Mark Kariya | September 4, 2021
Bringing the 95th running of the International Six Days of Enduro (ISDE) to a thrilling climax, the sixth and final day of action saw Italy do what they have looked like doing ever since the start of the event as they finally lifted the World Trophy team trophy, much to the delight of their home fans. Making it a memorable double for Italy, the host nation also topped the Junior World Trophy category, while the USA put the finishing touches to their incredible week-long performance to win in the Women’s World Trophy category.
The Italian World Trophy Team celebrates the win in front of the home crowd.
Providing a fitting end to a memorable event, day six of the 2021 ISDE saw the three teams that have dominated this year’s event finally claim their respective class winning results. Not needing to take any unneeded risks, Italy’s Andrea Verona (GASGAS), Davide Guarneri (Fantic), Thomas Oldrati (Honda), and Matteo Cavallo (TM) finally finished four minutes and 41 seconds ahead of second-placed Spain.
“Today, wasn’t the best for me, I had a bad jump from the gate in my motocross race, so I had to push hard to finish fourth,” a delighted Andrea Verona said. “But my result wasn’t too important today – what is important is that Italy won the World Trophy and Junior World Trophy classes, and I was also the fastest Enduro1 rider overall. To be an Italian and to be a part of your national team competing and winning at home, it’s incredible.”
With strong final day results from Josep Garcia (KTM) and Jaume Betriu (KTM), Spain, like Italy ahead of them, put the finishing touches to a solid week-long performance. Not quite able to match the pace of the home nation, Spain nevertheless did all they could to win, finishing as deserved runners-up.
Entering the event with hopes of claiming another World Trophy team win, the USA completed their week as the third-fastest team, having not quite had the pace to challenge the two European squads ahead of them.
Sweden completed a successful ISDE campaign in fourth in the World Trophy competition, finishing closer to third-placed USA than many would have guessed at the start of the competition and comfortably ahead of fifth-place Portugal. The Czech Republic, Canada, Brazil, Belgium, and Germany rounded out the top-ten World trophy Teams.
Ending their winning Junior World Trophy campaign eight minutes and 31 seconds ahead of second-placed France, Italy’s Lorenzo Macoritto (TM), Manolo Morettini (KTM), and Matteo Pavoni (TM) delivered a dominant team performance. Fast from the start of the event, and remaining that way day after day, despite the best efforts of France and Sweden, Italy did what they needed to do on day six and completed their amazing week.
“This week has been very good for me, and of course the team,” commented Pavoni. “I was able to start fast, which was very important. I like this terrain and that has helped me a lot. After the first few days, I was more calm with my riding, no big risks. As a team, we knew that we could produce a good result, and we have. We’ve had a lot of dust on some special tests this week, so taking no risks has been very important to our team the last few days. Today, we knew what we needed to do, and, well, it’s fantastic to win.”
With their World Trophy teammates enduring a rough week, France’s Junior World Trophy team kept themselves ahead of Sweden to secure a deserved runner-up result. With Italy, France, and Sweden, separated by less than ten minutes after more than thirteen hours of special test action, the three nations all did themselves proud.
Some way back from Sweden, Chile finished fourth ahead of the Czech Republic, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Portugal.
In the Women’s Trophy, Team USA put the finishing touches to their dominant week-long performance to complete the 2021 ISDE just over fifteen minutes ahead of second-placed Great Britain. Once again it was Brandy Richards (KTM) who stole the show, winning the women’s day six motocross race ahead of Spain’s Mireia Badia (GASGAS) and Rachel Gutish (Husqvarna) and in doing so completing her amazing week with a dominant victory.
“Today’s been the cherry on an awesome ISDE cake for me, I’ve managed to win each and every special test during this year’s ISDE,” enthused Brandy after her inspiring week-long performance. “It’s what I set out to do, and I’ve done it. It’s pretty surreal, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. I really upped my training ahead of this event, and it paid off. As a team we did great, we’ve all ridden well, and to win for Team USA is awesome.”
With no World Trophy or Junior World Trophy teams representing Great Britain, GB’s women upheld national pride and did exactly what they needed to do during the final day’s motocross races and secured a deserved runner-up overall Women’s World Trophy result. Despite eventual third-place finishers Spain closing to within less than one minute of Nieve Holmes (GASGAS), Jane Daniels (Fantic), and Rosie Rowett (KTM), GB’s women held firm and took the runner-up spot.
With Spain rounding out the podium, fourth went to Portugal, ahead of Sweden, Germany, Italy, and France, with France being the only team unable to get all three of their riders to the finish of the event.
Team USA won the Women’s competition.
