The Junior Trophy team consisting of Kyron Bacon (Yamaha), Blake Hollis (Yamaha) and Kory McMahon (GASGAS) finished the event in third after a gruelling six days of competition. The team were always in contention from a podium finish right from the get-go and kept in the fight right to the end to snare the final podium spot in a rewarding week for the three riders.

Bacon led the charge finishing an incredible third in the JSE1 class, fifth in JWT and 26th outright for the event on board his 250cc machine. Bacon has been nothing short of sensational in the 2022 season, winning the Australian Four Day Enduro, currenting leading the Australian Off-Road Championship and now a podium result at the most prestigious off road event in the world.

The 2022 ISDE was Bacon’s first attempt at the event and the experience gained will hold not only him, but the Australian team in good stead as he know has better knowledge of how the event is run and the skills required to compete on the world stage.

“That was pretty tough,” Bacon said not long after the finish. “Six long days on a bike, all done at close to race pace throughout on challenging and tricky trails and tests makes it super draining and such a hard event to contest.

“Each day presented another challenge as the tests were dry and dusty, then become rough and rocky so you really had to be on your game and stay focused. But being a team event, it’s awesome to have the support of everyone around you who help and offer assistance and I’m stoked to be able to stand on the podium with Blake and Kory to finish third. Thank you to Joakim and Yamaha Europe for this assistance during the event as well as AJ and everyone at Yamaha Australia who always support us. Also, thanks to Motorcycling Australia and the team sponsors who invested in us. It was a great event and I look forward to doing many more of these in the years to come.”

Blake Hollis also was on debut at the 2022 ISDE and proved to be a consistent and reliable anchor man for the team, coming home in eighth in JSE1, 12th pace in JWT and 56th Outright. Hollis battled some sickness during the week but continued to front up each and every day giving his all and helped his team mates to the podium result. Hollis also gained plenty of experience from the event and believes that it will do him good both domestically as well as the next time he competes at the ISDE.

“It’s pretty cool to be racing against the best off riders in the world and I got to watch and learn from them first hand. None of us in the junior team have had much international experience, so I think we learned a lot and worked well together to get a good result.

“We had a lot of people here supporting us, some of them volunteers who just wanted to be a part of it, so I’m thankful to them as well as everyone on the team and Yamaha. I would love to come back and do this event again as I think I can prepare better and achieve a better result, so I hope to get back and give another one a crack in the future.”

Jess Gardiner led the Women’s team to another podium result at the ISDE. Gardiner, an experienced campaigner who already has six ISDE gold medals to her name, can now add a bronze as the team of Gardiner, Emilie Karlsson and Ebony Nelson finished third in 2022.

For Gardiner, she found this one a challenge as conditions were tough and the riding long, but the ever determined rider she is enabled her to charge all the way to the finish and take fourth in individual honours and lead Australia to a third place finish.

“We had a bit of everything thrown at us this week, from dust to rocks and some rain here and there so it was a tough event and the tests were used several times so it was also rough. The girls did a great job, and I can’t thank them enough for giving it their best every day and I’m proud to be standing on the podium with them this week after some a gruelling event.”    

The only blemish during the event was the forced retirement of Josh Green. Green was riding well and consistently posting good times in the opening days of competition but on day four fell on rocks and severely injured his hand and fingers. This meant Green had to go to hospital as a nasty gash and cuts required clean up surgery and some wires placed to secure and stabilize his hand. He spent the last two days cheering on his teammates.

“It’s a disappointing way to finish the event and I feel bad for letting the senior team down. Daniel, Todd, Andy and myself were all battling away and trying to get towards a podium but that all went out the window when myself and Todd went down with injury. I’m gutted that I couldn’t help my teammates to the end. Doing an event like this is a huge effort from so many people. The work that goes on behind the scenes is massive, so a huge thank you to everyone who has had a handing in helping team Australia in all divisions. We all worked well as a team and it would have been awesome for everyone of us to be on the podium at the end, but it wasn’t to be,” Green said.

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The 2022 edition of the FIM Six Days Enduro was held in Le Puy-en-Velay, a small characteristic village in the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes which, for many years, has hosted all the GPs of the FIM EnduroGP World Championship.

