VOL. 53 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 20, 2016 P57
II AMERICA ON TOP
Coming into the final moto-
cross test on day six with a
three-and-a-half-minute lead
gave the American team a
good reason to feel con-
fident and relaxed in their
inevitable win. But the team
was anything but relaxed
as they lined up for the final
test of the week.
"We had a comfortable
lead going into the last day,"
U.S. Team Captain Taylor
Robert said. "But every year
in the past we've always had
something happen. Never
on the last day, but before
that. And it just gets our
hopes down before we even
think we have a chance.
This year we knew we had
a chance and we were all
just really nervous and didn't
want anything to happen.
"Antti [Kallonen, U.S.
Team Manager] was just tell-
ing us, 'Just take it easy, all
you have to do is finish!' And
then he's throwing in these
nightmares of when Juha
Salminen lost the overall
for him and the team back
in 2008 when he wrecked
in the first turn; so we have
all these thoughts running
through our head and we're
all just super nervous and
the motocross track, the
first three turns were pave-
ment and we're like, 'Oh my
gosh, there's so many ways
this can go wrong.' But we
all held it together and got
it done and it worked out
perfect."
Team manager Antti Kal-
lonen proved to be instru-
mental to the team's victory,
especially when the 2016 In-
ternational Six Days Enduro
started out with a twist—be-
cause of a new rule, the
World Trophy team would
no longer field six riders
with the top five scoring for
the team each day. It would
be four-rider teams with
no throwaways, meaning a
single crash or breakdown
could doom the whole team.
This new challenge meant a
new strategy, according to
Kallonen, and a very simple
one at that: no mistakes.
(Left) Imagine riding well over
100 of the toughest miles and
having to change your tires at
the end of the day—every day—
and on the clock! Robert hard
at work. (Right) GNCC star Thad
Duvall was a catalyst of the
team. He was fast, strong and
consistent all week.
RICK "GUNNY" CLAYPOOLE
Rick Claypoole, better known simply
as "Gunny," used his experience in the
Marine Corps to lead the U.S. World
Trophy team at the ISDE longer than
anyone else. He was the U.S. team
captain from 1987 through 2012,
missing only two events—one due to
his commitments to the Marines and
the other due to a knee injury. He's
been to 32 ISDEs in all and was one
of the happiest of all to hear that this
year's team had held on to win.
"I was following it all week long, and
we kept getting better and better as
the week went on," says Gunny who
is now fully retired and enjoying life
in his home state of Oregon. "I was
pretty sure we had it, then, what re-
ally got me was, they called me from
Spain—Jay Hall [AMA Assistant
Manager], Fredette—and said, 'We
did it, we did it!' That was awesome.
I sent my congratulations to the team.
I am so proud of everyone involved
[with the team]. "I always felt that
we would win one day; we always
had the speed, we just needed a little
bit of luck."
