2008 ISDE in Greece - let the show begin!

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UPDATE - some results are posted - E2, E3, Women, Clubs, but no E1 (Dietrich) and no overalls. Man - Italians (don't know if they are Trophy or Junior) took 4 of the 5 top spots in E2.  It's just not right!  

Abbott (9th), Jarrett (13th), and Woods (29th)..all Gold in E2; Nate Kenney (8th!!) Gold in E3.  The US women did well, but not sure if it added up to overall or not....

Oh - and how this news:  Juha Salminen must have had a bad, bad day...he dropped to 14th in E2.  I'm having trouble understanding total times.  Would have thought this would promote Balometti (the Italian) to Overall, but some E3 totals look better...

Things that make you go hmmm...

[brian kirby]

I dont know what happened but if you look at Juha's time, its 9 minutes slower than the winner of E2, and the are s bunch of other riders at the bottom of the chart that seem to have been given the same times. Maybe some kind of a penalty?

Brian

'73 Berkshire
Team d-Con
//www.d-conproducts.com America's #1 Rodent Control Brand

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E1 is in...Ricky D finished 2nd in the moto (2.76 seconds behind Cervantes of Spain) and 2nd overall in E1.  Closest Finn was almost 40 seconds back in his moto.  Our E2 boys (Jimmy, Nate W, and Destry) took 6th, 8th, and 9th in their moto. Tarkkala (the Finn) won the E3 moto, but I really do not see any other Finnish riders doing that well in the moto's....

So ladies and gentlemen, let me unofficially predict that the Yanks have a 3rd overall in World Trophy.  Well Done!!

BTW - Fredette silvered in C2 and Hoess took Gold (6th in C1).

Still not sure about the Overall individual/total times...it LOOKS like Ricky D has the 2nd best overall total, but I'm just a nuclear engineer...[]

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http://www.isde2008-live.gr/

It's unofficial, but it's true...World Trophy - France, Italy, and then...the USA!  By like 8 minutes total over the Spaniards, who just inched out Finland. The Italians were 8 minutes up on us.

And Ricky Dietrich won 2nd Overall.  Holy Freaking Cow.  Lost overall by 42 seconds to Cervantes, the Spaniard.  Nate Kanney 20th overall, Abbott 22nd, Jarrett 29th.

BTW - not a great ISDE for the Junior Team - 12th out of 16 teams, but they'll get better.  They've got SOME GREAT MENTORS!!!

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I attended the GNCC event at Unadilla this last weekend and got to meet/shake hands with Kurt Caselli, Jimmy Jarrett, and Nathan Kanney from the 2008 Trophy Team.  Huge.  And I say that because I have so much respect for Six Day competitors - past and present.  Nate was kind of the big draw at the KTM tent (over David Knight and Kurt!) because NY is his home state, but that's fine - that just means I got to talk to Kurt for about 10 minutes!  What a great guy...of course I was a little concerned about what to say.."nice job knocking yourself unconscious on Day 3, dude...".  I just told him what a huge job he had done leading the team to, and thru, the Six Day in Greece -on and off the bike. Naturally, he wanted to give a lot of credit to his dad.  But he's already excited about next year in Portugal, which should present conditions very similar to Greece - dry and dusty, which probably plays to our current strengths when it comes to the Yanks.

Having said that, it had just started to seriously rain about 15 minutes before the start of the Unadilla event.  I asked Kurt if this east coast mudder was a warm-up for his 2009 GNCC series commitment which drew a laugh, but he probably laughed even harder when I asked him if there was any pressure in following in the footsteps of David Knight and Juha Salminen in this series..

Well..he's laughing for now at least.  BTW - Knight just killed everyone in this event.  By MINUTES....and given the conditions, Caselli didn't do too bad with his seventh, but he was at least 15 or 20 minutes down on Knight.  What a wonder to watch these top guys in the woods..they just danced thru this stuff.  Just like I remember when I first watched Jack, Jeff, and Dane (and Paul...and Dwight...) back in the early 70's.  

I am not worthy!:)

[brian kirby]

Yup, it is always sobering to see how fast the best are when they are at the top of their game. You start to think, "man I'm getting fast" then you watch a race like that and you realize just how much faster they are than regular folks.

Brian

'73 Berkshire Team  d-Con
//www.d-conproducts.com America's #1 Rodent Control Brand

[Gary Roach]

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I was at Unadilla too. We were in the motorhome parked directly behind the KTM semi. Nate was wanting to win that race really, really bad. He said, "When I leave this place on Sunday afternoon, they're going to start calling this place Natadilla". Unfortunatly, it didn't go his way.

I was there helping a young and up coming rider named Cory Buttrick. It was only his second race in XC2 Pro Lites class where he finished 2nd, and he finished an amazing 6th Overall. Not too bad for a 17 year old. Cory is also a Penton fan, and has raced Kent Knudson's Pentons at Mid Ohio for the past 2 years and has done quit well.

Cory's lifelong dream has been to ride Six Days, but he's just been waiting to get some more experience in the saddle. I know he talked to Kurt several times during the week about what it takes to be competitive at the ISDE. I heard Kurt saying that Cory has, "A lot of potential". It's good to see that there is still some interest in the Six Days from younger riders.

While at Unadilla, I bought this tank from a guy in the pit area.

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Cool story..and I did follow the YOUNG GUN Cory a bit during the race - what a fantastic result under those conditions!

NICE tank, I'm totally jealous.  That's a 1.8 gal MX tank,right? Was it used on the mid/late seventies MC-5s also?

[Gary Roach]

Yes, it's the 1.8 gallon tank. I believe that this tank was last used in '75. The MC5 looked the same, but had some minor differences. The front had a couple of bulges in it to clear the steering stops, and the back was a little longer and used a rubber mount and hose clamp to hold the tank onto the frame.

[rob w]

quote:Originally posted by Gary Roach
I was there helping a young and up coming rider named Cory Buttrick. It was only his second race in XC2 Pro Lites class where he finished 2nd, and he finished an amazing 6th Overall. Not too bad for a 17 year old. Cory is also a Penton fan, and has raced Kent Knudson's Pentons at Mid Ohio for the past 2 years and has done quit well.

Thanks to Kent. It's always great to see today's young guns go old school, and "tickle a Penton".  
Bawb

[Knute]

It's my pleasure Bob!  Cory and his family are good friends and die hard KTM people so we all have a lot of fun together.  Cory has now finished 7th, 6th, and 9th overall at the last three GNCC's...which is truly amazing considering he is just 17.  He's also raced our Pentons the last 2 years at Mid-Ohio and won all 8 motos he's ridden.  With his skill and enthusiasm I'm just happy to contribute what I can!

Kent