OFF ROAD
90TH FIM INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS ENDURO
SEPTEMBER 7-12, 2015
KOSICE, SLOVAKIA
P104
moto thanks to a smart start that
helped put his FE 350 out front
from the second turn to the finish.
"It's an unbelievable feeling
to do this; it's just awesome
because moving over into off-
road has been a tough transition
for me, but to do this and be the
first [American to win the overall]
is an unbelievable feeling," Sipes
said. "I just feel like the weight's
off my shoulders and the stress
is gone! We can celebrate now;
we can talk about it now!
"I didn't want to talk about it
all week. The jinx thing I don't
believe in, but I didn't want to let
my focus stray. I just wanted to
ride my best and be smart and
make good decisions. All week
I was holding onto the lead and
that's stressful!"
Sipes' E2 and overall rival Dan-
iel Milner from Australia said, "I've
got to give it to Sipes; he's thrown
down this week. It's been pretty
cool to see how fast he's been
going and some other things like
from what we're seeing as a rider
is his lines out there! He's doing
some really smart lines and it's
paying off for him."
So, Team USA got a little bit
of glory out of the week, which
had started out so well. As a
team, the U.S. finished 22nd
out of 24, though that final result
doesn't reflect how competitive
the team was.
"We came in here knowing we
had a good chance of winning,"
Robert said. "At the end of the
week, it's [who's] fastest with the
least amount of mistakes."
And the least amount of bad
luck.
JUNIOR WORLD TROPHY
As the defending champs in the
Junior World Trophy division,
Team USA also had high hopes
even with two new faces—Nick
Davis and Layne Michael—join-
ing returnee brothers Grant and
Steward Baylor.
Though the quartet didn't get off
to as strong a start as their senior
counterparts, it wasn't too bad,
being a fairly close fourth behind
Australia, Sweden and France.
Unfortunately, the Juniors hit
bad luck even sooner with Mi-
chael dislocating and fracturing
his left wrist in the very first test
of the week.
Okay, so the remaining three
had no room for error. It'd be
a tougher road, but it was still
doable.
Well, at least it seemed to be
until Steward Baylor crashed
heavily and dislocated his right
shoulder.
But the second-year Six