Securing his first ever outright individual ISDE win, Josep Garcia (KTM) ended the 2021 ISDE as the undisputed overall fastest rider. Making his intentions of winning clear from the very beginning of the event, Garcia’s eventual winning margin was one minute and fifty-six seconds.
“This is a dream come true for me,” expressed Garcia. “To win the overall, to finish second with Spain in the World Trophy, it’s been an incredible week. Right now I am so happy, also with the pressure gone, it’s a crazy mix of emotions. When you have finished second overall twice, and you set the goal to win overall, well, there is so much that goes into trying to go one better than before. I managed it with the support of my team, it’s incredible.”
Claiming one overall day win while being the most consistent challenger to Garcia, Andrea Verona (GASGAS) ended his home ISDE as second-fastest overall, followed by Mikael Persson (KTM), Matteo Cavallo (TM), and Taylor Robert (KTM).
While unable to stop Garcia from concluding the event as the outright fastest rider, Andrea Verona (GASGAS) was able to end his week as the fastest Enduro1 class rider. Carrying his strong world championship pace into the event, Verona took to the top of the E1 result sheets on day one and remained there throughout the event.
Delivering one of the stand-out results of the event, in placing as second-fastest E1 rider Mikael Persson (KTM) delivered Sweden’s best individual performance. The Third-fastest E1 rider was Italian Lorenzo Macoritto (TM).
The competition’s fastest Enduro2 rider by virtue of being the event’s overall fastest competitor, Josep Garcia (KTM) sat comfortably ahead of his closest E2 challenger having been pushed hardest by E1 and E3 mounted riders throughout the week. Second in E2 went to USA’s Taylor Robert with Dante Oliveira (KTM) third-fastest.
Finishing fourth-fastest overall, Italy’s Matteo Cavallo (TM) posted the fastest overall Enduro3 result, also ending the event as the highest-placed two-stroke competitor. Cavallo’s Italian teammate Matteo Pavoni (TM) placed second-fastest in E3, also finishing as the highest overall Junior World Trophy rider. Third went to Spain’s Jaume Betriu (KTM).
In the Manufacturer’s Team Award, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing topped the results with their trio of Josep Garcia (KTM, Taylor Robert (KTM), and Dante Oliveira (KTM). Second went to the all-Italian trio of TM Boano Factory’s Matteo Pavoni (TM), Lorenzo Macoritto (TM), and Matteo Cavallo (TM).
Showing that nothing is over until after the final day motocross races are completed, in the Club team competition, Team Ostra Enduro 1 leapfrogged ahead of day five class leaders MC Sebino to take the win. Twenty seconds behind going into the final motocross races, come the end of the final day they sat at the top of the results and just over one minute up on MC Sebino. Third went to MX Pavia Senior. CN
Rivanazzano Terme, Italy
World Trophy Results (After day 6 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
12:55:23.02 |
| 2. |
Spain |
+4:41.46 |
| 3. |
USA |
+7:59.25 |
| 4. |
Sweden |
+12:38.21 |
| 5. |
Portugal |
+36:40.60 |
Junior World Trophy Results (After day 6 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
13:09:35.91 |
| 2. |
France |
+8:31.21 |
| 3. |
Sweden |
+9:53.45 |
| 4. |
Chile |
+51:28.13 |
| 5. |
Czech Republic |
+57:52.82 |
Women’s World Trophy Results (After day 6 of 6)
| 1. |
USA |
9:31:16.84 |
| 2. |
Great Britain |
+15:02.63 |
| 3. |
Spain |
+15:55.45 |
| 4. |
Portugal |
+32:21.65 |
| 5. |
Sweden |
+55:30.39 |
Day 5
Italian enduro fans are probably celebrating tonight in anticipation of winning both the FIM World Trophy (WT) and Junior World Trophy (JWT) titles at the 95th FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Rivanazzano Terme, Italy.
Britney Gallegos can pack it away, especially after five long days of racing with one more to go. But she’s probably also happy that she, Rachel Gutish and Brandy Richards are leading Women’s World Trophy by almost 14 minutes over Great Britain going into the last day. Photos: Mark Kariya
And while shut out of the principle men’s crowns, the U.S. contingent won’t go home empty-handed as its Women’s World Trophy (WWT) team is perfectly positioned to take that hardware for the third time in history following triumphant performances in 2007 and 2019.
Barring catastrophe, Italy should maintain a winning margin over Spain as the Italians have three of their four WT riders in the top 10 overall individuals and a lead of five minutes and 22.86 seconds. Spain has only two in the top 10.
Though unable to successfully defend the WT won at the 94th ISDE in Portugal in 2019, the U.S. team of Johnny Girroir, Layne Michael, Taylor Robert and Ryan Sipes should still be on the podium tomorrow afternoon, having held third comfortably since the day one.
