ISDE DAY THREE: DAY OF DNFS

ISDE REPORT

Mark Kariya

taylor — Taylor Robert continued showing that he’s America’s best ISDE rider, until he sucked dirt and lost route points.

Day Three will be forever known as the Day of DNFs. From what I’m told by the press chief, 90 riders DNFed today!
The reason was the super-fine silt in many of the transfer sections–not just in the tests. The loop today was different, of course, and went south and east of San Juan past a lot of vineyards and into countryside that really resembled Baja.
Despite precautions familiar to any seasoned desert racer, it didn’t seem to matter because chances are, you’d be sucking dust, especially if you were farther back in the pack. The Wellard’s Club team lost Chris Bach to a broken engine, as did Beta USA with Nick Burson. Travis Coy also chalked up a DNF.
Even Jeff Fredette saw his race come to a premature end. Grim.
But, Team USA’s World Trophy team somehow got back up into second place and the Junior World Trophy team now leads Sweden by 26 seconds! So, not all is lost. But we’re on the razor’s edge now and can’t afford another DNF.