Six Days and over 600 miles later, this year’s FIM ISDE has come to an end as we see our Team USA Women defend their 2019 title becoming back-to-back World Champions, our Trophy Team podium with a 3rd place team finish, and inspiring rides by our Junior Trophy riders despite being of team medal contention.
As the dust settles atop the Italian mountaintops, there is no doubt that Team USA is still a force to be reckoned with. While we didn’t come home the World Trophy Championship, we still certainly made a splash across all the ranks once again.
The standout story that we have covered all week has indeed come to fruition. The question every day so far has been “how long can Brandy Richards keep this win streak alive?” Today we finally got our answer; The. Whole. Damn. Time. Richards continued to dominate throughout Day Five and Six by remaining unbeaten in a single test the entire week, leading the Women’s World Trophy team to its second straight World Championship. Accompanied by blistering fast top five rides by her teammate Rachel Gutish and the ever-consistent Britney Gallegos, the trio combined for a time more than fifteen minutes quicker than their closest competitors.
The World Trophy riders were led by Taylor Robert, who was the fastest American each day. That is, until Day Six when Junior Trophy team member Dante Oliveira took to the motocross track and outright won the final day’s event. Robert ends his week in 5th place overall after a solid showing in 2021.
Finishing one spot outside the top ten, was Layne Michael in the 11th place position. Michael struggled early in the week trying to adapt and feel comfortable in the dry and dusty conditions. But with time on the bike and finding the edge of where traction begins and ends, he laid down times consistently inside the top ten which will inspire confidence for the next time he puts on his boots to take on the world. Johnny Girroir was the new comer to the team this year and showed several glimmers of absolute wicked speed. Improvements through the week and a top fifteen finish, will hopefully mean that we will see Girroir representing the Stars n’ Bars again in the future. Ryan Sipes finish merely one spot behind Girroir in the 16th place position. Inside to outside, back to inside again, it seems that Sipes struggled to really catch a groove this year aboard his 300cc two-stroke. While 16th is still an insanely good finish by all means, it’s safe to say that the first American to ever overall the thing probably came into the week with expectations to battle up front. No matter where, The General is always fun to watch and a great addition to any team, or country for that matter!
Our Junior Trophy team really has a lot to hang their hat on this week. Austin Walton got banged up on Day Two which through off the rest of his time in Italy, ultimately ending on Day Four with a broken Scapula. Cody Barnes and Dante Oliveira both showed they were more than capable of stringing together rides capable of taking the center of the box. Both of these JT riders had multiple top ten test finishes throughout the week and both finished inside the top twenty riders overall. For Barnes’ first ISDE, he had a great run and acclimated rather quickly to all the demands this event requires. Oliveira was the name being talked about last year when he turned all sorts of heads by earning the number one spot for club team riders overall. This year, he moved up to JT team and the way he rode…. We wouldn’t be surprised if next year he moves up again to the World Trophy team! Oliveira ends his week as the second fastest American rider in the 10th place overall position. As we mentioned earlier, he also took home the day win on Day Six and proved that he has what it takes to keep climbing the ladder.
Below are the full Team USA results for Days Five and Six.
Test One
Test One not scored
Test Two
Robert: 3rd – 7’02.12
Oliveira: 5th – 7’03.57
Michael: 11th – 7’09.85
Girroir: 15th – 7’13.15
Sipes: 20th – 7’15.00
Barnes: 33rd – 7’19.87
Walton: DNS
Richards: 1st(EW) – 7’38.39
Gutish: 10th(EW) – 8’30.75
Gallegos: 14th(EW) – 8’49.90
Test Three
Robert: 7th – 15’03.23
Girroir: 9th – 15’05.58
Michael: 14th – 15’12.13
Oliveira: 16th – 15’14.27
Barnes: 26th – 15’27.39
Sipes: 31st – 15’36.78
Walton: DNS
Richards: 1st(EW) – 16’51.29
Gutish: 4th(EW) – 17’39.66
Gallegos: 15th(EW) – 19’13.53
Test Four
Robert: 5th – 8’43.96
Oliveira: 9th – 8’47.88
Sipes: 15th – 8’53.46
Michael: 27th – 8’59.58
Barnes: 31st – 9’02.01
Girroir: 33rd – 9’03.16
Walton: DNS
Richards: 1st(EW) – 9’21.58
Gutish: 7th(EW) – 10’06.81
Gallegos: 17th(EW) – 10’37.39
Test Five
Robert: 3rd – 7’10.21
Oliveira: 9th – 7’15.67
Barnes: 10th – 7’16.18
Girroir: 11th – 7’16.25
Michael: 18th – 7’21.03
Sipes: 35th – 7’30.78
Walton: DNS
Richards: 1st(EW) – 7’56.60
Gutish: 12th(EW) – 9’03.16
Gallegos: 14th(EW) – 9’18.89
Test 6
Oliveira: 3rd – 9’00.32
Robert: 8th – 9’07.25
Michael: 14th – 9’11.52
Sipes: 18th – 9’17.17
Barnes: 22nd – 9’18.33
Girroir: 31st – 9’23.25
Walton: DNS
Richards: 1st(EW) – 9’46.01
Gutish: 6th(EW) – 10’36.01
Gallegos: 17th(EW) – 11’33.29
Day Six MX
Oliveira: 1st
Sipes: 5th
Girroir: 8th
Michael: 9th
Barnes: 21st
Robert: 17th
Walton: DNS
Richards: 1st
Gutish: 3rd
Gallegos: 7th
Thank you a ton for those that have read along this week, and thank you a ton to all of our Team USA riders that represented our country and sport so well. It was a blast to watch along with you all and bring the info to our readers throughout the week. Hopefully we can get a couple of these riders on board for a podcast and hear some more in depth stories from overseas and this year’s ISDE.
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