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ISDE Granada Spain We are going to have a CD for sale at $15 a piece, about 1 hour long ,covering the ISDE. Send an email to kattoom@msn.com with your name, address and phone number. The cd-rom will be ready in two weeks.
The 76th ISDE came to a close today. The final moto track was super fast with a few flat landing jumps. It was also poorly prepared and that is where the controversy started. The first five motos were run and they were dusty, but as the day wore on the silt was getting deep and it was starting to get dangerous. During the 250 moto the gate didn't work the first time so after one lap it was red flaged and restarted. On the second start Paul Edmondson got the holeshot only to be overtaken by a Spianard on a Husky. Destry Abbott and Russ Pearson both got really good starts and were in sixth and seventh battling for Top American. Russ went into the day with a three second lead but Destry had the lead in the race. Russ got right behind Destry and then went over the bars super hard on a jump. I was standing far away and saw him nosedive and ride the front wheel. He was then hidden by the crowd and I wondered if he saved it when I saw his bike cartwheeling over the crowd. He somehow managed to get back up with a severely bent sub frame and charged to the finish. When the 400 4-stokes were to get ready t0 race the problems started. Some of the riders didn't want to ride without the course being watered. Most that didn't want to ride were winning the Team Trophy or doing well individually. Politics came out from all sorts of different camps. We later heard that many of the final motos in World Championship competition have poor track conditions and the riders wanted to see some changes. Anyways the 400 4-stroke riders wouldn't race so the called my moto the 500+ 4-strokes. I didn't really know what was going on or want to get involved in the political game so I went out for my moto. The only riders to line up for the parade lap were three Spanish riders, Guy Perrett and I. When we lined up for the moto other riders blocked the gate in protest and the Spanish and Italian teams just about came to blows. After much delay the had us go back to impound and had the 400 4-stroke riders lined up to race. After one lap the red flag came out to stop the moto. Everyone came in except for one crazy American. That was Brian, who decided to go out for out additional lap before being waved in. After everyone got their bikes G-Man went out to the track and rode his own moto. A rider from Chile tried to run with him and ended up crashing so G-Man got kicked off of the track. So that is the way it ended. Everything was going great until today. Last year the final motos were cancelled also. It is a shame that politics have to have such a big part in the race. The final day is cancelled and results stand as of after Day five. Stephan Merriman was the overall winner on a 400 Husky 4-stroke. Check out videos of Juha Salminen, The 125cc Start, and "just a little dust". We also have more pictures for you enjoyment.
We are over the hump now. All that is left is a short trail ride to the final moto. Yesterday two special tests were thrown out. The reason the tests were thrown out was because a Spanish Trophy rider did bad in them and the tests would drop Spain out of third in the Trophy standings. Italy is still in first, with Sweden second, Spain, then Australia. The US is in tenth. Unfortunately one of the tests that was eliminated was the terrain test. All Americans tend to do better in the terrain tests and as day five we have only done two terrain test. Today we rode the same course as days one and two. The only tough part was a hill between checks one and two. All of the dirt is off of the rocks so it is super slick rock with ledges. Most people were stuck and were pushing with spectators pulling the bikes up the hill. The rest of the trail was really choppy and whooped out. The special test were perfect traction so everyone was hard on the gas. All of the Trophy riders had good days today. Fred Hoess is still going strong as are Russ Pearson and Randy Hawkins. Destry Abbott had his best day yet posting a few top ten scores in tests. Brian had another good day riding fast on the 400 KTM. I had a good day today. I wasn't looking forward to the uphill but made it up without any major problems. The first test didn't go to well because I wasn't in the groove yet or loosened up. The rest of the tests went really well and I was having fun on the big 520. On the trail I have been cruising along with Italian Trophy rider Fabio Farioli who has been good to ride with and keeps me honest. Brian and Patrick Garrahan in flight. Stephan Merriman can't describe it...just watch.
Day four at the Six Days is traditionally the toughest day. Once you are past the fourth day the finish is in sight. Almost every year it also rains during the fourth day making it even harder. It didn't rain this year during the day but it rained a little overnight making it a bit on the slick side. We rode the same course that we rode on day three and the hills got pretty ugly. Between the second and third checks there were a series of hills that were really hard and riders were stuck all over the place. Riders were dropping back and it looked like many people were going to drop route points until the worst hill was removed after the 125's and half of the 250's had scrambled their way up. Fred Hoess and Russ Pearson were the only Americans to go up the hill. Destry Abbott got to the hill and saw about forty guys stuck on the hill so he waved a few guys past hoping the hill was going to be rerouted. Lucky enough right then the riders were stopped so Destry turned around and took the pavement road to check three. Russ and Destry took some extra time at the check and worked on their bike knowing the check was going to be thrown out. Brain, Randy and I all stayed on time all day with good tests. Many of the club riders had great days becasue the special tests were a bit wet for the Trophy and Junior riders. Jason Dahners finished seventh in the 250 class for the day and Luca Trussardi was sixth in the 125 class. Brian Spearle had a good day finishing 14th in the 400 4-stroke class. For the club team trophy the top US team, the Garrett Hamilton Memorial team, consisting of Brian Spearle, Jason Dahners, and Brian Bennett and are in tenth place. Kurt Casselli was disqualified for getting parts outside of the work area while changing his radiator. Glenn Martinson, Mike Monroe, and John Beal were all DQ'ed for someone oiling their chain. Check out M.Ahola putting on a clinic, Destry Abbott hauling, and the hectic time on the uphill.
