2014 ISDE: Team U.S.A Hopes for Gold to Honor Kurt Caselli

2014 ISDE News

The 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.