VOL. 54 ISSUE 28 JULY 18, 2017 P67
to make a decision for 2017.
"We brought Josh in, he spent
three weeks here with us and
he was like a sponge. Basically
put him on a motorcycle that we
were told couldn't win; we took
him to his first race, and he wins
the race. I thought, 'You know
what, you give the right guys
the right tools and they give you
the hard work, shows you what
could happen.' That inspired me
to go back to what worked for
me in the past; it still works.
"That led to the direction
with Ricky Russell. I know he's
been around for a while, we
seen him here through Jason's
[Raines] program, but I know
he's a hard worker. With that
work and that attitude, and also
with the respect that Ricky and
Josh showed to the mechanics
in our program, just made things
completely fit.
"So going into '17, we brought
Ricky and Josh on board—two
guys that some people had over-
looked. It just really lit a fire back
under our team and it shows.
We got Ricky sitting fourth in the
points and Josh leading XC2."
Along with the motivation is
the direction of the hard work
going into the program, and that
is steered largely by Paul Whib-
ley. A two-time GNCC champion
himself, "Whibs" knows what
it takes to win, and the New
Zealander also has a reputation
for being one of the hardest-
working riders in off-road. After
I'm really big
on the team-
building side of
things, where it
ain't like, Ricky
goes in that
corner, Josh
goes in that
corner and
mechanics over
here."
