to start [next] and I’m going to go as hard as I can.”
It was just another day at the off-road office for Brandy Richards as she once again annihilated all others in the Women’s World Trophy division. Backed up ably by rookie Korie Steede (third-fastest after Richards and Jane Daniels of Great Britain) and Rachel Gutish, the Americans extended their lead over the British to over 11 minutes with France third and more than 20 minutes behind.
She continued, “The big thing about Six Days is you’ve got to keep smiling. By day five we’re going to be held together with smiles and Ibuprofen so you’ve just got to keep it fun.”
In the heavily contested Club team race, KBS Team—CZ of Czech Republic took the day win again and continue to lead 129 other three-man Club teams.
However, America’s XC Gear team of Kai Aiello, Craig Delong and Tyler Vore made up a little time to move into second with Team Italy dropping to third. XC Gear is 40.05 seconds behind the Czechs with rookie Delong the fastest of the American Club riders at fourth overall for the day, Vore eighth and Aiello (another rookie) 25th.
“I don’t feel that bad [physically after three days on the bike],” Delong noted. “Honestly, I think day one was the toughest for me because it was a long day and I was [starting] in the back. It felt like I was always racing [all day] because I was hitting bottlenecks, then when I get [through] the bottleneck I was racing to the next spot. Yesterday and today, I felt were a little bit easier. I could take my time and actually use the transfer [sections] as a transfer instead of another test. I’m ready for days four and five. I need a little redemption—I had a good day going and I crashed in the fourth test and lost all the time that I gained in the previous tests.”
GBTN (Jaden Dahners, Anson Maloney and Travis Reynaud) remain eighth; Missouri Mudders (Chase Bright, Huck Jenkins and Nathan Rector) dropped two places to 14th, Wes Habermehl/Bruce Wakeley Memorial (Jonathan McDougal, Jonathan Seehorn and Brian Storrie) move up a spot to 29th, trading places with Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jeff O’Leary and Shawn O’Leary); Eric Cleveland Memorial (David Fullmer, Benjamin Knight and Gary Smith) drops to 63rd and MojoMotoSport (Joshua Chassaing, Anthony Ferrante and Shane Siebenthall) plummets to 110th, having lost Siebenthall to a broken collarbone today after losing Chassaing to illness yesterday.
Click here for complete 2022 France ISDE results.
DAY 2
Despite having been unable to participate since 2019, Great Britain demonstrated mastery of the game on day two of the 96th FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Le Puy en Velay, France.
Though he was 21.31 seconds slower than Spain’s Josep Garcia, Nathan Watson of Great Britain was still second-fastest individual overall on day two. More important, his teammates also picked up the pace, which resulted in the Brits not only taking the day win but leaping to the top of the FIM World Trophy standings with Italy second and Spain dropping from first to third. Photos: Mark Kariya
Since they didn’t make it to Italy last year, the four British World Trophy (WT) team riders (Jed Etchells, Steve Holcombe, Jamie McCanney and Nathan Watson) had to start near the back of the 22 countries entered in the premier division. Thus, they spent the day making passes where they could in the five special tests.
Their performances netted them third overall for the day behind Spain and Italy and ensured much better starting positions today.
While Josep Garcia of Spain was the clear individual winner of the day once again, the rest of the Spanish WT team wasn’t able to back him up, with his teammates occupying spots down to 35th overall individually.
On the other hand, the Brits finished second (Watson), fourth (Holcombe), eighth (McCanney) and 12th (Etchells). That consistency netted them the day win, simultaneously being enough to also take them to the top of the young week’s standings as well with Italy remaining second by one minute and 24.78 seconds. Spain drops to third 1:29.64 with the U.S. WT team holding onto fourth, now 3:04.06 behind the new leaders.
The bright spot for the Americans was Dante Oliveira winning the first test of the day. He spoke to KTM’s social media manager, saying, “Better day today for me—I finished fifth overall [individual] and I got a test win on the first one. I kind of dropped back on [tests] two and three, and then picked it back up for four and five.”
Unfortunately, teammates Kailub Russell, Josh Toth and Layne Michael didn’t enjoy as good a day, finishing 18th, 25th and 28th, respectively.
Toth said, “No big crashes or mistakes; we’re all safe and healthy, but it’s just we’re off pace and riding too conservative, I think, as a team and me especially.” (It didn’t help that a rider who’d gone off course in one dusty test jumped back on right in front of Toth, who spent the rest of that test trapped in the other rider’s considerable dust.)
While the U.S. Junior World Trophy team has no chance at a podium, having lost Cody Barnes to a mechanical issue yesterday, its remaining two riders are doing well. Austin Walton (pictured) enjoyed a better day, finishing seventh in E2 and third Junior overall at 17th. Teammate Mateo Oliveira was 10th in E1.
