Day 1 of the 92nd FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Brive, France, is now in the books, and already the defending champions, Team USA, are out of the chase for another victory.
The team’s hopes for a repeat of last year’s dream run to claim its first-ever World Trophy took a hit when Thad Duvall crashed his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna in the opening special test of the day. Duvall suffered a serious wrist injury and was forced to drop out of the event. The misfortune left Team USA near the bottom of the World Trophy standings rather than near the top of them, the Americans placing 16th out of 19 teams with an aggregate time of 4 hours 56 minutes, 42.78 seconds. The team is currently 2 hours and 22 minutes off the lead pace set by multi-time ISDE World Trophy champions France. Finland ended a surprising day by running second with Australia third.
France enjoyed a dominant day, according to Nambotin.
“Today was a good day for me and team France,” he said. “It was a long, dusty day. The first day of the ISDE is always strange, with riders from all countries mixed together. Like all competitors, I caught some slower riders on some tests, but generally all was ok for me. It’s disappointing that the USA lost one of their riders, but it can happen to any team. We have to keep pushing, but make sure we don’t make any mistakes in the days to come. It’s going to be a tough event, that’s for certain.”
Individually, Taylor Robert finished with the fastest time of the American riders, coming in just 6 seconds off the fastest time of the day posted by France’s Christophe Nambotin. Robert completing the day’s special tests in 38 minutes, 23.30 seconds. Former ISDE Individual Champion Ryan Sipes finished with a time of 38 minutes, 52.84 seconds. Kailub Russell finished with a time of 39:26.64
In Junior World Trophy competition, Team USA got off to a much better start, ending the day in fourth place, behind Sweden, Italy and France. Grant Baylor posted the fastest time for the team, posting a 39:28.50. Josh Toth finished with a time of 39:37.99, and Layne Michael finished with a time of 39:44.32.
The Team USA Women’s World Trophy team finished third with a time of 1:28:38.06 after team member Rebecca Sheets failed to finish. The women’s team is currently a little more than 3 minutes behind leader Spain and about 2 minutes and 20 seconds behind second-placed Australia.
2017 International Six Days Enduro (ISDE)
Brive, France
ResultS: August 28, 2017 (Day 1 of 6)
World Trophy: 1. France (2:34:42.00; 2. Finland (2:36:32.05); 3. Australia (2:36:58.65); 4. Spain (2:37:25.13); 5. Portugal (2:39:30.60); 16. USA (4:56:42.78)
Junior World Trophy: 1. Sweden (1:57:57.43); 2. Italy (1:58:26.28); 3. France (1:58:29.91) 4. USA (1:58:50.61); 5. Chile (2:00:19.05).
Women’s World Trophy: 1. Spain (1:25:32.93); 2. Australia (1:26:14.94); 3. USA (1:28:38.06); 4. France (1:29:07.78); 5. Sweden (1:33:52.83).