VOLUME 57 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 14, 2020 P81
it's probably going to pay off
come race time.
It's definitely tricky, especially
when you have four guys—and it's
really seven guys because the
Junior [World Trophy] guys are
always with us as well [and] we
have to keep track of the [three
Women's World Trophy riders] as
well. The tricky part is trying to
keep seven guys together when
you've got seven different person-
alities and seven different series
as far as training and what works
for them and what doesn't. So it's
pretty tricky, trying to make it fun
without losing focus as well.
In Portugal, did it surprise
you to start out so strong yet
Daniel Sanders from Australia
was killing it and leading over-
all to keep them right with you
in the team standings?
That was tricky because we
knew we had three guys in the
top five [overall], yet we weren't
winning. So that was a little
frustrating, but I had a really good
feeling that if we kept our pro-
gram together and we kept riding
like that, it would work itself out.
If you have four guys riding that
well for that many days in a row,
chances are that one guy isn't go-
ing to be able to carry three other
guys for six days. Not to take
anything away from Sanders who
was riding really well, but at the
same time I had a feeling that if
we kept on top of them, that we'd
be able to make it happen.
Have you ridden in the E1
class (125cc two-strokes and
250cc four-strokes) before?
And what's your preference?
I have not; I've always been
on either a 450, 500 or a 350.
Honestly, I tried riding the 250 a
little bit this year for training, and
you just have to ride it so much
differently than the 450. For me,
I feel like my riding style really
suits the 450 as far as trying to
be smooth and not over-riding the
bike. That's what I was struggling
with when I was trying to ride the
250, was just how aggressive you
have to ride a 250 to go the same
speed as someone on a 450 or
myself on a 450, for that matter.
Looking back at 2019, which
is your favorite moment: win-
ning the Sprint Hero Champi-
onship, the WORCS champion-
ship or the Six Days?
I think my favorite moment
would be winning Six Days. It
was just such a cool feeling, and
having that many fans there and
that much American pride going
around, I thought that was a really
cool experience. CN
I WAS LIKE,
"REALLY? THIS IS
GOING TO HAPPEN
TO ME ON THE
DAY THAT I COULD
POTENTIALLY WIN A
CHAMPIONSHIP?"
In 2020, Robert will turn
30, but he shows no
signs of slowing down.
