DRAPER TO TACKLE WORLD ’ S CROSS-COUNTRY ELITE
Words / photo : Andy McGechan / bikesportnz . com
It ’ s the dream of any true racer to be able to compete , and hopefully win , at the ultimate level of their sport and that ’ s what is about to be realised by Auckland ’ s Liam Draper . The 21-year-old from Howick had intended to race at several cross-country motorcycling events in the United States early last year , but a tragic crash and the subsequent injury meant he had to put those plans on ice for 2017 .
However , every cloud has a silver lining and now , 12 months on , and it ’ s an even fitter , stronger and faster Draper who is about to board an airplane for South Carolina . “ The delay was probably a good thing ,” the young Husqvarna rider confirmed , “ It means I ’ ve been able to build up more speed and strength and , in addition , the team I was going to race for – the KR4 Husqvarna Race Team – has now increased its support for me . Instead of racing just a couple of rounds of the Grand National Cross-country Champs ( GNCC ), I will be doing a full season .” The 13-round GNCC series kicks off in South Carolina on February 25 and runs through until the final round in Indiana on October 28 . Draper will race a Husqvarna FC250 in the XC2 class of the GNCC competition . The bike is a four-stroke that he ’ s become very familiar with over the past few months and on which he has enjoyed some major success . Draper won the big two-hour cross-country race at Matata in October , on that occasion beating Kiwi legend Paul Whibley to the finish line . He backed that up by winning the annual Dead Toad cross-country race in the Woodhill Forest , west of Auckland , in November , again crossing the finish line ahead of Whibley . Then , in a bid to further sharpen his skills , he travelled to the Manawatu to spend several months training and riding with former Kiwi international Whibley at his Taikorea property . Draper has had a good teacher – the 39-yearold Whibley was a two-time outright winner of the Grand National Cross-country Championships ( GNCC ) in the United States ( in 2009 and 2012 ) and a record six-time winner of the parallel Off- Road Motorcycle and ATV ( OMA ) series as well . On resettlement back home at the end of his final season in America in 2014 , Whibley soon after became the 2015 New Zealand cross-country champion . It is almost certain that lessons learnt from Whibley over the past few months will have set Draper up for a thrilling 2018 season in the US .
“ I am very excited about my up-coming mission to the United States . I ’ m the fittest I ’ ve ever been and I ’ ve learned a lot from Paul [ Whibley ]. The GNCC is the biggest cross-country series in the world and I have no real expectations about how well I will perform , but I ’ d like to target a top-10 finish . There are hundreds of riders at these events , so I know it won ’ t be easy .”
Howick ’ s Liam Draper , ready to take on the best on the American off-road bike racing scene
It means I ’ ve been able to build up more speed and strength