Russell Bobbit isn't new to the ISDE scene, this will be his fifth run on the Junior USA team.
When I last checked in, myself, as well as all the other riders, were knee-deep in preparations to get bikes and equipment shipped off to Portland, OR to get loaded in the container headed for Portugal. With that task completed it is time to really focus on training and getting as ready as possible for the event in October. While we take a break from the regular competition calendar here in So Cal, many of the Six Day riders are still right in the middle of their race season. The WORCS series and National Enduro Series both held events last weekend, keeping many of the top ISDE riders busy.
USA Junior Team rider Russell Bobbitt just got back from the Michigan round of the National Enduro Series where he claimed the overall win in the final test section of the day. He and fellow KTM factory rider Mike Lafferty are once again locked into a battle that will not be decided until the final round of the series. Russell checks in with us;
Don't let his calm look fool you, Bobbitt is currently dominating the National Enduro this year and plans to bring the same energy to the ISDE.
Currently I have been staying focused primarily on the National Enduros Series and preparing for each of them. Now we have an eight week break so I have some good time to train for Six Days. I may head to California to do some riding and training with Kurt Caselli. The terrain is more similar to Portugal there in California than it is near my house in Georgia for sure. For the most part I just plan on riding more motocross to get my sprint speed up. Compared to our enduros, the ISDE tests are much shorter and it is important to ride aggressive right from the start.
This will be my fifth ISDE and I have ridden on the Junior Team each time. The last year I rode was 2007 in Chile. I was also on the 2006 team that won the World Junior Trophy in New Zealand. This year will also be the first time that I have built a bike specifically for the ISDE, instead of riding a rental bike. I am pretty excited about having a bike completely prepared just for this event.
I will be putting on a local trail-ride fundraiser soon as well, that information will be up on my website when we have the date selected - www.rbobbitt.com
Thanks
Russell Bobbitt
