Proving themselves as the nation to beat in this year’s FIM ISDE, the United States won back the FIM World Trophy they last held in 2016. After edging out early pace setters RecoveR8 Team Australia during the midway stage in the race, they grew stronger as the week progressed.
Entering the traditional day six motocross race with a comfortable lead, Ryan Sipes – KTM, Kailub Russell – KTM, Taylor Robert – KTM and Baylor Steward – KTM barely put a foot wrong to clinch this year’s World crown.
Ryan Sipes
“It’s an amazing feeling to win the FIM ISDE. It was an honour to be on the team when we first won it in Spain in 2016 and now to have this moment again is incredible. It’s been a real team effort this week. I think everyone came together to deliver this winning result. I can’t thank everyone involved for the support they’ve given us all – it’s not just us riders doing it, it’s the team manager, mechanics, volunteers and all those back home who’ve got us this far. We’ll celebrate tonight, that’s for sure.”
Taylor Robert
“I’m so happy to be part of the winning team. All four of us have ridden amazing and stayed so consistent. Throughout the whole event the team have been really close, often within a few seconds of each other. To take the win in the E2 class, with Kailub second, feels great too. Obviously, it would have been nice to take the overall win again, but the level has been so high this year. Believe it or not I got through to day five without having a single crash, then managed to come off three times. After that I knew I needed to just make it to the finish safely and secure the result for the team. Everyone has worked so hard, so I’m really pleased with the result.”
Kailub Russell
“It awesome to stand here as World Trophy champion once again, we had a rough couple of years and then I missed last year so to step on top of the podium once again feels really good. It takes a huge effort from Antti and the whole team for us to come over here, and to be able to reward all that hard work with a win is great. We have a lot of fun when we come here but we take the racing extremely seriously and the hard work has certainly paid off.”
As defending champions, RecoveR8 Team Australia never gave up, claiming victory on day six. But with the deficit to their rivals too much to bridge, they ultimately had to settle for the runner-up result in this year’s title fight after leading the first three days of the event.
Strong throughout the competition, Italy made no mistakes on the day to claim the third and final step of the FIM World Trophy podium.
Spain rode hard to collect fourth in this year’s race with Finland and France completing the top six.
2019 ISDE World Trophy Final Classification Overall
- USA
- Australia +1min45.34s
- Italy +12min37.50s
- Spain +16min53.05s
- Finland +22min14.01s
- France +24min45.66s
- Germany +39min12.90s
- Sweden +40min15.24s
- Portugal +49min08.60s
- Belgium +71min04.06s
2019 ISDE Junior World Trophy
RecoveR8 Team Australia made no mistakes on the sixth and final day of competition at the FIM ISDE to race their way onto the top step of the FIM Junior World Trophy podium.
Despite holding a commanding lead over their rivals, the Australian trio of Michael Driscoll – Yamaha, Lyndon Snodgrass – Husqvarna and Fraser Higlett – Husqvarna still topped today’s motocross to cement themselves as this year’s Junior champions.
Lyndon Snodgrass
“As a team we came out strong this week,” said Lyndon Snodgrass. “We wanted a strong start to the week, and I feel like we did just that. It put us in a good position and earned us a big lead that we needed to then maintain. As leaders it gave us that extra confidence to keep setting the pace. All told we were still nervous starting out this morning, but once the racing got going we settled into things. Crossing the finish line – knowing you put everything you had into six days of racing – as World champions is a very special feeling indeed.”
Offering the Australians their greatest challenge all week, the United States kept them honest right until the end. Securing second overall, they ended their week nineminutes and thirteen-seconds behind the winners.
Spain rode resiliently to third overall in the proceedings. Host nation Portugal impressed finishing out the week strongly for fourth overall, while Belgium rounded out the top five.
2019 ISDE Junior World Trophy Final Classification
- Australia
- USA +9min13.94s
- Spain +28min49.31s
- Portugal +77min35.65s
- Belgium +83min09.30s
- Chile +83min24.71s
- Canada +127min46.84s
- Italy
- France
- GBR
Women’s
Creating their own piece of Enduro history, the trio of Rebecca Sheets – KTM, Brandy Richards – KTM and Tarah Gieger – Honda secured United States’ second FIM Women’s World Trophy win, their first since topping the inaugural running of the category in 2007.
Putting an end to Australia’s six-year win streak, the United States rightfully earned their place on the top step of the podium in Portimao.
Brandy Richards
“The nerves were really high coming into today, I think everyone was so relieved to cross the finish line as World champions,’ commented Brandy Richards. “We’ve had a brilliant week and aside from some minor moments, we’ve been strong every day and I think that’s been the key this year. The FIM ISDE is so tough – it wears you down, but you’ve just got to keep fighting. We did that and now finally the victory is ours. Also, with the boys winning the FIM World Trophy class too, it’s certainly put the United States on top!”
With a healthy margin over Great Britain in third, Germany put in a solid final day of riding to claim their place as runners-up in the category.
In what has been a successful FIM ISDE debut, Great Britain took third overall and are sure to become title contender in future editions.
Sweden held off Spain to take fifth, while Portugal will be pleased with their efforts on home soil for sixth.
2019 ISDE Women’s World Trophy Final Classification
- USA
- Germany +8min51.21s
- GBR +18min55.73s
- Sweden +37min08.71s
- Spain +42min34.76s
- Portugal +54min06.21s
- Canada +64min26.60s
- Australia
- Norway
Daniel Sanders fastest rider of ISDE 2019
Daniel Sanders and Josep Garcia ran each other close most days across ISDE 2019 but ultimately it was the Australian that proved his form as the fastest rider of ISDE 2019.
