ONE DAY TO GO – TEAM SOUTH AFRICA CONSOLIDATES RESULTS AT ISDE in ARGENTINA

The remaining three members of the original squad of nine who left for the International Six Day’s Enduro (ISDE) in Argentina almost two weeks ago, have consolidated their results and with one day to go where they will compete on a motocross track, they are focussed on the final finish line and a few medals might also be up for grabs.

After the third day’s carnage where more than a 110 riders (including four members of Team South Africa) broke down mainly because of the ‘fesh-fesh’, the powdery dust that got into their motorcycles, Altus de Wet (29), who is competing with his 300cc 2-stroke Husqvarna in *E3 in the World Trophy Team; 25-year old Marc Torlage (he also forms part of the World Trophy Team and competes in E1 with his 250cc 4-stroke KTM) as well as the 16-year old scholar, Brendan Swanevelder, who is the only South African left in the Junior World Trophy Team and also scores in E1 with his Husqvarna FE250, have settled into their positions.

The organisers made small changes to the route and special stages for Day 4 and Day 5 of the tough six days’ enduro race and removed a special stage on each day while they changed the route that competitors travelled more on asphalt than through the extremely fine dusty sections. These changes were being implemented to prevent a repetition of the third day’s drama.

The South Africans kept their cool and raced hard to post competitive times while playing it safe to look after the motorcycles and themselves so as to ensure results.
After five days De Wet is in a solid 40th place on the overall standings (for E1, E2 and E3 competitors in the World Trophy as well as the Junior World Trophy categories) and has entered the top 10 in E3 where he has settled into the 10th place. Torlage, like De Wet a multiple national South African champion, has moved into the top 50 overall (he is 50th) while he is 15th in an extremely competitive E1 despite having suffered for the duration of the race from a painful tooth abscess. It is young Swanevelder’s second international experience (he competed earlier this year in the Red Bull Sea to Sky in Turkey) and the level headed scholar is currently 64th overall and 20th in E1.

Swanevelder was interviewed by the ISDE Media after the fifth day and had this to say: “It was good, not so rough as the previous days and I enjoyed it. It was a little bit technical. I have never ridden in sand. Where I come from (in) South Africa, I am not used to riding in the sand. Yesterday and the day before I struggled a little bit, but it was much better today. So, it was a good day. I just do what I have to do to finish and have a little bit of fun.” (edited)

The World Trophy team is composed of six riders while Junior World Trophy teams have to have four riders. There is also a Women’s Cup. The ISDE finishes traditionally with a motocross race on the last day (today, Saturday 8 November) where the competitors’ race times play an important role. This year 347 competitors started the 89th running of the ISDE in E1, E2, E3, the Women’s Cup and the Club category.

Team South Africa competes with the support of Motorsport SA; Portable Shade; Powasol; Alfie Cox Racing and BelRay.

TOUGH THIRD DAY FOR TEAM SOUTH AFRICA AT INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS ENDURO

After a day that was described by the Jury President of the International Six Days. Enduro (ISDE) as .the worst day he has seen in his 39 years at the event., 111 competitors retired from the race in San Juan in Argentina. This included three South African competitors and from the nine who started the 89th ISDE on Monday (3 November), only three will tackle the fourth day today (Thursday, 6 November) with the aim to complete this year's tough .Six Days Enduro. in South America.

The remaining three riders . multiple former off-road and enduro champions, Altus de Wet (Husqvarna) and Marc Torlage (KTM), are still within the reach of gold medals in the World Trophy Team category while 16-year old, Brendan Swanevelder (Husqvarna) is still going in the Junior World Trophy class.

According to De Wet, the dust . the fine powdery dust called .fesh-fesh - was extremely bad and he changed the filters on his Husqvarna five times during the day. The dust was also the main cause for the demise of the other South Africans. Brett Swanepoel (Yamaha) was the leading South African and completed the day in the top 50 overall, but his bike was pushing out oil at the finish and he could not get the engine going again.

Charan Moore completed the first stage of the third day, but was then halted by either electrical problems or dirty fuel as his Yamaha cut out and he was forced to call it a day. Like Swanepoel, it was also Moore.s first international participation (excluding his .home. race, the annual Roof of Africa that takes place in Lesotho) and with the ice now broken, they will no doubt be back to give the tough ISDE another go.

Cox, who replaced the clutch on his KTM this morning (Wednesday) before the race, also ran into problems. He was the leading South African in the Junior World Trophy category and was 60th overall at the end of the second day. The young Cox, who is competing in international motocross championships in Europe, is the son of Alfie Cox, a four times ISDE gold medallist, multiple Dakar Rally finisher and nine times Roof of Africa winner.