Today saw some of the best performances from the four Americans with Robert once again second in E2 to Josep Garcia of Spain, the overall individual leader who topped all but one of the five special tests today. Robert’s total time for the day also earned him fourth in the overall individual standings behind Garcia, E1 leader Andrea Verona of Spain and Sweden’s Mikael Persson, the second-fastest in E1.
Like several of the Americans, Dante Oliveira believes he rode a little too cautiously at the beginning of the week while getting accustomed to ISDE-style racing again. He laid down tremendously fast times today to finish third in E2 and fifth individual overall. However, with the loss of Austin Walton to injury yesterday, Oliveira and Cody Barnes won’t be in the running for honors in Junior World Trophy.
Michael wasn’t far behind teammate Robert, his time putting him sixth in E2 for the day and 12th overall individual.
Girroir was fifth-fastest E1 today while Sipes was eighth in E3.
In JWT, there was good and bad in the U.S. account. After breaking his scapula in his crash yesterday, Austin Walton was of course unable to line up and the resulting three-hour penalty dropped the team to 11th.
But the remaining two members turned in perhaps their best rides of the week with Dante Oliveira just 15 seconds slower than Robert for the day, making him the third-fastest E2 today and fifth-fastest individual overall in only his third Six Days and first one on the JWT team.
“Going into Six Days, the first couple of days I was super-hesitant, like scared to fall and stuff. I just wanted to keep it on two [wheels] and just be smooth, honestly,” Oliveira admitted.
“I just started getting a little more comfortable on the bike [as the days went on] and sliding it around those loose turns and really flat-tracking it and letting the bike get loose. I guess confidence every day [got better and I] just built off of that.”
Teammate Cody Barnes also enjoyed a banner day, his times putting him sixth best of the E1 riders for the day behind WT team rider Girroir who was 22 seconds quicker today. Barnes and Girroir are also fifth and sixth in E1 for the week so far.
Josep Garcia of Spain won four of the five tests today, further adding to the cushion he enjoyed over Italy’s Andrea Verona in the unofficial individual overall standings. However, Verona has three teammates who are more consistently fast as a group which is why Italy leads World Trophy and is poised to seal that in tomorrow’s final motocross tests.
The brightest spot for the U.S. team was once again its WWT team led by veteran Brandy Richards. Ignoring the discomfort from yesterday’s crash that required her to get stitches in her right forearm, she once again proved untouchable and finished 69th fastest individual overall for the day of the 634 riders who lined up on Monday—quite the feat—as well as 26th E2 today. (Coincidentally, she’s 26th E2 for the week so far as well.)
Rachel Gutish ably backed Richards up with another solid day—sixth-fastest woman—with Britney Gallegos finally getting the hang of this new style of racing and planning on a future run that’ll be even faster.
In the Club team competition, Team Italy A took the top spot for the day, 1:16.92 ahead of Sweden’s Team Ostra Enduro 1 with GTBN of the U.S. sixth.
For the week, however, Moto Club Sebino leaped to the top of the standings over previous leader Team Ostra Enduro 1 by 20.24 seconds despite finishing fourth for the day.
GTBN remains third overall with first-timer Cole Martinez continuing to have a strong week. In fact, he won the first test of the day for the C2 class and followed that up with finishes of 2-3-2-2 for the rest of the day’s tests. Like Gallegos on the WWT team, he’s just figuring things out and having more fun now compared to the beginning of the week and wishes there were more days left to race.
Martinez—along with talented teammates Nate Ferderer and Axel Pearson—is unlikely to get the team any farther up the rankings with only tomorrow’s final motocross test to go as the trio is about four and a half minutes behind the Swedes. But they’ll need to ride hard in the last day’s test in order to stay ahead of Italy’s Moto Club Pavia Senior which is about 27 behind the Americans.
If Cole Martinez did this at home, he’d likely get a ticket. In Italy, however, the police generally tolerate racers entertaining themselves and spectators. Martinez had reason to celebrate as he’d posted the best C2 time in the first test of the day. He and his GTBN teammates Nate Ferderer and Axel Pearson remain third in the Club team standings.
And things can certainly change quickly in one day. Yesterday, Mojo MotoSport (Anthony Ferrante, Josh Knight and Anson Maloney) finished the day in sixth place, but today the group finds itself fifth.
NGPC/D37/NHHA (Preston Campbell, Tyler Vore and Tanner Whipple) had been fifth, but C3 leader Vore suffered race-ending injuries in a crash today. Thus, the team plummets to 76th though Campbell and Whipple had solid days.
The next best U.S. team is now Trail Pros/U.S. Sprint Enduro (Cade Henderson, Travis Reynaud and Talon Soenksen) which finds itself seventh with Eric Cleveland Memorial (Fred Hoess, Nick Swenson and Joel Tonsgard) holding fast to 10th.
Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jayson Densley and Brian Storrie) inched ahead again, going from 27th to 26th, with the Missouri Mudders (Reid Brown, Kobee Knight and A.J. Lehr) likewise gaining one spot to sit 30th. CN
Rivanazzano Terme, Italy
World Trophy Classification (After Day 5 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
12:12:09.74 |
| 2. |
Spain |
+5:22.86 |
| 3. |
USA |
+8:32:48 |
| 4. |
Sweden |
+11:29.52 |
| 5. |
Portugal |
+35:16.40 |
Junior World Trophy Classification (After Day 5 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
12:25:14.33 |
| 2. |
France |
+7:10.36 |
| 3. |
Sweden |
+9:38.38 |
| 4. |
Chile |
+49:05.31 |
| 5. |
Czech Republic |
+56:17.82 |
Women’s World Trophy Classification (After Day 5 of 6)
| 1. |
USA |
9:13:04.43 |
| 2. |
Great Britain |
+13:55.43 |
| 3. |
Spain |
+15:08.60 |
| 4. |
Portugal |
+31:10.35 |
| 5. |
France |
+32:29.48 |
Day 4
It’s all downhill from here.
But while that can be good in some ways, it’s bad in others.
Italy’s Andrea Verona not only topped the E1 class again, he finally got the day’s best score, dethroning Josep Garcia of Spain who ended the day 2.89 seconds behind but still at the top of E2. Photos: Mark Kariya
For the U.S. Women’s World Trophy (WWT) team at the 95th FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE), it can practically coast the final half of the storied race and still successfully defend its title.
The same goes for the Italian men in both FIM World Trophy (WT) and Junior World Trophy (JWT) divisions. The considerable depth harbored in both squads has them leading comfortably after the fourth day of competition in Rivanazzano Terme, Italy.
Fortunes for the final days are mixed in the American men’s camp. On one hand, its WT team of Johnny Girroir, Layne Michael, Taylor Robert, and Ryan Sipes seem to be firmly entrenched in third place behind Italy and Spain.
All four appeared to improve slightly with the immediate goal of avoiding time-consuming spills in the tests and inching closer to the Spanish team ahead of them by a couple of minutes.
After two disappointing days, Ryan Sipes made a few adjustments to his bike and reaped benefits immediately, ending the day with the fifth-fastest total time in E3.
As Sipes shared, “Day four was a lot better. I rode a lot more like myself and I was able to, I think, get 15th or 16th overall, which is not where I used to be (he won overall individual honors in his debut in 2015, the first American to overall Six Days), but I don’t train for this stuff anymore so the way I rode today, [it’s] still not my absolute best—eight out of 10—but I was hanging in there. I had some decent test times and we made a lot of changes on the bike today which I’m happy with, just being proactive with it.”
With only five tests counting today, Sipes ended up a strong fifth in the E3 class and 14th overall individually. Of his teammates, Girroir claimed seventh in E1 with Robert and Michael second and third, respectively, in E2.
Though Italy remains seemingly untouchable being five minutes, 1.43 seconds ahead of Spain, and 7:01.60 ahead of the U.S., the Americans can see a chance of surpassing Spain in the next two days.
On the other hand, the U.S. JWT team of Cody Barnes, Dante Oliveira, and Austin Walton plummeted from second to seventh after Walton crashed and suffered a broken scapula. While he was able to make it to the finish, the injury will keep him out of the rest of the race leaving the team a man short and guaranteed to drop further down the standings each day.
Day four proved to be the game-changer for Six Days newbie Britney Gallegos. Things finally started coming together and after finishing 17th among the women, she wished there were more than just two days of racing left.
It’s doubly unfortunate as all three had good days going—at least until Walton’s crash. Barnes finished eighth in E1, less than four seconds behind Girroir. Likewise, Oliveira put in the fourth-best score of the day in E2 behind perennial leader Josep Garcia of Spain, Robert, and Michael. Yes, he was also the first JWT rider in the day’s E2 standings.
Despite a crash that left her right forearm in need of stitches, Brandy Richards again proved unbeatable, racking up five wins over the five tests and once again easily breaking into the top 100 men AND women overall, finishing the day 79th individually.
“Coming here and walking the tests [last week], I had a feeling that I could possibly win every single test—I had that kind of outlook on it,” she confided. “Doing it’s pretty unbelievable, though. I feel great on the bike. Even with a couple of mistakes and falls, I’m still on top so that’s pretty good and I’m pretty happy about that.”
She continued, “I really expected for us to come here and win. We have I think it’s a little over an 11-minute lead right now [over Great Britain] so I’m happy. It’s like no stress and everything; we’ve just got to stay consistent and just keep going.”
