RENO, NV (NOV. 25) — This year’s ISDE (International Six Day Enduro) was held in Argentina. Americans filled the podiums and a local rider was part of the winning team.
That rider is Austin Serpa, the Sales and Activation Manager at Carson City Motorsports. Besides his day job he’s raced at lot with MRANN’s desert off-road events but got interested in ISDE.
“I saw one of my teammates do it in 2018 and that sparked my attention to the event,” he said. “Seemed like a really fun event so I did it in 2019.”
His first time results left a bit to be desired.
“It wasn’t not nearly as good as I did this year. I think I got like 34th overall,” he said. “We didn’t do very good as one of my teammates actually houred out so he didn’t finish.”
While the event might seem simple it isn’t. Each competitor is racing the clock as well as facing the challenges of each section.
“It’s generic enduro racing as they start you on a minute and you do your best to resume that minute in all your service and time checks. Every once in a while, down the transfer sections, there’ll be a special test you hit and that’s where the race actually matters.
“ You’re trying to go as fast as you can on a certain distance of the track. Transfer sections are usually pretty easy but in Argentina they were pretty challenging.”
He added a special could be a cross test out in the field or an enduro test in the trees. This entailed a lot of running up and down ravines.
“You have a time limit for the day and for each section,” he said. “So if you get a section done early you’ll wait right before the clock. Once your clock strikes your minute you can pass through that section and resume the next part of the course.”
Another aspect is the daily maintenance required on the bikes.
“It’s pretty crazy as a lot of people would probably get one month out of maintenance depending on how much they ride. But when you’re on the bike eight hours a day and doing 160 miles a day you’ve got to do that bike maintenance every day.”
Another challenge was heat. In that part of the world they’re about to go into summer
“First two days from mid to early afternoon it was about 110 degrees. Getting on the tarmac to change our tires and do all of our bike maintenance after riding for seven hours was really tough,” he said.
“Luckily it cooled down near the middle of the week, day three and four were right around the low 90’s, which is still pretty hot but pretty tolerable especially when you get on the fast transfer sections. Day 5 and 6 six got a little high, I think around 97 but day one and two was really hot.”
During the week Serpa was climbing up the ranks.
“At the beginning we have a randomized starting position and you start with who ever else landed on the same minute as you,” he said. “And through the week if you’re doing good you keep climbing through the ranks, like through the minutes. I think by day two I was on the second club starting minute.”
Besides Serpa, who raced a KTM there were two other members of the team he was on.
“Ryan Surratt is from Southern California and I believe he races for JCR Honda. He’s got a lot of Supercross and Motocross background but these last few years has been doing off-road.”
While Serpa and Surratt are from the west the third teammate is from the east.
Josh Toth spent a lot of his professional career on Factory KTM racing GNCC’s and stuff. Right now he’s doing his own thing, as he’s like a factory Gas Gas support rider.
To compete in this type of an event a rider needs a group of supporters and sponsors.
“ I want to thank my dad (Keith), he helped me out a little bit and one of my best friends Zane Roberts, he rides for Factory Beta, as they both traveled with me. They helped me out for the two weeks we were down there making sure I was taken care of, had bike parts I might have needed on any given day were there for me.”
There is also a huge group of people, a club and other sponsors that made this all possible.
“This was a pretty expensive trip, I’d like to thank Whatever MC and the MRANN community that helped me out a ton. Lots of donations, everybody bought shirts, I actually sold out my shirts.
“I think I had like 90 made so I sold all those. And WhateverMC helped me out with a fund-raiser earlier in the year. There’s a couple of other big donors that helped me out including SXS Skid Plates, Moose Racing and Delany Drive Components that helped me out a ton.”
There were even more that pitched in to enable Serpa to compete in the event.
“MX Trophies helped me out and Rhyno Built Welding, a metal fabrication company out of Gardnerville. They built the crate for me, cause we’ve had to ship the bike three weeks in advance. And everybody else I forgot, thank you.”
This year was a banner year for his team.
“Me, Ryan and Josh won the club team overall. As an individual I got third place in my category, which is C2, based on the bike’s displacement. Overall as a club rider I got fourth.”
There are medals and trophies handed out at this event and Serpa has gotten two different kinds.
“So in 2019 I still gold medaled cause I stayed within 10% of the total time of the winner. So I still got a gold medal but it’s a pretty generic gold medal that anyone inside the top 10% gets,” he said.
This changed since now he was on a winning team.
“Each of us as part of the team get a first place trophy, it’s actually at my house right now, but we also get that medal, which is specific to winning the club team overall.”
Now that he’s home Serpa is enjoying the holidays but has plans for the future.
“Next year is probably going to be similar but I’ll probably going to do a little more District 36. MRANN’s fun, I’ll try and do as many round as I can but ISDE is in Northwest Spain next year.
“It’s really woodsy and a really grassy area. It’ll be a little bit less desert so I want to spend more time in Northern California and in the Pacific Northwest trying to hone my wood skills and my grass track riding skills,” he said.
Currently Serpa is enjoying being an ISDE champion and next year he plans on chasing the gold once again.
OTHER RACING NEWS:
• If one is going to compete in the motorcross scheduled for the Sand Box this coming weekend they will have to register online. The place is www.secure.tracksideprereg.com. Remember there is a toy drive on Sunday.
• For those that raced in this year’s BBMX series the final point are posted. They can be found at www.battlebornmx.com.
• For those that might be in Las Vegas at the end of the week there is a special show, Riskon360 Open Wheel Showdown. Location is The Bull Ring at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For more information please check, www.openwheelshowdown.com.
• Daveys American Racing is found on Face Book. His focus is on western oval tracks as well as national series.
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