The late Kurt Caselli2014 ISDE NewsThe 89th FIM International Six Day Enduro (ISDE) – set for November in San Juan, Argentina – will be an event with an emotional component for Team U.S.A.
This is due to the absence of Kurt Caselli, who led Team U.S.A. to a silver medal at the 2013 ISDE. Sadly, the natural-born leader lost his life in a crash in the 2013 Baja 1000 last November.More than 500 riders from 30 different countries compete in the ISDE, which is the capstone to the 2014 enduro season. The U.S. will be represented by a six-man team consisting of Michael Brown – Husqvarna, Thaddeus Duvall – Honda, Charlie Mullins – KTM, Zach Osborne – Husqvarna, Taylor Robert – KTM and Kailub Russell – KTM.Caselli’s leadership had been a key to making the U.S. contingent more and more competitive since 2006 when he led the U.S. team to victory in the Junior World Trophy category – and he had continued as team captain ever since.“Kurt’s love for the ISDE came from his dad Rich,” explains the US team manager Antti Kallonen. “Rich was determined to get the US on the World map and was instrumental in getting the team to New Zealand in 2006. Kurt’s passion for ISDE grew from there.“When Rich passed away in 2008, Kurt took over as the team leader. His determination to make the US successful in the ISDE was huge. He put so much into the team and helped so many riders. He always wanted the US to be competing as one of the event’s best teams.”The United States World Trophy Team has been preparing for the six-day event and optimism is running high that the team could earn a place atop the podium in 2014.“Last year we equaled our best ever result and finished second.” Kallonen says. “But we’re not stopping there. Our team is very motivated this year and there is not one rider that wouldn’t want anything more than to win for Kurt. We have done more preparation on all levels for this year’s race than we’ve done in the past. Our team knows it will be a very hard challenge but I feel we are ready.“We believe we can win the ISDE – that’s our goal. It would go down in the history books as the first ever win for the US, but more importantly it would be an incredible achievement in Kurt’s honor.”The 2014 ISDE takes place in San Juan, Argentina from November 3rd to 8th.For more information on the ISDE, visit the FIM.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
