From sofa to saddle and winning again
I
t is not usual for an athlete to be able to pull
himself off the sofa, enter a three-hour race
as a solo competitor and then climb straight
back on to the top step of the podium.
But that’s exactly what Auckland’s Liam
Draper did.
The 20-year-old Howick plumber and KR test
rider spent the past eight months recovering
from an injury sustained at the annual New
Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville in
late January, but he got the ‘all clear’ to race
just a few weeks ago, and so showed up at the
third round of four in the popular Woodhill Two-
man Cross-country Series west of Auckland.
With no previous results to his credit in this
series, Draper had to be satisfied with slotting
in on the eighth row of the 74-bike starting
grid. But, soon after the start, he was quickly
powering through traffic and, by the third lap
of eight, he had taken his new 2018-model four-
stroke Husqvarna FC250 dirt bike to the front.
“I had a fair few riders to get past,” said Draper.
By the end of lap two I was up to second and took
the lead on lap three. Then I just worked on
building a big gap.
Andy McGechan/bikesportnz.com
“I was feeling quite tired near the end, but
that was to be expected because it has
been a few months since I last raced.
“I crashed at Woodville in January and snapped
a tricep muscle in my left arm. I have been 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.
“I don’t know what races I’ll be doing next,
but I’ll be checking the calendar!”
Before his injury, Draper had been planning to
race in the United States and now those plans
have simply been pushed back 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. I just
have to stay out of injury trouble,” he laughed.
Runner-up to Draper at Woodhill, and 11 minutes
behind, was another ‘Ironman’ rider, Cambridge’s
Ashton Grey (Yamaha YZ250FX), while the two-
rider pairing of Hokianga men Troy Gielen and
Damon Nield (KTM 250SX) finished third, arriving
at the finish line just 16 seconds after Grey.
The fourth and final round of the Woodhill
Two-man Series is set for October 1.
Howick’s Liam Draper
(Husqvarna FC250),
back on the race track
and out in front again
KIWI RIDER 17