After moving away from mainstream Motocross to specialise purely on the arduous sport of Sand Racing, British star Todd Kellett – Drag’on Tek Yamaha is preparing to travel to Argentina to contest the second round of the inaugural FIM Sand Races World Cup on 24-26 February as series leader.
Kellett picked up maximum points at the start of this month when he raced to victory at the Enduropale du Touquet and in the process became just the second British winner of the iconic race in the forty-seventh edition of the three-hour epic on the shores of northern France.
Winning is not an alien concept to the twenty-five-year-old who has been victorious as a youth racer in the UK Arenacross series, won at adult British National Motocross Championship level and topped the EMX 2T podium at a round in 2019, but his Le Touquet victory is the result he sees as a career-defining moment.
“Personally, it does not get any bigger for me than winning Le Touquet,” he said. “It has been a big target and a lot of work has gone into it. I have been working towards it for the last five years which does not sound that long, but when you are focussed on just one thing it is a lot of work.
“It is not always the fastest guy who wins on the day. You have to be able to ride in the traffic and you have to have a little bit of luck. At the end of the day you have got twelve-hundred other bikes to contend with. I am really proud that I could pull it all together on the day.”
Kellett will next be in action at the end of this month as the focus shifts to South America for the Enduro del Verano in Argentina – regarded as the premier event of its kind in Latin America – where over eleven-hundred riders are expected before the series signs off in December on Monte Gordo Beach in Portugal’s Algarve region.
“Argentina is for sure going to be very, very exciting. I am leading the FIM Sand Races World Cup and Yamaha are interested and Monster Energy are interested and together we have made it happen which is amazing.
“I definitely feel good, but potentially my strengths are when it gets rough and when we get into the traffic and I am not sure in Argentina how much traffic we are going to get. It is a little different for us.
“I am really happy to be going and I cannot wait to see what it is all about.”
Following his full-time switch from Motocross, Kellett is delighted with the attention his new racing direction is receiving as his chosen sport makes mainstream media headlines.
“It is a dream for us to have a World Cup. At the end of the day it is massive for us. It is the direction we have all been dreaming of and I am so thankful that it is happening and hopefully it will go from strength to strength. I want it to grow and I think it will.”
FIM Communications