ISDE DAY 4: Life is a beach in Brazil, oh wait, we're just riding on it...

By Bryan Nylander and Jason WebbThe distance is starting to add up - by the end of the day, the riders were looking better than their bikes. And everyone is focusing on making it to the end now. Today was similar to the first day's route. Which translates into sand dunes of epic proportions interlaced with forays into the interior on whooped out sandy trail and some treacherous water crossings. Thankfully, Barry Hawk was on hand to point out the best line and method to make it across safely for the American riders. The competition stuck in the water up to the seat was all the more motivation to heed Hawk's advice.Again the top American, Kurt Caselli is still blazing through the special tests and continues to mix it up with the international enduro talent. His and David Pearson's times are helping the US Junior Trophy Team maintain and even move up in the ranking; yesterday they finished out in seventh - the same as the Trophy Team. Caselli's best test of the day was Enduro Test 5, where he finished fourth. The Trophy Team, however, continues with mixed results - the highpoint was Ty Davis's eighth place test finish. In the 400cc thumper arena, Mike Lafferty is maintaining consistently around 10th. It all boils down to the competition races this format all year, for them this is just a slightly longer enduro race. For the American pro racers, conditioned to haul butt for two to three hours, the cruise then ride flat out for a few minutes style is so alien that they're really handicapped in a way. However, there have been a few bright spots in this year's Six-Days. So for our Trophy guys, who don't have any hopes of a top three finish, are mostly aiming to end with a respectful finish and currently in the middle of tight pack of teams that are all within a few minutes overall of each other. So for all the optimists out there - hope for an even better finish than last year.Meanwhile, Stefan Everts continues to just fly around the tests. A sand rider he is, without a doubt as he won every test. Hot on his tail all day was Juha Salminen of the current leading Team Finland. In the 250 2-stroke class Frenchman Arnauld Demeester out rode Stefan Merriman today, winning four of the five tests basically pummeling Stefan Merriman's class control and overall lead.As for Team Dirt Rider, the morning wasn't bad at first. After the 7am start of racing on Days 2 and 3, it's back to the luxurious 8am beginning. So another hour of sorely needed sleep was in order for us and we lapped it up like a bunch of thirsty dogs. We only had to knock out a bolt, spoke and air pressure check in our work period. Things went ugly when Bryan couldn't get a pressure reading on the rear tire (which we had just put last night). Fearing the worst - a pinched tube - and without enough time to change the tube during our work period, we altered our game plan. Now Bryan would meet Jason at Time check 1 with a tube and ready to go for a quick tire change. For additional insurance, we put 30psi in the rear - hoping it would be enough to last. Lady Luck was on our side today. Jason pulled into the check with 33psi in the now warmed up tire and both of us greeted this measurement with a huge sigh of relief. The rest of the day was actually very smooth from both rider and chase driver sides. All the pits were easy to find and no mechanical problems arose. Jason again had on par day, zeroing all the checks and keeping the crashes to a minimum.One more big day and a half day.