The U.S. WWT team officially leads Great Britain by 11:34.65, Spain being 13:31.21 in arrears.
Richards’ teammates also did well with Gutish maintaining fourth overall individual woman, Gallegos 17th.
In the Club team standings, the top saw a little shakeup with Italy’s Moto Club Sebino overtaking Team Ostra Enduro 1 of Sweden and now leading the category by 1:16.64.
Talon Soenksen appeared to be in good spirits leaving cross test 4 this afternoon. He and Trail Pros/U.S. Sprint Enduro teammates Cade Henderson and Travis Reynaud lie eighth in the Club team standings.
America’s GTBN trio of Nate Ferderer, Cole Martinez, and Axel Pearson remain third, 4:00.99 behind Sebino despite Martinez having a subpar second test of the day which dropped him to eighth (for the day) out of all 400-plus Club riders. Ferderer is 18th in the field with Pearson 47th, having jammed his wrist in a crash earlier in the week.
A little over four minutes behind GBTN is NGPC/D37/NHHA (Preston Campbell, Tyler Vore, and Tanner Whipple) which sits fifth still followed again by Mojo MotoSport (Anthony Ferrante, Josh Knight, and Anson Maloney) while Trail Pros/U.S. Sprint Enduro (Cade Henderson, Travis Reynaud, and Talon Soenksen) drop a spot to eighth. Eric Cleveland Memorial (Fred Hoess, Nick Swenson, and Joel Tonsgard) again round out the top 10 Clubs.
Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jayson Densley, and Brian Storrie) stepped up two positions to 27th with the Missouri Mudders (Reid Brown, Kobee Knight, and A.J. Lehr) still 31st out of 163.
Rivanazzano Terme, Italy
World Trophy Classification (After Day 4 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
9:50:38.35 |
| 2. |
Spain |
+5:01.43 |
| 3. |
USA |
+7:01.60 |
| 4. |
Sweden |
+9:30.49 |
| 5. |
France |
+10:15.75 |
Junior World Trophy Classification (After Day 4 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
10:00:51.00 |
| 2. |
France |
+6:26.31 |
| 3. |
Sweden |
+8:33.04 |
| 4. |
USA |
+15:26.27 |
| 5. |
Chile |
+38:48.49 |
Women’s World Trophy Classification (After Day 4 of 6)
| 1. |
USA |
7:25:34.17 |
| 2. |
Great Britain |
+11:34.65 |
| 3. |
Spain |
+13:31.21 |
| 4. |
Portugal |
+25:45.96 |
| 5. |
France |
+27:30.01 |
Day 3
Italy continued to dominate most of the categories at the 95th FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Rivanazzano Terme, Italy, the home team leading FIM World Trophy (WT), Junior World Trophy (JWT) and Club team standings after the third day.
Johnny Girroir blazed through the Maginot cross test 2/5 where he set the fifth-fastest E1 time in the morning and seventh in the afternoon. Overall, he’s sixth in class after two days in his first Six Days while the U.S. World Trophy team was fourth on the day and remained third after three days. Photos: Mark Kariya
The sole exception is the Women’s World Trophy (WWT) where the American trio of Britney Gallegos, Rachel Gutish, and Brandy Richards extended its lead over Great Britain to eight minutes, 46.50 seconds. Spain remains third.
Trophy Team Manager Antti Kallonen commented, “It’s great to see them doing so well and pulling away every day more and more. Brandy Richards is carrying the team well. With her experience and speed, she’s about to hopefully claim that she’s the fastest woman in the world [of enduro], although there are a few countries absent and a few riders absent.
“The whole [women’s] team is doing well. Everyone’s holding their own and doing what they’re supposed to.”
On the men’s side, Josep Garcia of Spain put in another day of sizzling test times to claim overall individual honors by just 2.99 seconds over Andrea Verona of Italy. Garcia’s margin over Verona after three days is now an amazing 1:10.78 with Sweden’s Michael Persson third, 1:55.31 behind Garcia. As well, Garcia heads the E2 class with Verona and Persson 1-2 in E1.
Fourth-fastest woman of the day, Rachel Gutish relishes being back at Six Days and continued to put in solid tests all day.
For U.S. WT leader Taylor Robert, the third day saw him and teammates Johnny Girroir, Layne Michael and Ryan Sipes commit a few too many small mistakes, similar to the first day. As a result, they found themselves fourth on the day behind Italy and Spain with Sweden third, 15 seconds ahead.
But based on the accumulated times after three days, the U.S. is a solid third, 5:00.30 behind Italy, which is 3:09.20 ahead of Spain.
