built a buffer at the front, with fellow KTM rider
Tom Buxton, from Helensville, chasing hard.
He led for two-thirds of the race, but, with just
two of the six laps to go, disaster struck for Draper.
“I hit something, a log or something, and
the axle came loose. I had to pull into the
pits to get it fixed and lost a lot of time.
“Tommy got past me and was about 45
seconds in front of me when I finally rejoined
the race. But I caught back up to him as we
started the last lap. I eventually took the
win by about 40 seconds from Tommy.
“The incident with the axle certainly made
things interesting for me. It meant I really
had to push hard. I had been riding at
about 80 percent, but had to lift that to
100 percent when I got left behind.
“I loved racing the KTM 450SXF again. It was
also the fourth time that I have won the Dead
Toad race. I won it in 2015, 2016 and 2017, but
missed out last year because I was overseas,
and Tommy won it instead in 2018.”
The Dead Toad race was his last outing in New
Zealand before he heads back to the US.
He explained that the GNCC series starts
in the US in February and it was important
that he trains with the KTM team there and
gets himself back to “GNCC speed”.
“The level of intensity is a lot higher in the US
than here in New Zealand,” he explained, “and I
need to be riding at that level every day now.”
COUNTING
DOWN TO
DAKAR 2020
It’s make or break time as teams get
ready to gear up and head deep into the
desert for the 42nd Dakar Rally.
For the first time, the Dakar is to be hosted in
the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia having secured
the hosting of the event until at least 2025.
The route for the 2020 edition of the race will see
competitors leave the coastal city of Jeddah on
the Red Sea on January 05 to tackle the desolate
sand dunes and deserts of Saudi Arabia for nearly
two weeks, before arriving at the finish line in
Qiddiya on January 17, some 7500km later.
This will be a very different Dakar experience to
the most recent editions run in South America.
As Saudi Arabia is mostly desert, riders can
expect to be spending the majority of their
time in the sand, including 5000km of special
stages with five of them longer than 450km.
With KTM dominating the race since 2001,
all eyes will be on the Austrian brand’s team
to see if they can repeat their 2019 effort with
Toby Price (Australia), Mattias Walkner
(Austria) and Sam Sunderland riding
to a clean sweep of the podium.
KIWI RIDER 15