Victorian Mitcham Harper was the star of the fifth-placed Australian Junior Trophy Team at the 2011 International Six Day Enduro in Finland on the final day of the six-day competition which concluded on Saturday, August 13.
Shortly after arriving home from Helsinki the 19-year-old from Bright was still elated from his performance at the ISDE. "It feels good," Harper remarked.
"It's my second gold medal at an ISDE, so it's good to get a couple of world titles.
"It was quite easy to DNF (in the latter stages of the race), like a few of our other lads did, because the conditions were pretty tough, but it was good."
Harper finished eleventh overall in the E2 class, ensuring a gold medal for his efforts.
"The Junior Trophy Team could have gone better. A few of our Junior riders got moved up into the Senior Team. The boys rode well, and all those Junior riders finished," Mitch added.
Toby Price and
Matthew Phillips were the standouts for the World Trophy Team, which struggled earlier after losing the likes of
Kurt Hutton,
Glen Kearney and fellow Victorian
Daniel Milner.
Asked how Milner fared on the world stage, Mitch replied: "He had a bit of bad luck on the fourth day, I think it was. His chain derailed, and he smashed his pegs out, but I think he got a fourteenth outright in a test that day, and he got up to 22nd outright.
"He was pretty disappointed, but I'm sure he can do even better next year," Harper said.
The final rounds of the 2011 Victorian Off-Road Championships conclude in September at Erica, where Harper will look to consolidate his impressive form. He is just 39 points behind Aussie teammate Milner, and 74 points behind Pro Junior class leader
Christopher Davey.
"I had a couple of DNFs at Corner Inlet where I injured my scapular there, so that was pretty unfortunate.
"It was also a national round as well, so that put me out there a bit," Harper added.
"Hopefully I'm still up there, and hopefully I can get that number two plate."
Main Photo: Harper on one of his gold-winning rides at the 2011 ISDE in Finland.
Credit: www.404Shots.com 
