Though Christophe Nambotin finally proved he’s not immune to an issue now and then, France continued to lead the way in the FIM World Trophy hunt at the 92nd International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, Thursday. Australia and Finland hold the other spots on the podium—for now, at least.
In addition, the host country remained the leader in Junior World Trophy for a second day while the U.S. trio held steady in third. Australia’s three ladies maintained their lock on the Women’s World Trophy with America’s three new riders a solid second.
The U.S. World Trophy team lost Thad Duvall to injury on the first day of the ISDE, of course, putting the defending champs out of the running, so the three riders still going switched focus to individual honors. Taylor Robert is closest to achieving that goal, last year’s overall individual winner continuing to fill second place, though there’s now another second between him and new overall leader Josep Garcia of Spain. Tuesday’s overall winner, Ryan Sipes—the 2015 overall individual winner in Slovakia—had a better Thursday than Wednesday, but a bad first test set him back to ninth overall for the day, fifth in E1. That’s one position better than Robert, though he now leads E3 after Nambotin’s woes.
The U.S. Juniors shook off the disappointment of losing the lead on Day 3 when Josh Toth went into a check slightly before he was scheduled to, the mental error garnering him–and thus the team–a one-minute penalty and allowing both France and Italy to leapfrog past in the standings. Layne Michael led the way for the Juniors on Thursday. Used to the pressure after being on last year’s winning ISDE World Trophy team, he finished the day ninth in E1, one spot better than Toth. Grant Baylor was slightly off, picking up 15th in E2 for the day, putting him 13th for the week to date.
It’s an entertaining battle for first woman between Tayla Jones of four-time and defending ISDE Women’s World Trophy Champion Australia and Laiz Sanz, the only Spanish woman still going in this year’s ISDE. Jones got the upper hand Thursday, but former WORCS champ Brandy Richards showed she’s getting used to this type of racing by posting the third-best time of the day. Richards’ USA teammates, Becca Sheets and Kacyi Martinez-Coy, finished fifth and sixth respectively.
SRT Off-road continued to lead the American charge in Club team competition, as it remains just off the podium in fourth. Ben Kelley posted the eighth best Club time today while teammates Ty Tremaine and Cody Webb were a creditable 13th and 16th overall. Behind them but showing steady improvement every day is Eric Cleveland Memorial’s Justin Morgan, who’s now up to 44th. Brendan Riordan is also putting in good rides, Thursday’s giving him 49th Club rider as his Missouri Mudders is just one position behind 17th-place Eric Cleveland Memorial.
2017 International Six Days Enduro (ISDE)
Brive, France
Results: August 31, 2017 (Day 4 of 6)
World Trophy: 1. France (9:47:14.29); 2. Australia (9:55:15.05); 3. Finland (9:56:49.10); 4. Portugal (10:09:04.41); 5. Great Britain (10:14:01.91)… 16. USA (19:22:37.57).
Junior World Trophy: 1. France (7:30:16.44); 2. Italy (7:31:01.17); 3. USA (7:32:16.00); 4. Great Britain (7:35:19.03); 5. Chile (7:38:43.82).
Women’s World Trophy: Australia (5:27:11.65); 2. USA (5:34:27.38); 3. France (5:46:07.81); 4. Sweden (5:54:40.19); 5. Italy (6:04:30.16).
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