Team USA at 2013 ISDE
Following almost an entire week of the most intense endurance racing, the 2013 International Six Days Enduro in Sardinia, Italy, wrapped up Saturday.
And though the Team USA couldn’t quite catch Team French this year, the Americans took second overall in the World Trophy, losing the top spot by around four minutes, and fourth overall in the Junior World Trophy.
This marked the second time Team USA took second since last completing the feat in 1982. As for the Junior Trophy, the US last won that in 2006,
This year’s time consisted of three KTM riders – Kurt Caselli, Mike Brown, and Charlie Mullins, and Thad Duvall (Honda), Zach Osborne (Honda) and Taylor Robert (Kawasaki). The team members started off on day one with great times and remained consistent throughout the week with top results.
KTM reports that at the end of day five, the team was sitting in 2nd position and just needed a few good motocross results in order to secure their podium position. Osborne went out and won the first E1 moto, Mullins secured 3rd overall in the E2 class and Brown finished the day off with a moto win in the E3 segment to clinch the 2nd place position for the team.
Kurt Caselli says: “It was a positive vibe all week long. All of us worked really hard leading up to this event and we were able to push ourselves through the end to get our countries best result in 31 years.”
Mullins had a great week and was the highest ranked Team USA KTM rider finishing 8th overall in the E2 class. He had quick test times and even managed to stay on his minute on day five after losing 8 spokes on his rear wheel shortly into the first couple tests. He added spokes at a check and zip-tied the rest and finished the day in one piece, KTM says.
Charlie Mullins says: “It was definitely a stressful day when I had the spoke issues. My team always had everything ready for me when I came in and we watched the clock to make sure I didn’t receive any penalties.”
The ISDE is a unique event in that the rider must complete all work to his motorcycle on his own. Everything from basic maintenance to emergency parts changes. Robert had to get to work right at the kickoff of the event as he was unable to fly with his suspension. Luckily it arrived before racing began and he was able to swap everything out. Crashes on Day 3 also left him with a damaged front brake which he again was able to repair on the fly and still salvage his day.
Taylor Robert says: “My KX450F was solid all week. On Day 3 I clipped a tree and snapped my brake line, so that set me back. But I was able to get it replaced and still finished the day decent. Aside from that, my KX was awesome and handled great on the different soils we had to race on.”
Antti Kallonen (USA Trophy Team Manager) says: “We have come a long way in the past two years since we restructured the program and our hard work is now paying off. We have some progress to still be made but we are slowly inching closer to the top step of the podium.”
2013 International Six Days Results:
E1 Class Day Six (Motocross)
1. Zach Osborne, USA, Honda
2. Thomas Oldrati, Italy Husaberg
3. Michaeo Staufer, Austria, KTM
4. Lorenzo Santolino, Spain Husqvarna
5. Thasseus Duval, US Honda
6. Jeremy Joly, France, Honda
7. Cristobal Guerrero, Spain, KTM
E1 Day Six: Final rankings after six days
1. Cristobal Guerrero, Spain, KTM
2. Jeremy Joly France, Honda
3. Lorenzo Santolino, Spain Husqvarna
4. Thomas Oldrati, Italy Husaberg
5. Redondi, Italy KTM
E2 Class Day 6 (Final Motocross)
1. Alex Salvini, Italy, HM Honda
2. Lioc Larreui, France, Husaberg
3. Charlie Mullins, USA KTM
4. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM
5. Kurt Caselli, KTM USA
6. Pela Renet, France, Husaberg
7 Johnny Aubert, France, KTM
E2 Class Final
1. Daniel Milner, Australia, Yamaha
2. Pela Renet, France, Husaberg
3. Johnny Aubert, France, KTM
4. Ivan Cervantes, Spain, KTM
5. Taylor Robert, USA, Kawasaki
8. Charlie Mullins, USA, KTM
9. Kurt Caselli, USA, KTM
E3 Class final Rankings after Day 6
1. Antoine Meo, France, KTM (also fastest overall rider)
2. Mathias Bellino, France, Husaberg
3. Mike Brown, USA, KTM
4. Chris Hollis, Australia, KTM
5. Manuel Monni, Italy, KTM
World Trophy:
1. France, 21:56.32.08 (Pela Renet, Jeremy Joly, Johnny Aubert, Antoine Meo, Rodrig Thain, Fabien Planet)
2. USA, 22:00.23.25 (Mike Brown, Kurt Caselli, Thaddeus Duvall, Charlie Mullins, Zach Osborne, Robert Taylor)
3. Italy, 22:10.05.98 (Albergoni, Oldrati, Salvini, Monni. Philippaerts, Balletti)
4. Australia, 22:15.03.63 (Joshua Green, Chris Hollis, Glenn Kearney, Matthew Phillips, Joshua Strang, Daniel Miller)
5. Spain, 22:18.15.14 (Lorenzo Santolino, Cristobal Guerrero, Ivan Cervantes, Victor Guerrero, Mario Roman, Oriol Mena
Junior World Trophy:
1. France, 13:20.44.89 (Swan Servajean, Kevin Rohmer, Loic Larrieu, Mathias Bellino
2. Italy, 13:25.45.81 (Rudy Moroni, Giacomo Redondi, Nicolo Mori, Gianluca Martini)
3. Britain 13:29.23.26 (Steve Holcombe, Jack Rowland, Jamie McCanney, Daniel McCanney)
4. USA, 13:37.09.08 (Grant Baylor, Kailub Russell, Andrew Delong, Jessie Groemm)
5. Australia, 13:39.56.43 (Ben Burrell, Lachlan Stanford, Scott Keegan, Thomas McCormick
