Australia's International Six Day Enduro Team will compete in the event
later this month without seasoned rider Shane Watts, who has withdrawn due
to injury.
The team's reserve rider, Craig Douglas from Kulnara in New South Wales,
has replaced Watts in the senior team.
A disappointed Watts, who broke his wrist this year, said he did not feel
confident that his injury had recovered enough to take on the hard slog of
the ISDE.
"I am very disappointed at not being able to represent Australia at the
ISDE. I always look forward to racing this event, however the recovery from
my broken wrist just hasn't progressed to the point where I feel
comfortable that it could withstand six days of punishment."
Watts said withdrawing from the team made sense considering the event
relies heavily on strong performances from all team members.
"The last thing I would want to do is to jeopardise the team's chance of an
excellent result, thus withdrawing from the event was the most appropriate
decision that I could make," he said.
Watts wished the whole team the best of luck for the event, which begins in
Czech Republic on September 24.
"I definitely wish the whole team the best of luck and hopefully I'll be
able to compete in next year's ISDE in Brazil."
Team manager Peter Dooley said today that while it was unfortunate to lose
the experienced Watts from the team, it was good to see Craig Watson enter
the team.
Speaking from Czech Republic, where the team arrived earlier this week,
Dooley said he understood Watts' concerns.
"It is disappointing that Shane can't ride in the ISDE this year. We all
know his riding ability," he said.
"But he wouldn't want to ride at less than full capacity, so I can
understand his decision and wish him a speedy recovery.
"On the upside, it's nice to see that Craig has made the senior team. I saw
him ride in the junior team in 1999 and it's always good to see young
riders coming through," Dooley said.
"I know Craig's really looking forward to riding for Australia and we're
all hoping for a very positive result."