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Hi Bill.
I am sorry but I don`t agree with your comments in ISDE Brazil: that we should send a team.
For a start who would want to go? The first thing needed to make up a team for the ISDE is a desire from the riders to want to go. Why is that so difficult?
1 - Brazil is a bloody long way away.
2 - Cost is about 10 -15 grand per rider.
It costs Motorcycling Australia (MA) 140 thousand dollars to send a team to the Six Days each year.
That`s ten riders, plus 2 reserves and 2 managers.
Club riders can tag along if they have the funds. I think 22 went last year, all up.
At the moment, if NZ were to front a team worthy of competing at that level, the highest in the World, there would only be two Enduro riders that reguarly compete in Enduros and the rest of the team would be made up of MX riders.
I think we are better off going to the Aussie 4 day.
In the next few weeks we are going to be putting together a criteria for team selection for the Aussie four day. Next year the A4DE is in Victoria, Warrgal.
In the past, team selection for the 4 day events has been pretty easy.
Step 1 - who wants to go
No step 2, as there is usually only just enough riders for a Senior team or `Oceania team` as we have been called for the last few years.
What we have to do is change this, so we have got a number of riders wanting to get into a team (Junior trophy - under23 or Senior trophy) and the best six would make up the Oceania team, regardless of their age.
I think the Aussies do so well at the Six Days because they run a Four Day Enduro that is pretty close to the same format as the ISDE. They also run a sprint series in NSW that attracts a lot of competitors. It is literally a terrain test that they do about ten times during the day. The result is that they just go faster and faster.
Did you look at Whib`s results this year? He always did really well on the first lap of tests, but as the day wore on he got slower - or - the others got faster. That is because in NZ we have these things called `blind terrain tests` and he is an expert at them. But riding the ISDE or the WEC you have to be bloody fast at MX.
Over the last few years I have been trying to change the format of NZ Enduros to include more special tests that riders get to pre-ride before racing.
It`s the old story though, you can teach anyone to change a tyre but it is harder to teach them to go fast !!
Sean Clark
MNZ Enduro Commissioner.
