Tuesday Toolbox: Team Rabaconda

GNCC Racing: First off, a HUGE congratulations on bringing home the Club Team Award at the 6DAYS! After six grueling days of racing, how rewarding is it to come away with the Award? 

Will Sievenpiper:  It’s pretty awesome. It’s a ton of work and money to get to Europe and race and seeing the results payoff is pretty awesome. Just racing a dirt bike in a different country is awesome in itself.  

Jhak Walker: After 6 days of racing, it is very rewarding to come away with the club team win and personal class win and 2nd overall club rider. 

Colton Shields: It’s super rewarding to come away with the win in the team division and seeing all of our hard work as a team pay off; it’s also just a big relief finishing the week with a working bike and healthy.  

For those unfamiliar with the 6DAYS, what makes competing in six consecutive days of racing so different from a typical race here in the States?  

Will Sievenpiper: Racing for 6 days straight takes a toll on the body for sure. Have to keep up with hydration and making sure you're eating enough during and after each day of racing. 

Jhak Walker: 6 days is a lot of riding, around 6-8 hrs. on the bike, and the rider being able to only work on your bike. There are a lot of long transfer sections that are around an hour plus in between each special test, which is a sprint that takes around 8-12 minutes on tracks we walked the week prior. Then more long transfers in between, and it’s 6 tests a day which some were cut out with the dusty conditions.  

Colton Shields:  The 6 days of racing over there are super grueling due to the long days. People watching from home only see the 30- 60 minutes of race time a day, but we spend around 8 hours on the bike a day. It consists of riding off-road on gnarly terrain with only a handful of checks to get fuel and work on the bike, which only the rider can do throughout the week.

The dust created difficult conditions throughout the week, leading to canceled tests, scoring issues, and unexpected changes. How did you adapt to those challenges and stay focused on the overall goal?

Will Sievenpiper:  In reality, there wasn’t much adapting. Last few days we had such little time of racing that you really couldn’t lose or gain much time on anybody. You would come into the test with the same headspace of winning, yet everyone is so close that 3 tests for a single day isn’t going to change any overall result sadly.

Jhak Walker: It was quite annoying as a rider who made the expensive trip to have tests cut out and not being as organized with that case. Giving us little time to separate through the dust made it very difficult to see and give your 100% best effort. But I just still tried my best after all of the changes and had some of my best days. 

Colton Shields: Being in the club division, we start out in random order on day 1, so it made it pretty tricky getting through the slower riders in the dust. I had a little bit of a rougher 1st day, so for me the rest of the week was just taking it day by day and trying to make up as much time as I could.  

Some of the transfer sections are long, rough, and just as challenging as the special tests. What's going through your mind during those sections, knowing you have to make it to the next test on time while also preparing yourself for another timed section?  

Will Sievenpiper: Just have to remember to stay at a good pace and stay off the ground. During the long transfers, you tend to get brain fog or wander off and that’s when stupid crashes happen and you break something on the bike. Once you notice you’re getting near the next test, you’ll start visualizing again and getting into race mode.  

Jhak Walker: With the long transfers, they weren’t difficult this year, but the check times weren’t assessed well as some riders missed checks because we had very little time to make to them at some checks. I really try to ride around 70% during transfers and just have fun on them.  

Colton Shields: Honestly, the transfers are somewhat of a cool aspect of the 6days even though it gets a little old and grueling. I take them mostly chill to enjoy the ride and take in the scenery of whichever country we’re racing in. There was one transfer in the middle of the week where I missed some markings and got turned around, so I had to race it to make it to the next time check, which added a little fun and adrenaline rush to the long transfer. 

With six consecutive days of racing and so many miles being put on the bikes, how did you balance pushing for fast times while making sure both you and your bike made it through the week? Did you face any mechanical issues along the way?  

Will Sievenpiper: I had little to no problems all week with my KX450x. For the most part, bikes nowadays are built pretty good so pushing them in the tests isn’t much of a problem. You just really need to be on top of looking over the bike during each day to catch anything before it turns into a real problem.  

Jhak Walker:  Really, it’s a good warm-up at least for the first test, having a long transfer before, and the transfers really become a break in between, but sometimes we had to go fast to get to our next check in time and barely getting time to work on bikes. I had no issues all week, when I had the opportunity, I made sure to go through a lot of things on my bike.  

Colton Shields:  First rule of going to 6DAYS is just to finish. Obviously, you want to finish strong and fast, but it is a challenge in itself just to finish. With the super dusty conditions this year it made it pretty difficult and for me I was swapping air filters every single check and changing oil every day. That being said I was sucking a little bit of dust simply due to how gnarly the dust was. 

Looking back at the six days of racing, what do you think was the biggest factor in your team's success?  

Will Sievenpiper: For any team, it’s really just consistency. Everyone on our team did their part on making sure their bikes kept running good and then focusing on being fast but also staying off the ground and put in good test times when needed.  

Jhak Walker: Consistency. We were all very consistent through the week and making sure all our bikes were in good shape with the dust changing filters constantly.  

Colton Shields: The biggest factor was just our determination. Each of us was super motivated to do the best we could do and were lifting each other up and keeping each other motivated throughout the week. I know I personally was struggling a bit a couple days, and the other boys on the team stuck by me and kept me focused on the goal at hand. 

With American teams sweeping the Club Team podium, taking first, second, and third, what does it mean to each of you to be part of such a successful showing for the United States on the international stage?

Will Sievenpiper: It’s pretty neat. Seeing a bunch of guys, you battle hard with in the States also standing up there with you in another country is cool in itself. Just shows what we’re capable of and how fast our guys are.  

Jhak Walker: It’s pretty incredible having an all-USA podium; it shows we have some of the best riders, but it wouldn’t be possible without our support crews and everyone that puts their part into it, getting us riders to the finish.  

Colton Shields:  I’m absolutely stoked that it was an American sweep. I can be pretty patriotic, and so I was pumped that everyone on that podium at the end of the week was repping the USA. I’m pumped for all the other teams and all the work they put in, and how much work the whole US and AMA crews did to get up there.

Finally, who would you like to thank for helping you out at the 6DAYS this year? 

Will Sievenpiper: Just a massive thank you to everyone that helped me get to Portugal. Everyone that donated to the fundraisers I held, and friends and family. Kawasaki, JDP suspension, FunnelWeb filters, Kari resources, XC gear, Rabaconda, hbd graphics, airoh usa, sidi boots, answer racing, protaper,  

Jhak Walker: My family, anyone who helped support me in anyway with funding. Jay and Jarred Hall. The AMA crew and all of the support people at checks and paddock worked hard to help us. Moose racing, Arai, Eks, Beta racing. Everyone who helped in any form.  

Colton Shields: First off I would like to thank God for keeping me safe and healthy over this trip and giving me the opportunity to compete. I would also like to thank everyone that bought shirts came to mine and Jhak’s training camp and donated and supported the journey over there. My parents are also a huge help coordinating flights and making sure everything goes smoothly, I would never be able to do it without all of their support. I would like to thank Jhak and Will as well as they were great teammates and put a great effort in.