GNCC TOP FIVE FOR
KIWI DRAPER
R
ound 5 of the GNCC was in South
Carolina, which is about three
hours from Stu Baylor’s house
where I’m living. We had a great
week training and put in a lot of hours
riding and training, so I was feeling ready
to go, especially after this thing we’ve
been doing on a Friday called Cyro
[cryotherapy freezing treatment]. It’s
where you stand in a cold-chamber at
-230°F (-145°C) for three minutes and
it relaxes all your muscles, flushing out
the lactic acid and has your muscles
ready to go again. This has been such a
great recovery treatment to do, it’s just
amazing how good you feel the next day!
So, the Saturday of the South Carolina
event came around, which is the day
you’re allowed to pedal the track to
get a look at it. It was pretty hard
packed and wasn’t too sandy yet,
but it was already becoming super
rough from the quads and buggies
which had been running on it.
Sunday, race day, was a perfect day
for going racing – the temperature was
ideal, not too hot or cold. Unfortunately,
I got off to a bad start and was
almost last off the start line. I’m not quite sure
what happened, but I think my bike was already
running, but didn’t realise because I didn’t hear
it, which then made for a challenging start as it
was very dusty from everyone ahead of me.
I made lots of passes in the first laps as I
knew I didn’t want the top guys getting too far
away. I came around on lap 1 in 7th, so I pushed
hard again and got to 5th, then just sat there
for a while as I could see the guy in 4th.
76 KIWI RIDER
The track was really sandy by this stage and
was getting quite gnarly. With two laps to go
I got a drink through pit lane, and put the
hammer down and made a pass for 4th which I
managed to make stick to bring it home in 4th.
I’m really stoked with the result, as I’m
starting to feel better and better each week.
Next up I have round 2 of the Full Gas Sprint
Enduro, where I lead the 250 class. I’ll let you
all know how that goes. LIAM DRAPER