VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P37
one club team is hand selected,
which is usually made up of top-
level pro riders who are not on
a Trophy Team. A Senior team
also is selected, making up the
21 riders.
"This is actually my first time
to attend a qualifier, so I'm taking
a little deeper look at the club
riders," added Kallonen. "We're
grooming the next generation of
Trophy riders, men and women."
Missing from the event was
FMF/KTM's Taylor Robert, who
was supposed to be riding a six-
race schedule this year, strictly in
preparation for Argentina.
"Taylor was supposed to ride
both the east and west qualifier
series for practice, and it's good
for these up-and-coming racers
to get to watch a past ISDE over
-
all winner, so it's a bummer he
injured his wrist. We're not sure
if he will be ready for the west
qualifier, but that is his main goal
for the year is to ride Argentina,"
said Kallonen.
FMF/KTM's Johnny Girroir
was the overall winner for the
three-day qualifier event, taking
the overall by nearly 28 sec
-
onds ahead of Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna's Craig DeLong, and
he commented that with the
transfer trail, Monday's event
was much tougher.
"The tests were longer and
there was about a 10-minute
transfer between the tests, so it
was a bit more challenging," said
Girroir. "I was on the ground a lot
the first two days, but I cleaned it
up today and only fell once, so I
feel good about the win."
Coastal Racing GasGas' Thad
Duvall was third overall for the
three days, while FXR/GasGas
rider Layne Michael was fourth.
Pennsylvania's Thorn Devlin
was the top LOI rider in fifth
overall so he will get a chance
to make up for his last two
attempts at Six Days when he
qualified but didn't get to ride
due to injuries.
"In 2019 and then last year, I
got hurt at the last minute and
didn't get to go," said Devlin.
"I'm pretty much giving it one
more shot and hopefully we stay
healthy."
Trail Jesters KTM's Korie
Steede came into Monday's
event a minute-and-a-half behind
Rachel Gutish but managed to
Craig DeLong was second overall,
including Monday's results.
