
2018 British Army ISDE Team
The Husqvarnas mounted British Army Team of Tom Ellwood, Kalem Hicks and Aaron Coupland have
completed the 2018 International Six Days Enduro in Viña del Mar,
Chile.
Day 1: Tom Ellwood riode through the heat and dust to finish 15th out of
the 300 starters in the Club class and 7th in C2 class. Kalem Hicks was 18th
and Aaron Coupland was 29th. The scores were added together to emerged
secure 5th overall.
Day 2: All 3 riders improved. Tom was 2nd, Kalem was 17th and Aaron was
24th and the team moved up the leader board into 4th.
Day 3: Tom Ellwood had a slow start. He dropped down to 8th by the end of
the first lap and the organisers didn't help when they cut a test which made
the hill higher to climb but Tom dug deep to finish 5th overall for the day.
Day 4: Tom Ellwood was on the pace and he got his foot onto the podium
with a 3rd place overall and a P2 finish in class.
On the last full day Tom Ellwood had his best ride of the week with a P2
overall. Kalem Hicks was clipped by a car in an RTA and lost 5 minutes on the
going but after an appeal
The
motocross test on Day 6 is seen as a formality but it still counts. Tom
Ellwood was reminded of the fact when he crashed on the first turn and the
rest of the pack ploughed into him. The bike was wrecked. Tom limped home in
23rd and missed a podium finish for the week by one place. He was
philosophical and said "Happy to walk away in one piece and finish off
the week even if I didn’t get the result I wanted". Aaron Coupland was
31st and Kalem Hicks was 60th. In the C2 class Final Tom Ellwood was 4th,
Kalem Hicks was 16th and Aaron Coupland was 23rd.
Despite
their individual setbacks the team finished a tough week that tested the World's best in a very
creditable 5th place.
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