I was stoked to head into the summer
break with two podiums to my credit
and to still be without injury.
class despite suffering four non-finishes.
Draper then signed up to race for the Tely
Energy KTM Racing Team in 2019, a factory-
backed satellite team.
“This was in recognition of the fact that I’d done
so well last year,” he said.
“I learnt a lot last year about how the sport in
the US works. The GNCC is like all of America...
like it’s on steroids, so big. They have 2000 quads
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.”
Round one of the 2019 GNCC at Palatka, in
sandy Florida, on March 10, was extremely
challenging for the young Aucklander.
“This was one of the toughest GNCC events all
year. Because it is in sand, it is very physically
demanding,” he said.
He was up to fourth position after the opening
lap, with the leaders well ahead of him, and he
knew he couldn’t go any faster to move up.
“I just wanted to finish and the track was super
rough, so I just carried on riding.
“Then I pushed harder and I had a little tip-over
in a corner which led to me losing consciousness
because of heat stroke and with me being so
dehydrated.
“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 knew me and
came over to help. I was not in a good way at
all... I wasn’t the only one who passed out in the
race though, a lot of other pros did too.
“I was so drained and had never had this
happen to me before, but these things just
happen when you’re trying to race in 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.
“The Snowshoe GNCC event (round eight on
June 23) was very special for me, as this is where
I got my first ever GNCC XC2 class podium.
“Snowshoe is at a ski resort in the mountains of
West Virginia. It was a very rocky and technical
track, but it also has a lot of fast sections. We
started on the main road, on the tarseal in front
of all the hotels. They start us in rows of five
(determined by overall championship rankings),
30 seconds apart, and I was on row four.
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