U.S. Trophy Team Manager Antti Kallonen said, “This new rule is really good. I like where all scores count; it really makes it professional. It’s a professional world championship and we shouldn’t have any throwaways. It makes the racing really even.
“At the moment, Spain has Josep [Garcia] doing really well, and then they have slower riders, so it evens out the score. We actually have three pretty even teams [in front] so hopefully, that consistency means that at the end we can fight for the championship.
“Today was tough. I’m not going to lie about that. Our guys were a little bit off, and now we’ve got to re-evaluate what we did and what we need to do now heading into day three.”
Taking the British turnaround to heart, he added, “Tomorrow is a new track. We were good on day one—we were only few seconds off here and there. Now our guys are warmed up to the format. I think with the fresh track tomorrow and now it’s starting to rain, that might play a factor as well. I have high hopes for tomorrow and hopefully we can regroup.”
For the U.S. Junior World Trophy (JWT) team, as the first to lose a man—Cody Barnes—on day one, there will be little chance of escaping the cellar, but they were joined by Sweden and France, both of those teams losing a man today.
However, both Mateo Oliveira and Austin Walton demonstrated very competitive speed. Walton especially found another gear and ended up third Junior for the day and 17th overall individual, seventh (and first Junior) in E2. Mateo Oliveira was 29th on the day and 10th in E1.
In Women’s World Trophy, Brandy Richards once again was the story. Each of her test scores put her in the top 100 overall, and she ended the day ranked 87th overall individual for the day and 94th after two days—against the fastest men in the world!
Great Britain’s Jane Daniels also demonstrated more speed to be the second-fastest woman of the day, some four and a half minutes in arrears and 112th overall.
Tyler Vore is one of the three XC Gear riders who claimed second among all Club teams today. He was second in C3 today while teammates Kai Aiello was 10th in C1 and Craig Delong was second in C2.
American Korie Steede didn’t have quite as good a day as yesterday but still ended the day fourth with Rachel Gutish seventh to move the team further away from Great Britain with France third.
In the Club team results, KBS Team—CZ of Czech Republic won the day and, with it, took the lead for the three-man Club team standings after two days.
The XC Gear team of the U.S. with Kai Aiello, Craig Delong and Tyler Vore were 42.13 seconds behind to earn second for the day, though they remain third behind KBS and Team Italy.
Other American teams include GBTN (Jaden Dahners, Anson Maloney and Travis Reynaud) who are eighth, Missouri Mudders (Chase Bright, Huck Jenkins and Nathan Rector) in 12th, Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jeff O’Leary and Shawn O’Leary) in 29th, Wes Habermehl/Bruce Wakeley Memorial (Jonathan McDougal, Jonathan Seehorn and Brian Storrie) in 30th, Eric Cleveland Memorial (David Fullmer, Benjamin Knight and Gary Smith) in 59th and MojoMotoSport (Joshua Chassaing, Anthony Ferrante and Shane Siebenthall) in 96th after illness forced Chassaing to the sidelines.
Click here for complete 2022 France ISDE results.
DAY 1
Day one is in the books and last year’s overall individual winner Josep Garcia of Spain is leading the way at the ISDE in France. Continuing the form he displayed brilliantly last year—as well as in this year’s EnduroGPs—Garcia won all five special tests on a beautiful day in the French countryside, tallying an aggregate time of 32 minutes, 50.77 seconds to also top the E2 category. Combined with the scores/times of his three teammates (Jaume Betray, Bernat Cortes and Marc Sans), the Spanish World Trophy team’s score/time is a world-leading 2:14:43.88, which puts them 22.26 seconds ahead of Italy, last year’s FIM World Trophy (WT) team winners.
Spain’s Josep Garcia, last year’s overall individual winner, has two goals: repeat individual honor and help Spain wrest the FIM World Trophy from Italy. After day one, he’s well on the way to seeing both goals reached. Photos: Mark Kariya
Italian Andrea Verona was the second-fastest individual and the best of the E1 class with his 33:14.12 followed by Sweden’s Mikael Persson, the E3 leader after the day’s racing with 33:22.54.
The U.S. quartet finished the day fourth fastest, 26.10 seconds behind Spain, while Team United Kingdom finds itself a whisker behind Italy—just 0.03 seconds behind.
“I think the Spaniards are whipping our butts, but overall for me, it was a pretty good day,” Oliveira said. “There are some pretty cool tests. I’m looking forward to finding a little more speed for tomorrow, but all in all, it’s one of my better starts to Six Days than in the past, so I can’t complain about that, but I want to win so we’ve got some work to do to win.” Individually, he sits ninth overall after the first day.
Russell is 10th overall individual, and he added, “I feel like I’ve got a little bit more [speed in me], but I’m just trying to keep it on two wheels and mitigate my risks out there. If I could find three, four seconds a test, I’d be super-stoked. Reaching Josep’s level is out of the realm [of possibility right now]. The guy’s on top of his game; he’s on another planet right now.”
