Kiwi chases solid finish in ‘toughest cross-country’
It’s been an up and down season for Liam Draper, racing in what is regarded the world’s toughest crosscountry motorcycle competition.
Thankfully for the Howick 22-yearold, it has mainly been ups in his most recent outing and a solid finish to the season seems likely.
He is racing a KTM 250SX-F bike in the Grand National Cross-country Championships (GNCC) in the United States. After nine of 13 rounds, he is running an impressive fifth equal overall in the XC2 (250cc) class.
His score card so far this season reads 14-7-5-4-13-6-9-3-3. Now, as temperatures soar, the Northern Hemisphere takes a summer break. And that means Draper has to wait until next month before picking up where he left off to contest the final four races.
American Benjamin Kelley, from Harwinton in Connecticut, leads the championship chase in the XC2 class.
Based in South Carolina, Draper made his USA GNCC debut last year, racing there for 11 months, and he finished ninth overall in the XC2 class despite four non-finishes.
“I learned a lot last year about how the sport in the US works. The GNCC is like all of America . . . it’s just so big,” he says. “They have 2000 quad bikes racing on the track the day before us and the track is so wide and so rough and there are so many lines to choose from.”
This season didn’t begin well for Draper, as the sand-based track at the season opener in Florida in March sapped his energy and dehydration in the heat also caused him problems.
“I was pushing hard, but I had a little tip-over in a corner which led to me losing consciousness because of heat stroke. I tried to get up and continue, but I collapsed and passed out again.
“I was lucky that there were some people standing around who came over to help. I was not in a good way.
“I was so drained and had never had this happen to me before. But these things just happen when you’re trying to race on the roughest track and its 36 degrees.”
That failure was a major disappointment for Draper, but he wasn’t deterred.
He soon recovered and his results gradually improved as the season progressed.
“But I was absolutely stoked to get my first podium at the Snowshoe GNCC event (round eight of the series on June 23).
“Snowshoe is at a ski resort in the mountains of West Virginia,” he said, although it was simply treacherous rock at that time of the year.
“This result must have given me some confidence going into my last GNCC race before summer break (in Pennsylvania, on July 7). Here I managed another third overall for the day. I was stoked to head into the summer break with two podiums to my credit and to still be without injury.”
After the break, the GNCC series resumes with the 10th round of 13, the Black Sky GNCC at Hapursville, New York, on September 15.