A big day out - times six

KRISTIN EDGE | 13th November 2006

Rotorua motocross gun Michael Phillips will be hot on the heels of five-time world motocross champion Joel Smets when the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) roars into action.

The Belgian sporting hero Smets will race with number 99 fixed firmly to his bike while 20-year-old Phillips will start with race number 100 in the ISDE event which is billed as the Ironman of motorcycling.

Riders hit the tracks tomorrow with the first rider rolling out of Taupo Motorsport Park at 7am.

The cream of motorcycling talent from 31 countries has poured into Taupo over the last week for the 81st running of the ISDE and the first time it has been held on New Zealand soil.

Support crews have been busy unloading and assembling the 620 enduro bikes from crates and containers ready for the riders.

Phillips is a member of the New Zealand Junior Trophy Team along with Jason Davis, of Whangamata, Karl Power from Hamilton and Thames rider Adrian Smith.

Horohoro farmer Cameron Negus will race in the Senior Trophy team which includes motocross brothers Darryll and Shayne King.

On the eve of race start Phillips told the Daily Post the pressure was on to perform in front of a Kiwi crowd and following one of the sport's best riders was an added incentive.

"It's the biggest race of my career being in such a huge international event. I start one minute behind Smets all six days and that's just awesome," Phillips said. "I'm a motocross rider and I feel a bit like a fish out of water in this enduro event. But I've been training hard in the bush to get used to riding through trees and over roots. I know I'll be nervous before I ride out."

Smets has been waiting 20 years to ride in New Zealand.

"Okay, for the six days to be in NZ, I can't be in a better place," Smets said.

In Europe, the ISDE is usually staged in August, which clashed with his motocross Grand Prix campaigns.

The Belgian competed in his first ISDE in 1993, his second in Australia in 1998, where he won the 400cc four stroke class.

This year's event will be Smets' third ISDE, but enduro riding is very different to motocross.

"Especially for the ISDE it's really important to judge when you need to be fast and when you don't have to.

"That's really difficult.

"In motocross you have no choice, the gate drops and it's just flat out until the chequered flag comes."

The 2006 ISDE will be Smets' last international race.

The riders are on their own for six gruelling days.

So how does one person do it for six days straight?

"Your arms feel like jelly after a day on the bike ... and then you've still got a 15-minute work period ahead of you, to make repairs or change tyres and air filters.

"It can be pretty daunting," said event organiser and former gold medal winner Sean Clarke, of Tokoroa.

Riders will spend up to eight hours' hard riding each day, wrestling their bikes through the bush.

They are restricted to just 15 minutes at the end of each day where, unassisted, they must maintain or repair their bikes.

There is an additional 10-minute allocation to complete such work as dawn breaks the next morning and time lost in the pits could be very costly.

"I think New Zealand would have to be thrilled with either of its teams finishing top-five.

"I'd expect Finland, Sweden and Italy to be the top nations," Clarke said.