The U.S. Junior World Trophy (JWT) team is already out of the hunt. Sophomore Barnes completed only one test before his bike suffered a suspected electrical failure that drained his battery dead. With no scores allowed to be dropped, the team is destined to finish last, though Oliveira and Walton will pursue individual glory.
The U.S. World Trophy team promoted Dante Oliveira from the Junior ranks and he rewarded them with the best result by an American on the first day with the team a close fourth behind Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Italy leads the JWT standings just a minute and 32.97 seconds ahead of Finland, with the United Kingdom third here as well, 2:05.01 behind Italy.
America’s Women’s World Trophy (WWT) team provided the best result by leading over the UK and France. As she did last year, Brandy Richards led the way all day, her final score/time a stunning 37:09.13. Newcomer Korie Steede shook her early jitters to post the second-fastest time of the day for women with her 38:23.15, Jane Daniels of the U.K. third-fastest woman at 38:27.69. Canada’s Shelby Turner was fourth for the day followed by American Rachel Gutish.
“I was keeping myself feeling pretty cool and collected, feeling good [after walking the tests last week],” Steede noted. “Then we took off this morning and kind of everything hit me at once and I was like, ‘Oh, this is real!’ At Six Days for the first time, this is my first day and I was just kind of freaking out. Then I tried to calm myself back down and ride behind Brandy. She helped me a lot just staying calm. Finally, towards the end of the day, I started to feel much better and find a little bit of a flow.”
Club team standings weren’t available at press time, pending ratification by the FIM jury.
The fastest American Club rider turned out to be Craig Delong of the XC Gear team, his 35:36.85 the fourth best of the day and second in C2. Teammate Kai Aielllo wasn’t far behind with his 36:24.75.
Click here for 2022 ISDE results.
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PRERACE
It’s often tough to beat the home team at the FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE), especially when a powerhouse like France hosts what is the oldest off-road world championships on the FIM calendar.
Andrea Verona, last year’s E1 winner and overall individual runner-up, and teammate Thomas Oldrati hold the FIM World Trophy that they helped Italy win (along with Matteo Cavallo and Davide Guarneri, who aren’t pictured). The U.S. team will be gunning for this one and stand a good chance with Layne Michael, Dante Oliveira, Kailub Russell and Josh Toth. Photos: Mark Kariya
We saw that last year in Italy with the home country’s best walking away with both the FIM World Trophy (WT) and Junior World Trophy (JWT) categories.
But the U.S. team has proven it can beat the odds and take top honors in any category, and its hopes are high when the 96th edition of these off-road games begins at 7:30 A.M. from the main paddock located on the grounds of the Aerodrome Le Puy Loudes.
The Americans are among the highest profile riders of the approximately 650 entered who come from 34 countries. Not all of those countries field teams in the elite WT/JWT/WWT (Women’s World Trophy) divisions; the bulk of entries comprise the 150 three-man Club teams, though there are several individuals representing their countries not linked to any team.
It might be said Brandy Richards (holding hardware) nearly won the Women’s World Trophy by herself last year, but of course one of her teammates was Rachel Gutish (behind, right) who also put in a solid result. Along with newcomer Korrie Steede (not shown), they have an excellent chance of defending that title.
Last year, the U.S. WT team finished third. This year’s squad of Layne Michael, Dante Oliveira, Kailub Russell and Josh Toth aim to do one or two better as they battle 21 other teams entered.
America’s JWT team also earned third last year, and this year’s trio of Cody Barnes, Mateo Oliveira and Austin Walton plan to best that as they face teams from 15 other countries.
Of course, the brightest spot last year for the U.S. proved to be its WWT team led by Brandy Richards, who achieved a historic first by winning every single test every single day. She’s back this year to see if she can come close to if not repeat that performance and will be joined by fellow returnee Rachel Gutish and first-timer Korrie Steede as they aim to beat eight other teams.
The opening ceremonies give each team a chance to be loud and proud for their country, and the U.S. team displayed that in abundance.
Of the 130 three-man Club teams entered, seven are from the U.S. In numerical order, they are Team GBTN (Jaden Dahners, Anson Maloney, Travis Reynaud), XC Gear (Kai Aiello, Craig Delong, Tyler Vore), Missouri Mudders (Chase Bright, Huck Jenkins, Nathan Rector), Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jeff O’Leary, Shawn O’Leary), MojoMotoSport (Josh Chassaing, Anthony Ferrante, Shane Siebenthall), Eric Cleveland Memorial (David Fullmer, Benjamin Knight, Gary Smith) and Wes Habermehl/Bruce Wakeley Memorial (Jonathan McDougal, Jonathan Seehorn, Brian Storrie).
Mark Kariya