Lyndon Snodgrass was the fastest ‘Junior’ category entrant, third in Enduro 1 and the 20-year-old also claimed the seventh outright overall time for the six days of the event.
Luke Styke and ‘Jnuior’ Fraser Higlett rounded out the overall top ten of ISDE 2019 in what underlined the speed, consistency and class of Australian enduro riders with four Australians in the outright top ten.
Joshua Green made it five Australians in the top 12 while ‘Junior’ Michael Driscoll ended the event as the 16th fastest rider overall.
ISDE Fastest Rider Overall
- Daniel Sanders Husqvarna Australia
- Josep Garcia KTM Spain +53.23s
- Taylor Robert KTM USA +4min22.34s
- Kailub Russell KTM USA +6min02.99s
- Daniel McCanney TM GBR +7min30.46s
- Ryan Sipes KTM USA +7min31.50s
- Lyndon Snodgrass KTM Australia +8min10.41s
- Davide Guarneri Honda Italy +8min11.69s
- Luke Styke Yamaha Australia +8min35.26s
- Fraser Higlett Husqvarna Australia +10min03.39s
- Steward Baylor KTM USA +10min25.82s
- Joshua Green Yamaha Australia +10min39.46s
- Rudy Moroni KTM Italy +10min44.00s
- Grant Baylor KTM USA +10min53.91s
- Eero Remes Yamaha Finland +10min58.24s
- Michael Driscoll Yamaha Australia +12min00.91s
- Antoine Magain KTM Belgium +12min03.82s
- Thomas Oldrati Honda Italy +12min13.94s
- Ben Kelley KTM USA +12min20.34s
- Roni Kytonen Husqvarna Finland +13min29.92s
Enduro 1
With the outright fastest time on the day, Spain’s Josep Garcia – KTM topped the Enduro 1 class for the sixth time. Consistently proving himself as the rider to beat each day, Garcia secured the overall category win.
Josep Garcia
“Overall, I am happy with my result, winning the E1 class was always going to be my first goal here in Portugal. I’m a little disappointed not to have been closer to the overall win, but the tests in the sand on the first two days didn’t suit the smaller bike so well. I finished second on both of those days, but it was tricky to make up time after that. I pushed as hard as I could every day, but to take the overall win on day five felt very special. With such varied conditions and terrain each day, the whole event has been tough. I’m happy with my performance and my bike has been great.”
Behind Garcia, Ryan Sipes held off top Junior Lyndon Snodgrass by thirty-eight seconds after more than four-and-a-half hours of timed racing to claim second.
Australia’s Luke Styke – Yamaha and Finland’s Eero Remes – Yamaha completed the top five.
2019 ISDE Enduro 1 Final Classification
- Josep Garcia KTM Spain
- Ryan Sipes KTM USA
- Lyndon Snodgrass KTM Australia
- Luke Styke Yamaha Australia
- Eero Remes Yamaha Finland
- Thomas Oldrati Honda Italy
- Roni Kytonen Husqvarna Finland
- Antoine Basset Husqvarna France
- Sergio Navarro Husqvarna Spain
- Joshua Toth KTM USA
Enduro 2
Signing off on his 2019 FIM ISDE in style, Taylor Robert claimed the day six Enduro 2 win to ultimately claim the overall category victory.
Ensuring another memorable result for the United States, Kailub Russell joined him on the podium in second. Italy’s Davide Guarneri – Honda rounded out the top three.
Fraser Higlett was the top Junior in fourth just ahead of Australian compatriot.
2019 ISDE Enduro 2 Final Classification
- Taylor Robert KTM USA
- Kailub Russell KTM USA
- Davide Guarneri Honda Italy
- Fraser Higlett Husqvarna Australia
- Joshua Green Yamaha Australia
- Grant Baylor KTM USA
- Michael Driscoll Yamaha Australia
- Antoine Magain KTM Belgium
- Ben Kelley KTM USA
- Erik Willems Husqvarna Belgium
Enduro 3
Daniel Sanders dominated the Enduro 3 category throughout the event and was the overall fastest rider of ISDE 2019.
2019 ISDE Enduro 3 Final Classification
- Daniel Sanders Husqvarna Australia
- Daniel McCanney TM GBR
- Steward Baylor KTM USA
- Rudy Moroni KTM Italy
- Anugs Heidecke KTM DEU
- Anthony Geslin Beta France
- David Abgrall Beta France
- Matteo Pavoni Beta Italy
- Oskar Ljungstrom Husqvarna Sweden
- Jed Etchells Sherco GBR
Women’s
In the final battle for Enduro Women honours, Brandy Richards secured the day six win over Germany’s Maria Franke.
However, it was Franke who enjoyed the spoils of victory claiming the outright Enduro Women’s win in this year’s FIM ISDE.
Richards, helped by her final day’s success, took the runner-up spot, while Great Britain’s Jane Daniels was third.
Australian Jessica Gardiner and Spain’s Mireia Badia were fourth and fifth respectively.
2019 ISDE Women’s Final Classification
- Maria Franke KTM DEU
- Brandy Richards KTM USA
- Jane Daniels Husqvarna GBR
- Jessica Gardiner Yamaha Australia
- Mireia Badia Husqvarna Spain
- Rebecca Sheets KTM USA
- Shelby Turner KTM Canada
- Tarah Gieger Honda USA
- Anne Borchers Husqvarna DEU
- Joana Goncalves Husqvarna PRT
FIM Enduro Vintage Trophy
The final day of competition in the EVT class saw Italy’s Stefano Passeri – KTM come out on top. He was followed home by Australia’s Rick Madden – Husqvarna in second with Mario Rinaldi – KTM third.
Italy won the Vintage Team Trophy ahead of Germany and France.
Source: MCNews.com.au