Charlie Mullins, seen here starting a special test, crashed and reportedly separated his should.
Taylor Robert had another good day and is the top American finisher so far.
After turning in another stellar performance, Thad DuVall is second among the American finishers.
Andrew Delong jumps into the grass track section.
Mike Brown pins it in one of the grass tracks.
Saxony, Germany, (Sept 27, 2012) – The U.S. Trophy Team suffered a major setback today at the 87th running of the International Six Days Enduro in Saxony, Germany, when Charlie Mullins crashed in the fifth special test and separated his shoulder. The FMF/KTM rider, who was the top finishing American up to that point, managed to finish the test, although well down the order and in extreme pain. After regrouping, Mullins finished out the rest of the day, and even turned the fastest time in the final grass track test, however he dropped from 10th in the overall individual standings to 136th.
“I came up over this hill and there was a rock in the line and it popped my front wheel up and threw me off this ledge,” said Mullins. “When I hit I landed on my shoulder.”
This evening, Mullins was optimistic about Friday’s event since he will be starting father back in the starting order and thinks that might help his times since the lines will be burned in.
Leading the charge for the American’s is Kawasaki’s Taylor Robert, who after today sits 14th overall, moving him into the Top American slot. Despite Robert’s stellar performance, however, the U.S. Trophy Team dropped from fifth to seventh in the team standings due to Mullins’ poor time in the fifth test.
Also among the walking wounded is Kurt Caselli, who is still nursing a sore left shoulder. The KTM rider sits 35th overall in the standings, while Mike Brown is 41st, Russell Bobbitt 50th and Destry Abbott 53rd.
In the meantime, there was a shakeup at the top of the individual standings as Frenchman Christophe Nambotin surpassed teammate Antoine Meo at the top of the standings. France is still dominating the Trophy Team division and also leads the Junior Trophy standings.
Speaking of the Junior Trophy division, Thad DuVall had an excellent day, and in fact, sits 22nd in the overall standings on his Shenandoah Honda/Offroadchampions Honda, and second among all Junior Trophy riders, in spite of the toughness of the event.
“That Enduro test today was the gnarliest section I’ve ever been in,” said DuVall. “It makes Showshoe (GNCC) look easy.”
The U.S. Junior Team maintains its third place status behind France and Great Britain.
The U.S. Women’s team also took a hit today when Sarah Whitmore broke her wrist. Rachel Gutish and Mandi Mastin carried on with good finishes, but lost some ground in the Women’s team standings, dropping from fifth to sixth.