Asked to comment on the team’s performance after completing the first half of the race, Kallonen replied honestly: “A little bit disappointing. Too many mistakes from, actually, most of the riders. Even Taylor has crashed a few times pretty big, which loses valuable seconds. Ryan Sipes also had a bad day, especially today crashing a lot.
“We can’t afford those. We’re sitting third now and Spain [inched slightly farther ahead of] us and it’s mainly because of Garcia. He’s obviously on top of the overall [individual] ranks and he’s carrying the weight of the Spanish team. Compared to the other [Spanish] riders, we’re pretty even so it’s all due to Garcia that Spain is up there. Otherwise, we would be right there battling with them.
“Italy is tough. They’re leading and pulling away. At this point, we focus on doing our thing while we can. Midway through the week, there are no major changes you can do [to improve]. We’ve just got to stay motivated and have the right mindset for the second half that we don’t give up and we’ll fight until the end and we’ll see.”
The story is much the same in JWT, the three Italians under 24 years old putting in solid, consistent rides in each test. Of the three Americans, Cody Barnes had the best day with his 47:58.84 the fastest of the U.S. trio, but that still didn’t match two of the three Italians. Dante Oliveira had another solid day, posting a 48:06.39 for seventh fastest E2 rider. Austin Walton felt the effects of a slight shoulder injury from a crash in the last test yesterday but it felt better as the day went on and he turned in a 49:08.00 for the day for 15th in E2.
Italy is proving to be the country to beat in most categories but especially in World Trophy where Andrea Verona continued to hold the E1 class points lead and second individual overall.
Walton shared, “It took a little bit to get in there, but once we got in the groove today, I felt like I rode my best today and started feeling really good with the tracks and pushing pretty hard.”
Regarding the team and how to catch the Italians, Walton continued, “I think it’s down to keeping it consistent and staying healthy. It’s a long six days of racing. Making sure the body is fresh and ready for every day [is key]. We’re going to start getting beat down here come tomorrow and the days after because that’s what it is, but I think we’re all prepared for it.
“We just need to keep chipping away and hope that we can push those guys to either make a mistake or we can just knock them right off no matter what, straight up.”
U.S.-based teams populate much of the top 10 in the Club team standings. Team Ostra Enduro 1 leads Italy’s MC Sebino by 30.97 seconds with America’s GTBN threesome of Nate Ferderer, Cole Martinez, and Axel Pearson clinging to third, 2:29.79 behind the leaders.
NGPC/D37NHHA (Preston Campbell, Tyler Vore, and Tanner Whipple) took a big leap forward from eighth to fifth with Mojo MotoSport (Anthony Ferrante, Josh Knight and Anson Maloney) clawing its way from seventh to sixth.
Another rider thrown into the deep end in his ISDE debut, Cody Barnes is handling it well and chalked up another good day. He sits seventh in E1, about 54 seconds behind Girroir.
Trail Pros/U.S. Sprint Enduro (Cade Henderson, Travis Reynaud, and Talon Soenksen) likewise advanced from ninth to seventh with Eric Cleveland Memorial (Fred Hoess, Nick Swenson, and Joel Tonsgard) holding steady at 10th place.
Elizabeth Scott Community (John Beal, Jayson Densley, and Brian Storrie) maintains 29th while the Missouri Mudders (Reid Brown, Kobee Knight, and A.J. Lehr) slipped one spot and find themselves 31st among the 163 teams entered.
Day four will see a new loop that at 198 kilometers is three kilometers longer than the one used for the first three days. Competitors will run it just once in the counter-clockwise direction (the loop was clockwise for the first three days) and hit six special tests—three cross tests and three enduro tests—though the final two tests will be repeats of cross test one and enduro test two. Again, riders will be on course for about seven and a half hours.
Rivanazzano Terme, Italy
World Trophy Classification (After Day 3 of 6)
| 1 |
Italy |
7:10:17.19 |
| 2 |
Spain |
+3:20.71 |
| 3 |
USA |
+5:08.59 |
| 4 |
Sweden |
+6:52.49 |
| 5 |
France |
+7:01.44 |
Junior World Trophy Classification (After Day 3 of 6)
| 1 |
Italy |
7:18:04.71 |
| 2 |
USA |
+3:09.98 |
| 3 |
France |
+5:08.72 |
| 4 |
Sweden |
+6:17.41 |
| 5 |
Spain |
+10:29.71 |
Women’s World Trophy Classification (After Day 3 of 6)
| 1 |
USA |
5:29:04.00 |
| 2 |
Great Britain |
+8:46.50 |
| 3 |
Spain |
+10:02.58 |
| 4 |
Portugal |
+19:38.32 |
| 5 |
France |
+21:10.35 |
DAY 2
The U.S. Women’s World Trophy (WWT) team of Britney Gallegos, Rachel Gutish, and Brandy Richards continued to head the pack at the 95th FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Rivanazzano Terme, Italy, as day two came to a close. Great Britain is now second after two days, having traded spots with Spain which finds itself in third now.
