For only the third time in the 89-year history of the FIM International Six Days Enduro, a U.S. Junior Team has been crowned Six Days World Champion in the Junior division. The U.S. riders beat the defending French Junior Team for the title.
Story and photos by Steve Berkner
For only the third time in the 89-year history of the FIM International Six Days Enduro, a U.S. Junior Team has been crowned Six Days World Champion in the Junior division. The U.S. riders beat the defending French Junior Team for the title.
"Our hats are off to our Junior Team," said U.S. Team Manager Antti Kallonen. "It’s the end of a tough Six Days, and after a slow start [on day 1], they moved up. By day 3, they held the lead the rest of the week and proved they are World Champions."
U.S. Junior Team rider Justin Jones said winning the world title was the "best moment" of his career. Jones was the fastest U.S. Junior Team rider and seventh in the E2 class and 12th overall.
"It was an honor to represent my country and make it to the top of the podium here at Six Days as well being top Junior American," he said. "I’m almost speechless, the feeling is amazing.”
The U.S. Junior Team finished 1 minute, 42 second ahead of France. Australia finished 5 minutes, 38 seconds behind France in third.
"It feels awesome to be on the top of the podium," said U.S. Junior Team rider Grant Baylor. "We had some problems on the first day, where we were fourth, but each day we moved up and eventually had a 1 minute, 45 second lead going into the final moto, so we could take it easy and not take any chances on the last moto.”
This is the third time the United States has won the Junior division, which is for riders 23-years old and younger. The country's first win was in 1991, and the second championship was in 2006. That year the team was lead by Kurt Caselli, 10-time U.S. Junior Team and World Trophy Team rider. Caselli tragically died in last year’s Baja 1000, less then a month after he helped the U.S. World Trophy Team place second overall during last year’s ISDE held in Italy.
"For the whole team, it really feels great to win this [Junior Trophy] for Kurt as the last time we won it he was on that team that won in New Zealand,” Baylor said.
Joining Jones and Baylor on the U.S. Junior Trophy Team are Baylor’s brother, Steward Baylor, and Trevor Bollinger.
The six-rider U.S. World Trophy Team repeated its second-place 2013 finish, overcoming three major setbacks. They lost Zach Osborne on day 1 when his ignition failed. That left the team with the minimum five riders and no throwaway scores for the rest of the week. Then, the team nearly lost Charlie Mullins to multiple crash-related injuries where he ended up in the hospital for observations at the end of day 2. Mullins persevered so the team could continue. Then on day 3, Taylor Robert’s bike had starting problems when it sucked dirt into the engine, and he lost nine minutes going into the last check.
"Even though our Trophy Team didn’t finish on top of the podium, we overcame three big setbacks and still managed to finish second," Kallonen said. "That should prove to the world that the United States is serious about Six Days.”
Riding on the U.S. World Trophy Team with Osborne, Mullins and Robert were Thad Duvall, Mike Brown and Kailub Russell.
Russell finished as top American in third overall.
"It’s a little disappointing to come up short [as a team], but we have a great place to build from and I’m really looking forward to next year when Six Days will be back in Europe and be on some good dirt instead of in the desert," said Russell, who primarily competes in the Grand National Cross Country series.
In all, the United States won five of day six's seven final motocross tests, with Russell winning the E2 moto, Brown winning the E3 moto, Joshua Knight winning the C1 moto, Gary Sutherlin winning the C2 moto and Cory Buttrick winning the C3 moto.
Other notable events of this year’s Six Days were that through day 2, the United States held the top four positions in the three-rider Club Team division. Then, day 3 brought extremely dusty and silty conditions that caused nearly 100 riders to DNF, including nine of the 31 U.S. riders entered.
"Unfortunately, the club division doesn’t allow one rider’s score from each team to be thrown out [like the World, Junior and Women’s] Trophy Team divisions do," Kallonen said. "But the rules don't, and unfortunately we lost at least one rider in each of our six U.S. club team teams due to technical issues from the dust, and just like that all of our club teams were out of contention."
Those extremely dusty conditions also caused U.S. Club Team rider and AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Jeff Fredette to DNF as well, bringing to an end to his perfect Six Days finishing record where he had 33 starts with zero DNF’s going into this year’s ISDE.
"Hats off to Jeff," Kallonen said. "I can’t imagine anybody ever being able to finish 33 Six Days without a DNF. Unfortunately he couldn’t finish this one, which was going to be his last. It’s quite an accomplishment especially in such a demanding sport like Six Days.
Fredette is not bitter about the experience, and is looking forward to helping out in future Six Days.
"Over the years, the U.S. Six Days’ effort has really evolved," Fredette said. "It’s hard to explain to the new guys, especially with the way things are done now with all of the rider support and year-long preparations that take place. It wasn’t always like this. Trust me. This will not be my last Six Days, as I plan on helping out as a support person anyway I can. I’ve already marked it down on my calendar next year."
The U.S. Women’s World Trophy Team made up of Amanda Mastin, Rachel Gutish and Sarah Baldwin finished the event in third. Gutish retired on day 3 due to mechanical issues, and Baldwin retired on day 2 due to injuries.
By the end of the week, 48 percent of the 347 riders who started the Argentinean Six Days, or 165 riders total, failed to make it to day 6.
Kailub Russell won the final motocross test in the E2 class and was the "Top American" in third overall.
Mike Brown carries the U.S. flag after winning his E3 class final moto. Brown finished third in the E3 class.
U.S. Wellard Club Team rider Gary Sutherlin was overall fastest club team rider for the Argentinean Six Days.
Alex Dorsey rides through a river crossing on the way to the final motocross test on day 6.
The U.S. World Champion Junior Trophy Team (left to right): Grant Baylor, Steward Baylor, Trevor Bollinger and Justin Jones.
The second place U.S. World Trophy Team (left to right): Zach Osborne, Kailub Russell, Taylor Robert, Thad Duvall, Mike Brown and Charlie Mullins.
The podium ceremony for the Women's World Trophy Teams. Australia (seated) was first, the Canadian Team (standing, left) and the U.S. team. The U.S. riders are (left to right): Amanda Mastin, Sarah Baldwin and Rachel Gutish.