11/2/00
The course for day three was completely different than the first two days and it was really good. There was lots of single track, some tree sections, and lots of rocky trail. Even the guys from Jersey were saying it was rocky in places. We had four hills that were a bit of a challenge, but that just keeps things interesting. The special test were good again, more fast sweepers and wide open straits. Stephan Merriman, current world champion, is winning the event overall on a 400 4-stroke. Team Finland who was winning the Trophy Team event lost a second rider today so that will put them way back in the standings with Italy takes over the top spot. We just rode the enduro test without being timed today and it is sort of dangerous, with some cliffs that if you fall off it will take a while to get back up. The Trophy Team is still going strong, with everyone charging hard without any bike problems. The Junior Team has David Pearson still hauling ass, with all the other riders doing better today. We lost one rider today and that was Nathan Knight who locked up his tranny. Mike Monroe was DQ'ed yesterday because someone oiled his chain, but we are trying to get him back in. G-Man had a throttle cable break so he had to ride a few miles pulling his throttle cable by hand. He had some big hills to get up so he ended up losing nine minutes. Mark Adkins swingarm cracked at the end of the day so he has to replace it during the ten minute work period in the morning. Troy Smith had some problems today and almost houred out and to add insult to injury he got hit in the head with a tire iron and has a big cut between his eyes. Paul "King Cobra" Edmodson railed the second cross test and won it and we got a good clip of him in action. Some light rain is starting now so the little dust there is will be gone tomorrow. Day 3 Pictures
11/1/00
For day two we rode the same course as day one. There was a really tough section between checks one and two. Many people were late to check two after this section. The rest of the trail is really good. There are lots of fire roads and rocky trail. The Trophy Team is back in 11th. We are riding alright but there are many other good teams. We all had better days today and are picking up the pace. We were also timed in the enduro test today which we typically do better at. The Junior Team has had some major problems. The only rider on the team who is still on time is David Pearson. Kurt Caselli broke a radiator today and lost time replacing it. John Beal hit a car yesterday and has lost time along with Cody Mastin. One more rider from the US didn't make it today and that was Nolan Knight and he is out with a suspected broken collar bone. Times have not been posted until the morning time. Check out today's interview of Brian Garrahan and Destry Abbott. We also have more pictures and videos up today. Happy Birthday Cajun!
10/31/00
Today was the ultimate! It rained in the morning then the sun came out and we had perfect traction. Everyone is railing. Team U.S.A. is fairing well. They only lost two riders from the club teams, Curt Wilcox and Lonnie Ross. So far, it looks as if Russ Pearson is the top American for the day. Check out our video and photo pages for some race action. Check out results here. We got a chance today to talk with American riders Russ Pearson, Fred Hoess, and Steve Silvestri. Happy Halloween!! Pre Race Notes 10/30/00
We started the morning going to get the chase bike out of the hills of Granada. The canyon that had swallowed Patricks' KTM turned out to be half successful, we recovered the bike however, we lost the car. We had the ceremonial start this evening. The 1st day of the I.S.D.E. is tomorrow. We can't wait! 10/2900 We had more test to walk today. All of them look really good. There is one that we nick-named the desert test that looks like tons of fun. It has some dry grass and sage bushes and perfect dirt. We learned something about cars today, mainly not to put gasoline in a diesel engine. We had to drain the fuel tank with a hand pump, then run five Kilometers with four liters of diesel to get back on the road again. My chase rider Blake "Cajun" Plonsky went out pre riding days three and four, finding out that there are some pretty technical rocky transfer sections. One section in particular got the best of Cajun "I couldn't ride across the waterfall so I decided to try to walk it across, and ended up losing it about ten feet over the waterfall. I tried to find an alternate route around the waterfall but couldn't get back up to the bike because the rocks were tall and slippery. So I had to walk about two miles down the mountain to the first dirt road and slept for two hour before waking into a town" Needless to say, tomorrow first thing on the day is to go find and recover the lost bike. This evening we attended opening ceremonies. P.S. Taking applications for chase rider. 10/28/00 Today we had sign-ups then impound. The big story of the day was Randy Hawkins forgot he couldn't ride a 426 in the 400 class. Tech officials spotted it right off and he had to rebuild the bike, but eventually made it into impound. The 250 four strokes of Kurt Wilcox and Lonnie Ross had bit of a problem with sound as did Paul Krause, but also made it in. The rest of the day was spent walking tests and they rule! The tests are full of wide sweeping turns. The enduro test for day one, two, and five is a killer sand wash right up the side of a road. Every so often is a switch back but for the most part we will be using the main jet. The second cross test is laid out in a farm field and is about three miles of wide open sweeping turns. These tests are how six days test are supposed to be. After walking tests we checked out a bull fight. There were six fights on the schedule with only one left and they didn't want to let us in, but we bugged them long enough for them to figure out we weren't going away so they let us in for free. The fight was pretty good but the bull doesn't stand much of a chance. We also found out that cheering for the bull is not such a good idea with the local crowd. 10/27/00 Everything is going great. Usually there are problems with bad gas or seizing bikes, but this year everyone is getting set up without problems. We have sign-up tomorrow at 8:30 followed by tech inspection. After that everyone is planning on walking special tests. From what I have heard so far the special tests look good. They are supposed to be laid out well and be sort of fast. I heard the final moto track looks good and is a bit sandy. I did some riding today with my brother Brian, the Pearsons, Destry Abbott, and Kurt Casselli. The riding here is good. It is a lot like the high mountains of Southern California or Nevada with perfect traction. 10/26/00 We made it to Spain! The container was opened today and everyone got their bikes. The weather is good, it just rained a couple days ago and is in the 70s. We went to KTM and got our bikes today and as a bonus they had them put together in rolling form, so for first time we got our bikes together in one day. Tomorrow we are going to ride the bikes a little bit and then walk some tests. |
