Draper makes it three
wins in a row
by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
It is a record three wins in a row for Husqvarna star,
and KR test rider, Liam Draper after he again won
the annual Dead Toad cross-country race in the
Woodhill Forest, west of Auckland, on November 19.
This event, which also doubled as the sixth round
of seven in the separate NZXC Series, was also
won by the 21-year-old Howick man in 2015 and in
2016, and his convincing win on Sunday made him
the first rider to win it three times consecutively.
It was also Draper’s third major success since
returning to the race track after spending more
than seven months recovering from injury. However,
since receiving the “all clear” to race again, he
has wasted no time in building up his strength,
speed and stamina. He took his Husqvarna FC250
four-stroke to win the third round of four in the
popular Woodhill Two-man Cross-country Series
west of Auckland in September, then backed
that up with another impressive win at round
five of the NZXC Series at Matata last month.
“I managed to get a reasonable start on Sunday
and then quickly picked off each of the riders
ahead of me. I passed (Muriwai’s) Luke Mobberley
for second place and then (Helensville’s) Tom
Buxton for the lead about halfway through
the opening lap,” Draper explained.
“I put the hammer down for the next lap
and a half and opened out a bit of a gap over
the (more than 50) riders chasing me. The
sand was so soft that it was very tiring to race
and the track got quite rough in the end.”
Manawatu’s Paul Whibley, a two-time former
Grand National Cross-country (GNCC) champion
in the United States, was also fighting through
traffic and he made his way up to second place,
eventually finishing the five-lap race one minute
and 10 seconds adrift of Draper. Third overall
was Titirangi’s Callan May, with Mobberley
and Buxton rounding out the top five.
Draper’s win at the weekend is further vindication
that he will be ready to push ahead with his
plans to race in the United States next year.
“I crashed at the New Zealand Motocross Grand
76 KIWI RIDER
Prix at Woodville in late January and snapped a
tricep muscle in my left arm. I was in a sling for a
long time and had to have surgery too, but I was still
able to train and keep a core fitness,” he explained.
Before his injury, Draper had already been
planning to race in the United States and now
those plans have simply been pushed on 12
months. “I will be heading to South Carolina to
race the Grand National Cross-country Series
there in 2018 and I’m pretty excited about that.”
Meanwhile, the seventh and final round of the
NZXC series is set for Pahiatua on December 3.
Howick’s Liam Draper (Husqvarna FC250),
in sensational form at the Dead Toad