Team Solitaire's Ryan Clark: Supercross Success

The desire to race has driven many a competitor to desperation: taking out a second mortgage, or giving up jobs where the boss "just didn't understand" the need for so many days off. Ryan Clark took a much more practical approach to keep himself in the motocross and Supercross arenas: he started his own team.

Team Solitaire came about in 2003, when Clark wanted to continue racing without having to answer to anyone else. Clark's career began in1996, when he took 13th overall in the 125cc West Coast Supercross series.

Team owners began to take notice, and Clark got a ride with a Suzuki support team for 2000. Unfortunately, what should have been a big break was a short-lived venture. "And then the owner of that team had some illness and decided to close it down, so I didn't have anything for 2001. I went out and did the series on my own, then after a pretty successful year driving a van around the country, I thought that if maybe I could pool my resources with another rider of the same caliber, I could talk some sponsors into supporting the program," Clark says.

Clark did just that, and the 2001 season got under way with a full schedule: the East and West Coast 125cc championships, and the 250cc Outdoor Nationals and Supercross series.

By the end of 2002, though, Clark already knew that he wanted to be sole owner of his own program. Team Solitaire made its debut in 2003, and Clark went on to finish 11th in the Supercross championship.

"We've achieved a lot of goals, but it was sobering going up against people with ten times, or 15 or 20 times, more budget than us," Clark recalls.

And just how does a privateer effort like Team Solitaire compete against those big-budget factory teams? Clark explains, "I think we have different objectives. We were never really capable of winning races, but we were trying to be consistently in the top ten, and top fives and podiums are our ultimate (goal)."

The 2006 AMA Supercross season was a prime example of that, when Clark finished ninth in the championship, the highest finish for a privateer.

That consistency is something that has made Team Solitaire one of the respected veteran teams in Supercross (despite Clark's young age of 33). Team Solitaire has fielded a number of riders in addition to Clark over the past eight years, and one rider's success particularly stands out for Clark.

"When we put Bob Kiniry on the podium in San Diego (in 2008)," Clark says when asked about his most memorable race. "For us that was the pinnacle of everything we were trying to accomplish. Just that whole season, we had a lot of fun. We had great personalities on the team, people who were friends of mine. We became even better friends through the course of working with them."

Clark says that the 2011 season was a "rebuilding season," but Team Solitaire was still a success. "My high point was my hometown race at Phoenix, where we made the main event right out of the gate," he says. "Overall, it was a success in that we stayed healthy, and we got some good experience, and I think we improved the bike on setup. Going into 2012, I think we're in a lot better position to go out and perform at a higher level."

One of the things that helps Team Solitaire perform at that higher level is quality products. Clark is quick to note that LeoVince's sponsorship adds a key element to the team. "Our team is not a multi-million dollar budget team," Clark says. "We choose products that we feel work the best and that are a really good fit. With the LeoVince exhaust, the quality and performance speak for themselves. We are a do-it-yourself team, we can choose whatever exhaust we want, and we went with LeoVince."

Expect to see Team Solitaire among the top privateers again in 2012. The team plans to field a rider in the West Coast Supercross Lites series, while Clark will once again compete in the AMA Supercross series.

"We'd really like to focus on creating a quality program," Clark says. "We're trying to use the experience we have now to build the best bike, and we can hopefully secure the best rider to represent us and our sponsors well."

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