White out to impart experience at Drak Descent

White out to impart experience at Drak Descent

As the new MTB racing season approaches, teams plan out their 2023 schedule and Tyronne White and his Ballito-based DriveTrain Racing Team have ear-marked the Euro Steel Drak Descent at the end of January as their 2023 kick-starter.

Experienced pro cyclist White will be riding in the 2023 Drak Descent on 28 and 29 January with young star Josh Johnson and for the seasoned pro the trip to Underberg provides a chance to share his knowledge and experience with the next generation of riders.

“I’m really excited to be racing with Josh at Drak Descent,” White said. “Last year I got to race with Justin Swanepoel and found it was such a good learning experience and start to his season – so we are hoping for the same with Josh.

“He has been riding extremely well this last month and Drak Descent will be a chance for me to teach him a bit about stage racing while I can still keep up!

“Our plan is to push each other and race as hard as possible and hopefully come away with an overall team podium position.”

White’s main focus in 2023 is the DriveTrain Racing Team and how they can get the best results possible. If he can contribute to those results it’s a bonus but he wants to focus on the other talent in the team.

“My main focus is the DriveTrain Racing Team and the athletes and doing my best to help them achieve their goals.

“For the Racing Team we have a few athletes focusing on a few different events with the main focus events being SA Road, Marathon and XCO Champs.

“Josh will also possibly be doing some road racing in Belgium this year which is exciting and finally we will hopefully manage to have a few riders qualify for World Champs again, which would be amazing.”

As one of the Southern Drakensberg’s gems, the Drak Descent offers a number of exciting challenges to both the professional rider and the everyday rider, however for White it’s a perfect event to start their year.

“Drak Descent for me is always a great race to start the season. It’s short enough to really push each stage hard and also has really fun technical single track, so it works well for athletes preparing for both stage races and XCO events.

“It’s also such a great vibe at the event. It’s obviously very competitive but at the same time everyone is out there enjoying themselves both during and after the stage.

“The final big positive is with the stage distances being slightly shorter it allows the younger riders to use it as an entry into stage racing which is great as stage racing is such a big part of the MTB culture in SA,” White highlighted.

Entries for the 2023 Euro Steel Drak Descent are open at drakdescent.co.za/entry-information