2006 ISDE New Zealand Day 3 Race Report

Despite a self-described "horrible day" by team leader Kurt Caselli, the American FIM Junior World Trophy team almost doubled its lead on Day Three at the 81st International Six Days Enduro in Taupo, New Zealand. France remained the runner-up while Australia's team of four under 24-year-old riders moved into third place for the first time in the week.

Conditions turned wetter and rougher as rain throughout the early part of the day made it tougher to maintain the pace, and mechanical problems or crashes and injuries robbed several teams of riders. Host nation New Zealand, in fact, lost valuable World Trophy team rider Darryl King after infection set in to his injured elbow.

Not so for Team USA, though. Only Club rider Mike Monroe of the Desert M.C. retired, the pain from twisting an already injured knee making it too risky to continue.

In the World Trophy division, Finland maintained the lead it's held since Day Two, increasing it over France with Spain remaining third. The American sextet finished the day in 10th again, led by Jimmy Jarrett who placed 16th in E2.

Most attention, however, focused squarely on the American Junior team. Though Caselli decried his results, he didn't do too badly overall, finishing the day fourth in E2 after topping one test and getting the second-fastest times of the class in two others.

Almost as impressive was teammate Ricky Dietrich, who finished the day eighth in E1. "I feel great, really," he insisted. "A lot of people told me that today is really kind of the hardest day, that it's all kind of downhill from here."But really, I feel pretty good. There's no problems with the bike; the bike's 100-percent, for sure, and I feel pretty good as well."

Russell Bobbitt also felt good, the third American Junior World Trophy rider finishing 19th in E2. "I felt a lot better today than I did yesterday," he reported. "Everything was kind of going in more of a flow--just picking better lines, didn't make any huge mistakes so that was good.

"The first day I went over the bars big-time. I bruised my palm really bad and the top of my hand there was a big knot. But we iced it and I'm still taking Ibuprofen and stuff, but the swelling's gone down a lot; it seems to be a lot better."

Also feeling better was David Pearson, the fourth Junior finishing 20th in E3 after hitting trees three separate times, hurting a shoulder and suffering a possible broken little finger on his left hand on Day Two. Despite the wet conditions, the desert specialist enjoyed a much better time on Day Three, saying, "Day One was just consistent; I just got through it.

"Day Two, I tried to start going fast, and I ended up hitting trees and kind of hurt my scores.

"Today was just consistent again, mainly try to get back in the groove, not hitting trees, just not being scared of the trees. So I did good. I railed some tests today (in fact, he was fifth-fastest in class over the final two tests), and I never tipped over, never really swapped and thought like I was going to crash so I had a good day."

The day's results in the Club team standings were almost as good as in the Junior World Trophy category. Though Motoklub Jiretin Topservis remained firmly entrenched as the leader for the third straight day, four American teams found themselves in the top 10, a historic first after "only" three were in the top 10 the day before.

The Trail Riders of Houston (David Kamo, Cole Kirkpatrick and Luke McNeil) finished the day fourth again while Team Oregon (Mason Harrison, Jonathon Seehorn and Rory Sullivan) traded places with Gofasters.com (Patrick Garrahan, Daniel Janus and Brian Sperle) for sixth. And moving into 10th place was the Merced Dirt Riders (Jordan Brandt, Sam Buffa and Eric DuCray).