Though he blew through some track tape in the day’s first test, Taylor Robert enjoyed a better day overall and moved from seventh to fourth individually. The U.S. World Trophy team remains third behind Italy and Spain. Photos: Mark Kariya
In addition, the U.S. Junior World Trophy (JWT) team of Cody Barnes, Dante Oliveira, and Austin Walton displaced the French trio to move up a spot and now trail only Italy by a minute and 49.01 seconds.
The second day proved slightly better for the U.S. World Trophy (WT) team of Johnny Girroir, Layne Michael, Taylor Robert, and Ryan Sipes. Though still third behind Italy and Spain, the Americans eliminated some of their opening day miscues and were generally a bit more satisfied with their riding. Robert in particular enjoyed a better day, finishing fourth fastest individual overall with his 47:24.83 behind Spain’s Josep Garcia (who accumulated a total time of 46:22.36 over the six tests of the day, Italian favorite Andrea Verona (46:50.63), and Mikael Persson of Sweden (47:09.85). Yesterday, Robert finished seventh.
“I felt way better today so I move from the third row [to start] to the second row tomorrow then, hopefully, move up to the first row after that,” Robert said. “I’m definitely getting closer to where I need to be. The top two guys are still just riding phenomenal so there’s still time to be made up out there, but I definitely improved today.
Spanish sensation Josep Garcia took charge on day two of the ISDE. He continues to lead the E2 class as well as overall individual.
“As a team, the guys rode consistent today, but I think they’re still just riding a little tight and timid. For all of us, the terrain is quite a bit different than what we’re used to—it’s kind of a mix of East Coast, West Coast [with] pretty heavy vegetation but really dry dirt and really rocky. The guys, they’re a little bummed this afternoon, but they’re all seeing how they know where they need to be and just want to go back to the hotel tonight and reset and ride like they know how to tomorrow.”
Before that, though, there was a new test to walk. Though they’d walked it last week a few times, they wanted to refresh their memories.
After completing the first day two seconds behind France, the U.S. Juniors enjoyed an excellent second day that saw them leap past the French and put them some 42 seconds in arrears, though they now trail Italy by 1:49.01.
Oliveira in particular found his stride, his time of 48:00.26 for the day putting him 12th overall individually, the third-best Junior, and one spot quicker than Layne Michael’s 48:14.40.
For the American women, Richards once again was the talk of the paddock. Not only did she turn in the fastest times in each test, her total of 52:34.51 made her the 79th fastest of the men in WT and JWT! Spain’s Mireia Badia was the next fastest woman in 104th overall.
In fact, Richards could only remember one mistake all day: “In cross test four, I blew this corner so bad I lost a good 20 seconds and went straight through the ribbons [and] had to turn around and get back on the track so that was a little hectic.
“Other than that, I had a great day [and] won every test again and feeling great.”
Eager to follow up his 2019 Club team win with the Junior World Trophy victory, Dante Oliveira claimed third-best Junior on the day and 12th overall individual as the U.S. JWT trio moved to second behind Italy.
Most competitors are, of course, entered in one of the 163 different Club teams where the Italians offer a potent 1-2, Team Italy A in first and Team Italy B second.
But third is the GTBN trio of Americans Nate Ferderer, Cole Martinez, and Axel Pearson. Martinez was fifth fastest of the individual Club riders today with the fifth-best time of 51:43.10, his teammates in the low to mid-53s.
A former MX Pro, Martinez returned to his off-road roots out west last year and this is his Six Days debut (the same for long-time desert-racing specialist Pearson). “It’s been a good couple of days; so far, the experience has been great,” he exclaimed. “It’s been a lot of fun [to ride here]. I wasn’t sure how I would be at these grass tracks—I never really rode grass tracks like this. I really worked my butt off to get good at that. I’m doing better than I ever have on this type of terrain.”
Of the other American Club teams, Mojo MotoSport (Anthony Ferrante, Josh Knight, and Anson Maloney) are seventh followed immediately by three others: NGPC/D37NHHA (Preston Campbell, Tyler Vore, and Tanner Whipple), Trail Pros/U.S. Sprint Enduro (Cade Henderson, Travis Reynaud and Talon Soenksen) and Eric Cleveland Memorial (Fred Hors, Nick Swenson and Joel Tonsgard).
Brandy Richards dominated on the women’s side, winning each of the six tests despite badly overshooting one corner in a test. But she regrouped and got to the end of the day without further issue and continued to impress with fast and flawless tire changes. The U.S. Women’s World Trophy team remains atop the standings.