The Six Day 2022 included a race course divided into three zones for a total of five Special Tests for the first five days of competition followed by the usual cross manche at the end of the event. On Day 1 and 2 the Special Tests were located in the villages of Haute-Loire, Haut-Allier and Gévaudan while the race course of Day 3 and 4, always included the departure from the village of Haute-Loire and then move to Lozère and finish in Langogne. On the fifth day of competition it started from the village of Haute-Loire with a passage to Le Puy-en-Velay and the conclusion of the day of competition in Emblavez. For the highly anticipated final on Saturday 3 September, the organizers have chosen the cross track a few steps from the paddock in Le Puy-en-Velay.

In France, the METZELER riders raced for all six days of competition on hard and dusty terrain made even more slippery and demanding by the rains that fell during some days. In addition to the classic French special tests on a counter slope, the riders faced some wooded parts with some roots and numerous natural obstacles.

The French Six Days began with a protagonist, Josep Garcia (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) who, with his speed, brought the Spanish national team to the provisional first place after Day One. Starting with the handbrake on, the English national team finished Day One in third place but from the following day the English team, led by Nathan Wattson and Steve Holcombe, took the lead until the end of the sixth day Motocross manche. The English team including METZELER riders Nathan Watson (Honda Racing RedMoto World Enduro Team), Steve Holcombe (Team Beta Factory Enduro) and Jed Etchells (Fantic D’Arpa Racing) won the 96th edition of the Six Days.

Throughout the duration of the Six Days, the fight for second place in the World Trophy saw the Italian and Spanish national teams fight each other to the last breath. Spain started strong right away but Italy ran a constant race. The Italian team led by Andrea Verona (Gas Gas Factory Racing), Thomas Oldrati (Honda Racing RedMoto World Enduro Team) and two other METZELER supported riders Alex Salvini and Samuele Bernardini arrived at the motocross manche of the sixth day in third position with Spain in second place. At the end of the sixth and final day, the Italian national team managed to overtake the Spanish national team by snatching the second final place in the World Trophy.

Australian rider Daniel Milner (Fantic D’Arpa Racing) failed to shine as in the FIM EnduroGP World Championship, while Mikael Persson (Husqvarna Factory Racing) after five days as protagonist threw away the third overall individual place in the last motocross race. Roni Kytonen (Honda Racing RedMoto World Enduro Team) took her Finnish national team to second place in the Junior Trophy.

Results – Individual Overall

1 GARCIA Josep
2 VERONA Andrea
3 WATSON Nathan

Results – World Trophy

1 UK
2 Italy
3 Spain

Results – Junior Trophy

1 Italy
2 Finland
3 Australia

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Daniel Milner was a consistent presence near the front, ending the event 12th overall, 11th in World Trophy and third in the E1 class overall.

In the Junior World Trophy, the top performer was Tasmanian wunderkind Kyron Bacon who was 26th overall, 5th in his Junior World Trophy class and 3rd in E1 (Junior) and finally,  13th in E1 overall.

In the Women’s World Trophy division, Jess Gardiner was a strong presence from day one. She was 116th overall, 5th in Women’s World Trophy and 56th overall in E1.

Daily Summaries 
Day One: ”Day One of the 2022 International Six Day Enduro has seen the Australian tilt have mixed bag as they settled into the new environment of the French countryside, with the understanding that the Six Day Enduro cannot be won on the first day, but a crash can end it very early.”

Day Two: “As one of the most challenging events in world motorsport, the nature of the ISDE is that it rewards consistency and determination. The Aussies had a slow first day, but thanks to their persistence, the slow climb up the rankings has begun…”

Day Three: “MXstore Team Australia hit the half-way mark after completing Day Three of the FIM ISDE in France. Our JWT riders move up to third in the overall while WT and WWT hold firm in seventh and fourth. Day Three brought us a new location as Loop 2 made its debut, bring a whole new set of tests.”

Day Four: “A really tough day four- the day that can often bring teams undone and it was MXstore Team Australia on the wrong side of the motorcycling gods with Todd Waters crashing out of the event.”

Day Five: “Day Five was once again a day of both positives and negatives, as the challenge of the new Loop, unfortunately, contributed to Josh Green crashing out during stage two. While it’s been an extremely tough competition for our MXstore Team Australia Men’s World Trophy contingent, our Junior and Women’s teams have both solidified their contention for podiums with consistent performances helping to extend the gap from fourth in both categories.”

Day Six: “Day Six wrapped up the 2022 Six Day Enduro. MXstore Team Australia have secured third place in both the Junior World Trophy and Women’s World Trophy.”

Check out the full results from the event here…

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