M O T O R C Y C L I S BY JOY BURGESS PHOTOS BY MARY RINELL
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very year the AMA — its Board of Directors and staff — bestows a very special honor on an individual or group that’s had the most profound impact on the world of motorcycling over the past 12 months. And looking back over 2021, there was really only one choice: Brandy Richards and her superhuman effort in the 2021 ISDE in Italy, where she helped propel the U.S. Women’s Trophy Team to a spectacular victory. Not only did Richards bring home the Women’s World Trophy with team members Rachel Gutish and Britney Gallegos, she did something no one — man or woman — had ever done in the ISDE’s 100-year-plus history…she won every single test in her class. “People unfamiliar with the ISDE may not realize the magnitude of what
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AMERICAN MOTORCYCLIST • JANUARY 2022
[Brandy] did,” teammate Rachel Gutish told American Motorcyclist. “You have six ‘special tests’ per day for five days, minus three cancelled for unsafe conditions. Then one more — the final moto. That’s 28 tests! Each test is a miniature race within a race. They are short enough to be an all-out sprint – between 6-20 minutes long — with every rider competing at max capacity. The potential for mistakes is high. And don’t forget…these special tests take place in the larger context of a multi-day event covering hundreds of miles.” Twenty-eight special tests, in addition to the grueling day-to-day mileage. Let that sink in for a moment. “The concentration and consistency to win the event, much less to have a perfect race…” Gutish continued.