DIRT NEWS
KIWI
DRAPER’S
DRAPER’S
GNCC
ound nine of the GNCC was in
Snowshoe, and the one I’d really
been looking forward to, as it was
where I’d get to see my family
for the first time in six months.
This race was to be our last GNCC
before the two month summer break.
There had been a lot of rain come down on
the track over last few days, and for the quad
race on the Saturday it absolutely poured
down. It normally takes us about 1 hour 40
minutes to pedal around the track on our
e-bikes but this time it took us four hours!
With the amount of rain and mud, it was real
hard work. The track looked very technical
and I liked that there was quite a bit of
terrain that looked like trials in some places.
Come race day on Sunday morning, I woke
up to rain. And more rain, which didn’t
stop. We lined up in rows on a road in the
main street. I was on row four, seeded by
82 KIWI RIDER
our positions in the top 20. We set off into
the bush and I lead my pack. The track was
looking pretty fast to start with. But it didn’t
take long for the goggles to fog with all the
rain, so I soon took them off like everyone
else.
I felt that I was riding really well, and got
a pit board at the half way point telling me
‘P-4’ so I was happy with that. But the track
had totally changed due to the rain and
the 10:00am race wrecking the track, the
organisers changed a lot and made it into
a lot of gravel roads. I was feeling good still
and was on lap three when I had a very
unlucky and freak problem were my fuel line
connector got ripped off. Must have been
a stick or something. This left me stuck at
the bottom of a hill and very disappointed.
But, hey, that’s racing and I’m happy with my
riding and looking forward to a week with the
family. LIAM DRAPER #198