Cox Junior will also be back with the aim to finish this event like his father before him. Daniel van Zyl was also testing the international racing scene for the first time, but the engine on his KTM blew and he had no option than to leave it in the desert (for now) until the organisers collect it today. Today.s route would have taken competitors through the same special stages than the previous day. This has however been changed after the carnage and the day.s sixth special stage has been cancelled while competitors will be diverted on one of the regularities and will travel on asphalt. 

Today was a hard day for everyone and there are many broken hearts, but it is racing,¡± the team co-ordinator, Clint Rieper, said from San Juan. ¡°Our crew will however pull together and stay on the button to keep our remaining riders and bikes going. We will have them changing filters at every opportunity as the fesh-fesh is the enemy here,¡± he said.

The team is also concerned about Torlage who left South Africa with a tooth abscess. He is getting treatment from the medical team, but his face is swollen and he is in severe pain. After three days of racing, De Wet is 47th overall and 11th in the E3 Class while Torlage is 59th (16th in E1) and Swanevelder is 73rd (22nd in E1). Albert Pos was time-barred after the 2014 ISDE.s first day lady rider, Toni Jardine, injured her knee during the second day as was advised to refrain from racing.

TEAM SOUTH AFRICA GOING STEADY AT ¡®INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS¡¯ ENDURO¡¯ IN ARGENTINA

The two South African enduro motorcycle teams, the World Trophy Team and the Junior World Trophy Team, who are currently competing in the 89th International Six Days. Enduro (ISDE) in San Juan in Argentina, have survived the first two days of competition and have made their mark in international enduro racing. Almost 350 entrants from 23 nations tackled the first of six days of enduro racing on Monday (3 Nov) and hope to complete the race on Saturday (8 Nov) in South America.

The South African team, who travelled to Argentina without an injured Blake Gutzeit (he injured his wrist 10 days before the start of the ISDE) had to overcome a few more problems during the first two days of racing. Albert Pos, who was competing in his third ISDE, was time-barred on the first day and could therefore not continue with the competition. He formed part of the World Trophy Team and his team-mates (Altus de Wet, Brett Swanepoel, Charan Moore and Marc Torlage) had to score points without their fifth team-member.

Lady rider Toni Jardine, who made history by being included in the Junior Trophy Team for riders younger than 23 years of age, completed the first day of racing, but injured her knee quite severely and was forced to retire on advice of the medical team. Jardine competed in the full Womens World Enduro Championship this year and completed the season in 12th place of 26 lady competitors that included champions from all over the globe. The rest of her team-mates (Bradley Cox, Brendan Swanevelder and Daniel van Zyl who are all only 16 years of age) are now flying the flag and completed the second day in ninth place in the Junior World Trophy category.

On the second day, the riders had to tackle the same route and special stages they completed on the first day with rutted-out sections and dust playing a huge role in the results. The remaining seven team-members however showed just how tough South African enduro motorcycle riders are and they persevered to post some great results for a .rookie. team . except for Pos and Torlage, competing in the ISDE is a first experience for the rest of the South African team with many of them (Swanepoel, Moore and Van Zyl) competing internationally for the first time.

The 19-year old Ballito rider, Swanepoel, leads the pack and is 50th overall (World Trophy and Junior World Trophy categories) with the results of a 100 competitors on the list after the second day.s racing . he is 27th in *E2. (Competitors in the Womens. World Trophy and Club World Trophy categories are being scored separately.) 

Although De Wet (29) did not really enjoy the rutted-out tracks and was held up by a slower competitor, he moved to 54th place on the overall standings (he is 12th in E3) with Cox 61st overall (16th in E1). He had to replace a radiator after the race and replaced the clutch on his KTM (riders have to do all these mechanical jobs themselves) before the start of the third day.s racing in a limited amount of time.

Torlage (25) completed day two in 66th place overall (19th in E1); Moore (22) is 67th overall (34th in E2) with Swanevelder and Van Zyl in 86th and 87th places respectively . 26th and 27th in E1. The SA World Trophy Team moved from up one place on the rankings and is now 11th despite having .lost. two riders (Gutzeit and Pos). In an interview with the ISDE Media, De Wet was quoted on saying the following: ¡°I felt good. The track was very rough. I am so glad that (this) track is over and we are going to a new one tomorrow. I had a better day today than yesterday, so let's see what's tomorrow like. I enjoyed some of the specials especially the motocross one. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and think that the special stages will be very nice. It's a lot more sand, so let's see what happens tomorrow. The bike is good. I've done two tyre changes both back and the front. So I¡¯ll have a fresh start for tomorrow and it will be good.¡± (grammatically edited).

