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Charles Halcomb / videos / photos / blog

Nov 7

Good ISDE Summaryposted in Off-Road on Nov 7th 2010 at 5:17pm.

Story and photos by Steve Berkner Day 6 of the 2010 International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Mexico was canceled over security concerns.In a statement made by FIM Sports Director, Ignacio Verneda, Day 6 of the Mexican ISDE, which was being held in Morelia, Mexico, was called off due to escalating activities between organized crime, drug cartels and federal, state and local police."Throughout this entire event, we have made security our number one priority," Verneda said. "With recent activities between area drug cartels and authorities, and an incident that occurred between (local organized crime groups) and police last night here in the city of Morelia, the FIM feels that it is best to cancel Day 6."We would like to stress that there has been no threat to anyone involved here with the ISDE competition. It is that the amount of security we requested for the final motocross, which was to be located outside the Morelia area, is no longer available as their priorities are now to concentrate on protecting the city."The incident that occurred within the city of Morelia was a gunfight that happened between two organized crime groups. Local newspaper reports talked about how two "local mafia groups" that have been having "escalating relations between one another" exploded last night. The newspaper story went on to say that the "confrontation, which included gun fire from automatic weapons" soon spawned a series of cars being "fire bombed" by one crime group on major roads leading out of the city to stop the other group from leaving Morelia. The story said that fire fighters and police were dispatched to the vehicle fires and that their presence would impede anyone exiting the city via the main roads. According to a person from Morelia, who volunteered to translate stories covering the gun fight and the vehicle fires from two local Spanish-language newspapers, once authorities figured out the two events where related -- the gun fight and the fires -- federal, state and local authorities put up their own road block on the main roads of the city not allowing any traffic in or out without being stopped and searched."There was also another event that recently happened about 200 kilometers where a leader of a drug cartel was killed by authorities and that there are concerns now that some type of retaliation may happen against police," said Luis Otero, president of the 2010 ISDE Organizing Committee. "This, as well as the incident last night, has made the (Mexican) organizers and the FIM concerned about the safety of the people attending the event. We apologize for this decision, but we feel that it is the best decision. This type of decision is made with our heads, not (necessarily) with our hearts, as we all love the sport of enduro. We also feel that at the end of Day 5 a majority of the finish orders have already been decided and that the final placements can be determined fairly from those results."AMA Team USA jury representative to the FIM, Gunny Claypoole, said of the decision: "The FIM feels that because of the recent incidents concerning (authorities, local crime organizations and drug cartels) it’s just not worth taking a chance continuing with the event."Added AMA Team USA World Trophy Team rider Kurt Caselli: "People need to know that this decision to cancel Day 6 and the final moto has nothing to do with the race. They’ve really done a great job putting on this event, and given the situation it was the right decision. It does kind of suck, though, as everybody that rode hard all week and made it to the final day isn’t going to get a chance to finish what they came here to do, and that’s to ride for six days."People also need to know that Mexico was a great place to put on a Six Days," Caselli continued. "I personally never felt in danger at any time, but because of a situation, which is beyond anybody's control who is related to Six Days, the final day of the event has to be cancelled."With Day 5’s final standings deciding the outcome of this year’s ISDE, the AMA Team USA Women’s World Trophy Team, made up of Nicole Bradford, Amanda Mastin and Kerrie Swartz, finished second to France. Third place in the Women’s division went to Sweden.Bradford finished fourth overall in the women’s standings while Mastin finished seventh. Swartz retired on Day 4 when she hour out.The U.S. Junior Trophy Team finished third to first-place Spain and second-place Sweden. Riders on the U.S. junior team were Taylor Robert, Ian Blyth, Nick Fahringer and Cory Buttrick.Robert’s performance at his first Six Days was good enough for 10th overall in the E2 class. Blythe, who also rode in his first ISDE, finished seventh overall in the E1 class. Fahringer, riding in his second ISDE, finished 24th in the E2 class. Buttrick retired at the end of Day 1 with crash-related injuries.AMA Team USA World Trophy Team, made up of Caselli, Mike Brown, Abbott, Jimmy Jarrett, Timmy Weigand and Nathan Woods, finished fourth in its division. Notable performances for the U.S. Trophy Team were put in by Caselli and Brown, who finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the E1 class.The three-rider U.S. club team of Fred Hoess, Andrew Delong and Wally Palmer -- the Tony Agonis Memorial Team -- finished fourth. Palmer would have been unable to start Day 6 before it was canceled due to blood clots that had formed in his right leg. Because the final day was canceled, the decision for Palmer not to start didn’t affect the team’s final score.   The other top-10 finishing U.S. club team was GoFasters.com, made up of riders Brian Sperle, Nolan Irwin and Jordan Brandt.Thirty-four American riders started the event with 31 US riders officially finishing. The United States had a total of eight three-rider club teams. Most of the riders and their support crews are scheduled to return home to the U.S. Sunday morning. 
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