All news
U.S. World Trophy Team finishes third at 2011 ISDE
August 14, 2011
Story and photos by Steve Berkner
| 
U.S. World Trophy Team rider Destry Abbott. 
U.S. World Trophy Team rider Kurt Caselli.
U.S. World Trophy Team rider Jimmy Jarrett.
The U.S. World Trophy Team at ending ceremonies. 
U.S. club rider Max Gertson during the final moto on Day Six. |
After riding nearly 1,000 miles of
trail over six days and competing against the best off-road
motorcycle riders in the world, the U.S. World Trophy Team earned its
place on the podium, finishing third at the 2011 International Six
Days Enduro in Kotka-Hamina, Finland.
Led by the E2 class-winning effort of
Kurt Caselli, the team overcame adverse weather conditions, extremely
challenging trail sections and special tests, mechanical gremlins,
and the toughest off-road competition in the world in one of the
toughest Six Days in recent history.
“We came here to make the podium, and
I’m real proud of my teammates as they never gave up,” Caselli
said. “A few of us who have done a few of these agree that this
definitely is one of the toughest Six Days we’ve ever ridden, and
to be on the podium feels great.”
Caselli’s teammates were Colton
Udall, Russell Bobbitt, Destry Abbott, Jimmy Jarrett and Nathan
Kanney.
“It’s also a plus that we all made
it to the final moto (on Day Six),” Caselli said. “There were a
few times this week that we weren’t too sure a couple of our riders
were going to even make it to the next day, but they all hung in
there.”
Caselli, who finished fourth in the
overall standings, didn't mind pointing out where he could have
improved despite an exceptional Six Days.
“I actually think I could have done
better, but I got a little too impatient and tried to make things
happen too fast a couple of times and crashed a lot and that cost
me,” he said. “For me, it’s always better when I ride at 80% to
90% instead of 110%, like we do back home. Even though I’ve been
riding this stuff for a couple years now, I still learn something
every time. I’m considering riding the World Enduro Series next
year, and that’s one thing I’m going to have to keep in mind if I
decide to come here.”
The U.S. Junior Team finished fourth,
missing the ISDE podium by one position. The Junior Team has had good
results over the last two years of ISDE competition, where they’ve
scored back-to-back third-place finishes in Portugal in 2009 and
Mexico in 2010.
This year’s Junior Team was made up
of riders who are eligible for the 23-and-under division. It included
Ian Blythe, Cody Schafer, Andrew DeLong and Cory Buttrick. Buttrick
retired at the end of Day Five with a mechanical failure.
A Day One injury to U.S. Women’s
World Cup rider Nicole Bradford, a mechanical failure by Mandi
Mastin, and Kerrie Swartz houring out kept the women's team out of
contention for a return trip to the podium, where landed with a
second last year in Mexico.
The top-finishing U.S. three-rider club
team was the GoFasters.com team, made up of Greg Gillian, Brent
Martell and Max Gertson. The team finished 16th. All five of the U.S.
club teams finished 22nd or better out of the 63 teams that started
the event.
Another notable accomplishment was U.S.
rider Jeff Fredette’s 31st ISDE finish, extending the
53-year-old's perfect record.
“This was definitely one of the
tougher Six Days I’ve ridden,” Fredette said. “It’s up there
in the top 5% to 10% of those that were extremely difficult. Everyone
who finished this one really accomplished something.”
U.S. Team Manager Bruce Wakeley said he
was impressed by the overall 28-rider U.S. effort, which had a 14% DNF
rate compared to the overall event DNF rate of 28%.
“It’s been a tough event for
everybody, and our finish rate shows the U.S. riders have a lot of
tenacity to just keep going when it gets tough,” Wakeley said. “We
try and tell all our riders that nobody gets a medal for finishing
any one day. You only get a medal for making it to the final moto on
Day Six, and this year that philosophy played out again as our riders
kept working at it each day.”
The U.S. medals were:
Kurt Caselli – Gold
Russell Bobbitt – Gold
Nathan Kanney – Gold
Jimmy Jarrett –
Gold
Destry Abbott – Gold
Fred Hoess – Gold
Andrew Delong – Silver
Colton Udall – Silver
Cody Schafer – Silver
Caleb Wohletz – Silver
Max Gertson - Silver
Chase Bishop – Silver
Ben Smith – Silver
Jeff Fredette –Silver
Brent Martell – Silver
Ian Blythe - Bronze
Jake Vainio – Bronze
Glenn Scherer – Bronze
Michael Sanders – Bronze\
Bryan Petty – Bronze
Bob Heinzerling – Bronze
Greg Gillian – Bronze
Dennis Decker – Finish with no medal
JD Friebel - Finish with no medal
Corry Buttrick – DNF
Mandi Mastin – DNF
Kerrie Swartz – DNF
Nicole Bradford - DNF
