Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2013 other some space. We told each other good luck and went out and did our own thing." Another interesting fact about the two teammates is that Mullins elects to ride the more powerful 450 in the GNCC series and Russell opts for the smaller, but more nimble KTM 350 XC-F. "The 350 is a great bike for woods," says Russell. "There's not really any disadvantage to the 450 in GNCC. The races are so long that there are a lot more factors that come into play than just horsepower. I think the only disadvantage it has is it's a little that feeling of inertia that makes a difference, that makes it feel a lot lighter." The GNCC series was not the only series Russell had on his plate in 2013. KTM off-road team manager Antti Kallonen insists that all of the off-road racers compete in two different series, and Russell chose the OMA Series as his second to the GNCC series. And Russell started the year with good intentions of racing the OMA Series, although things didn't work out the way he planned. "I started out the year want- " I LOOKED OVER AT BARRY [HAWK] AND SAID A FEW CHOICE WORDS IN MY HELMET AND THEN JUST GOT DOWN TO WORK. " down on torque and you have to ride it a little bit higher in the RPMs, where on a 450 you can get lazy and ride around rely on that torque. I think it's a similar riding style to the 250F and that's kind of why I picked it in 2011, because I was coming off the Lites class. And I've been riding a 450 a lot the last few weeks, just to try it out and when I jump back on the 350 that's what it feels like, kind of like a 250F. I had forgotten how much power a 450 makes until I got back on one. Although the 350 feels a little more nimble, even though there's only a few pounds difference in the two bikes, but it's ing to do the OMA Series, I worked out a couple of deals to make money at them, and I had support from KTM to do them, they flew in my mechanic, Tanner Harding, for the races. But things weren't working out, I was spending more money getting there than I was making. I just wasn't in a happy place racing those races. A bunch of people really enjoy racing that series and those kind of tracks, but it's just not what I want to do. I was going to the track and I wasn't ready to race, I was ready to leave, so it just wasn't working out. I finally decided I wasn't going to waste any more of my money and Tan- P161 ner's time and KTM's money flying him out to my house, so I told Antti I didn't want to do them any more. So when I told him that he said there might be a chance for me to go ride Six Days on the Junior team, so I decided to do that." Kallonen had asked Russell at the start of the season if he wanted to race Six Days and Russell's answer was an emphatic no! "I didn't really want to go to Six Days because I was struggling so much in OMAs, and I just didn't want to be there and I didn't want that kind of attitude to carry over into something as big as ISDE," admitted Russell. "But once I quit the OMAs then I started getting excited about going to Six Days. After going this year, I've decided it's something I want to be a part of in the future." Six Days was a much better experience for Russell than the OMA debacle and he ended up turning a lot of heads in Europe, especially on day one. "Day one was pretty good; I didn't think I rode as good as I could, though. I was a little bit nervous about the format, about what I should do," Russell said. "It was my first time at Six Days and I wasn't real sure about how the format worked and I didn't want to screw up." At the end of day one, Russell finished as top overall Junior, however, he felt like he had a lot more to offer out on the track. "The conditions were terrible and those tires are hard to ride

• Cover