AMA Announces US Olympic Team - Motorcycle.com

The annual ISDE is an off-road competition often referred to as the Olympics of Motorcycling. Riders travel upwards of 1,250 miles over six days and are expected to carry out their own track-side repairs. The top six-man team will be awarded the championship trophy while riders may be awarded individual gold, silver and bronze medals.

Competing for Team USA will be Destry Abbott, Kurt Caselli, Ricky Dietrich, Jimmy Jarrett, Nathan Kanney and Nathan Woods.

We are extremely honored to have riders of this caliber representing the United States at the ISDE, says Chuck Weir, AMA off-road racing director. Thanks to new selection procedures this year, were able to name our Trophy Team much earlier than in the past. This not only allows us to field our best riders, but it gives everyone involved an opportunity to be as prepared as possible to represent the United States at this storied international event.

The US will be represented by six experienced riders who race for different teams on various off-road series.

For Abbott, 35, of Glendale, Ariz., this will be his fourth time representing the US at the ISDE, previously winning two gold medals. Abbott currently competes for Monster Energy Kawasaki in the AMA Hare and Hound series.

The team is very prepared this year. All six of us are committed and see this as a true team effort. We want to do whats best for the team and were going to do whatever it takes, says Abbott, who is planning to ride a Kawasaki KX450.

Jarrett, 31, of Beloit, Ohio, will be competing in his fifth ISDE, winning a gold medal in the E2 displacement class in 2006.

Its really cool for riders of different teams here in the US to come together for this event, says Jarrett, who races for Team FMF Suzuki. It doesn't matter what kind of bike youre riding or who you race for here. When we go to the ISDE, were all riding for one team, one goal.

Much will be expected from Caselli, 24, who races for Red Bull KTM. The Palmdale, Cal. resident was the top finisher in the E3 displacement class at last years ISDE in Chile. He was also a member of the Junior Trophy Team champions at the 2006 ISDE.

Dietrich, 20, from Snohomish, Wash., was also a member of the 2006 junior team. This will be the first time the Monster Energy Kawasaki racer will be on the senior team.

Making his first ISDE appearance is Palos Robles, Cal. resident Woods, 30. Though a rookie to ISDE, he brings an impressive off-road racing resume. Currently competing for FMF Suzuki, Woods is the winningest racer in World Off-Road Championship Series history, with 18 race wins and 2 WORCS titles.

Im really looking forward to the ISDE format. Im looking at it like a great trail ride with a race in between it all. Then going to a different country, riding different terrain and meeting different people, its going to be awesome, says Woods, who expects to ride a fuel-injected RMZ450 at the ISDE. We have a great chance this year. We have the talent. We have the drive. Were not going to get second place. Our goal is to win.

Rounding out the team is Kanney, 25, from New Paltz, NY. Kanney races for Red Bull KTM and is an experienced ISDE and World Enduro Championship rider. He is very familiar with the challenges of the ISDE, having ruptured a spleen on a crash during the first day of the 2004 competition.

Team USA finished in eighth place in 2007 and has never won the overall World Trophy Team championship, but has two junior Trophy Team titles.