Great Western’s Andrew Wilksch has got his first taste of World Enduro GP racing after returning from a trip to Germany to race in the final round of the competition last month.
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The trip comes off the back of a successful debut season for the 21-year-old who raced for DSR Sherco factory team in the Australian Offroad Championships.
Wilksch said racing for the factory team in Australia meant he could take advantage of opportunities to race overseas.
“They said at the start of the year I may get a chance to race overseas and after the Australian season finished, I got an opportunity to race the final round of the World Enduro series in Zschopau,” he said.
“The racing started on the Friday night and finished on the Sunday afternoon with around 12 hours of racing done across the weekend.”
The up-and-coming rider had to deal with numerous injuries across the 2017 season but still managed multiple top 10 finishes during the year.
The talented rider started racing when he was just four years old and said it has always been a passion of his.
“I started racing Motocross at the Ararat Motorbike club when I was four years old until I was nine then I switched to offroad racing and since then I have been competing full time,” he said.
“So to go from that to racing at the highest level was a great experience.
“It is the top of what you can do in this career, the best riders in the world and the trip gave me an idea of where I am at.
“I knew going over I was not going to win but just excited to get that experience.”
Wilksch was also able to connect with the two Australians who race in the series over in Europe.
“I know the two Australians who race in the series, Matthew Phillips who is a four time champion and he was probably the best person to talk to, he explained a lot and I learnt a lot from him during my time there as well,” he said.
“But now we it is back to focusing on the Australian season, we have started training for next year with races to start in March.
“There are a few big one-off desert races I will be doing as well which I will be doing for the first time.
“So that is exciting and I will stay with the same team which is also a big positive.”
The Australian Offroad Championships have events in every state except Western Australia with Wilksch set to tackle his second season in 2018.