Elizabeth Scott Community (birthday boy John Beal, Jayson Densley, and Brian Storrie) is 29th followed by Missouri Mudders (Reid Brown, Kobee Knight, and A.J. Lehr).
The second day of racing was marred by news of the death of a Dutch Club rider. Arnold Staal was reported missing by the Dutch federation so the organizers began a search. When located, Staal was already deceased. The entire motorcycle community extends its sincere condolences to Staal’s family and friends.
Rivanazzano Terme, Italy
World Trophy Classification (After Day 2 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
4:49:40.52 |
| 2. |
Spain |
+1:22.18 |
| 3. |
USA |
+2:36.51 |
| 4. |
France |
+3:44.15 |
| 5. |
Sweden |
+4:34.91 |
Junior World Trophy Classification (After Day 2 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
4:54:12.45 |
| 2. |
USA |
+1:49.01 |
| 3. |
France |
+2:45.40 |
| 4. |
Sweden |
+4:53.62 |
| 5. |
Spain |
+8:02.12 |
Women’s World Trophy Classification (After Day 2 of 6)
| 1. |
USA |
3:38:25.15 |
| 2. |
Great Britain |
+5:47.20 |
| 3. |
Spain |
+6:15.75 |
| 4. |
Portugal |
+11:52.85 |
| 5. |
France |
+13:45.19 |
DAY 1
The 95th FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) got the racing going this morning in Rivanazzano Terme, Italy, with Team Italy proving fastest out of the gate on home ground. Italy leads in both the FIM World Trophy (WT) and Junior World Trophy (JWT) categories over Spain and France, respectively, the U.S. squads third in both.
Taylor Roberts leads Team USA’s effort after the first day of competition at the ISDE in Italy. Photos: Mark Kariya
In Women’s World Trophy, however, the American trio of Britney Gallegos, Rachel Gutish, and Brandy Richards turned in a dominating performance with veteran Richards leading the women overall with a scorching time for the day’s six tests of 53 minutes, 23.05 seconds. As a team, they lead Spain by 3:18.18 and Great Britain by 3:30.35.
On the male side, young Spaniard Josep Garcia topped the overall field as well as the E2 division today with his chart-topping 48:24.19 followed by Italians Matteo Pavoni (48:46.13) and Andrea Verona (49:01.13).
Among the Americans, veteran Taylor Robert proved the best, his 49:17.72 putting him seventh overall individual and second in E2 to Garcia with U.S. WT teammate Ryan Sipes 10th (49:24.15) overall individual and third in E3 behind Pavoni and his teammate Matteo Cavallo. Layne Michael—who was part of the winning U.S. WT team as a last-minute substitute in 2016—at fifth in E2, newcomer Johnny Giroir finding himself leaving the start on the front row and ending the day a laudable fifth in E1.
While the times are very close at this stage, Robert believes the Americans can move up the ranks to challenge Italy and successfully defend the World Trophy they won two years ago: “Everybody finished [today] and everybody’s healthy and everybody rode consistent so those are the positives.
“The negatives are we just started off a little slower than we would’ve liked and made a couple mistakes. We got some first-day jitters out of the way and first-day crashes out of the way.
Brandy Richards and Team USA lead the Women’s division.
“[But] now we should be shuffled [forward in the starting order tomorrow], with guys that are the same speed.
“I think we’ll just improve from here on out.”
It’s much the same in the U.S. JWT camp with Dante Oliveira the best of the American trio that’s 2:30.18 behind the Italian threesome under 24 years of age. Oliveira—a member of the winning Club team in 2019—finished the day sixth in E2 while freshman Six Days rider Cody Barnes was sixth in E1 and Austin Walton was 10th in E2.
No official results were available for Club teams at press time.
Rivanazzano Terme, Italy
World Trophy Classification (After Day 1 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
2:27:24.71 |
| 2. |
Spain |
+52.37 |
| 3. |
USA |
+52.64 |
| 4. |
France |
+1:19.19 |
| 5. |
Sweden |
+2:25.97 |
Junior World Trophy Classification (After Day 1 of 6)
| 1. |
Italy |
2:29:10.48 |
| 2. |
France |
+1:05.85 |
| 3. |
USA |
+1:07.61 |
| 4. |
Sweden |
+2:47.13 |
| 5. |
Spain |
+3:41.34 |
Women’s World Trophy Classification (After Day 1 of 6)
| 1. |
USA |
1:49:18.12 |
| 2. |
Spain |
+3:18.18 |
| 3. |
Great Britain |
+3:30.35 |
| 4. |
Portugal |
+5:48.01 |
| 5. |
France |
+7:36.35 |
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