After spending more than six hours in the saddle each day for the past two days and having to do all the maintenance on their bikes themselves, competitors will face a total race distance of 221 kilometres today (Wednesday, 5 November) with the estimated time of racing just over seven hours. Racing starts just before 13h00 (South African time) with the results after each racing stage being posted .live. on http://www.fim-isde-live.info/. .../2

FIRST RESULTS FOR TWO SOUTH AFRICAN TEAMS AT SIX DAYS OF TOUGH ENDURO RACING IN ARGENTINA

South Africa is being represented by two enduro motorcycle teams at the current International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) that is taking place in San Juan in Argentina, South America where the racing has started on Monday (3 November) and finishes after six consecutive days of racing on Saturday (8 November). Team South Africa and their support crews have already left for Argentina more than a week ago to walk the racing stages (specials) and prepare their motorcycles in San Juan in scorching conditions with temperatures climbing to more than 40°C.

Two young teams represent the South African enduro racing community and except for businessman Albert Pos, who is competing in his third ISDE event, all the riders are under the age of 30. Pos forms part of the World Trophy Team together with the newly crowned E2 National Enduro Champion, Altus de Wet; former E1 Enduro Champion, Marc Torlage; former national off-road champion, Charan Moore (the mountains of Lesotho is his playground) and Brett Swanepoel who has just completed the national enduro season in the third place in the extremely competitive E1 category while he has claimed podium results in various local extreme enduro events.

In the Junior World Trophy Team, Bradley Cox is a former Junior National Off-road and Motocross Champion while lady rider, Toni Jardine, has visited Europe often during 2014 to compete in the Women World Enduro Championship. The rest of the team consists of youngster Brendan Swanevelder who, like Cox, competed in the Red Bull Sea to Sky in Turkey earlier this year as well as Daniel van Zyl. Cox (16 years and eight months) is the youngest World Junior Trophy rider currently competing in the ISDE followed by Van Zyl (he is about three weeks older than Cox) and Swanevelder. It also seems that South Africa is making a little bit of history by having a lady rider (Jardine) in their World Junior Trophy Team.

The three scholars – Cox is from Cato Ridge in KwaZulu-Natal, but is currently competing in international motocross in Europe while Van Zyl, who is from Matatiele, goes to school at Pietermaritzburg and Swanevelder is from Lydenburg – took a break from school to represent their country at this world event (22-year old Jardine is a professional racer from Edenvale). To race is however the ‘day job’ for most of the members of the SA World Trophy Team who are professional competitors. Montagu rider De Wet (29); Torlage (25) from Pretoria and Swanepoel (19) from Ballito are professional competitors while Ladybrand rider, Moore (22), is studying in Bloemfontein.

To compete in the ISDE, is a dream come true for many serious enduro motorcycle competitors. It is, however, one of the most difficult motorcycle competitions in the world. This year 347 competitors have started the 2014 ISDE event that is taking place for the 89th time and except for Pos and Torlage, competing in the ISDE is a brand new experience for members of the two South African Teams.

The FIM International Six Days’ Enduro originated in 1913 with the objective of testing the reliability of motorcycles and the skill of riders and the aim has remained ever since. During the six days of racing, competitors have to do all the mechanical work on their engines, tyres and the rest of the motorcycle themselves.

DAY 1 (3 Nov 2014)
Competitors had to complete 179 kilometres during the first day that included six special stages of which four were unique.
Pos (KTM) was unfortunately classified as a non-finisher for the first day resulting in the World Trophy Team being placed 12th in its category. The World Junior Trophy Team finished the day in ninth place.
Although the emphasis of the ISDE is on the performances of each country’s teams, individual results are also important. In *E1, Cox (KTM) finished the day in 17th place while Torlage (KTM) was 20th, Swanevelder (Husqvarna) was 27th with Van Zyl (KTM) finished 28th. In *E2 Swanepoel (Yamaha) was 27th with Moore (Yamaha) 36th and Jardine (Yamaha) 49th – she injured her knee halfway through the day, but completed the full race distance. De Wet (Husqvarna) finished 13th in *E3.

DAY 2 (4 Nov 2014)
Day two is a repeat of the first day’s racing.

Team SA competes with the support of Motorsport SA; Portable Shade; Powasol; Alfie Cox Racing and BelRay.