Off-Track: Cory Graffunder’s Rocket Ride at Erzberg

 Cory Graffunder, 21, from Kelowna, BC, first burst onto the Canadian scene as a rider to watch at the Raymond Amateur Motocross Nationals. A while later he shook things up by running in the top five at the World Enduro Championship round in Parry Sound. That spelled top Canadian. That was way back in 2006…ages ago in terms of Graffunder’s growth as one of the top off-road racers, no, motorcycle racers period, on the planet. The likeable and professional young rider has excelled at the gnarliest of races, like the Red Bull Last Man Standing events, the ISDE and indoor Endurocross races. No, you won’t hear Cory Graffunder whining about rocks, dust, or messing up the graphics on his KTM…

Gnarly isn't a strong enough word to describe the Erzberg course...

This morning Cory called me from the Czech republic, chatting about the infamous Erzberg Hare Scramble and the exciting things that followed in the wake of his amazing fifth place overall against the very best, toughest dirt bike racers on Earth. Here’s how our conversation went.

Cory, you do realize you are like a superhero over here right now don’t you?

“Oh man, that’s awesome! So far this is the best thing I’ve done in my career, definitely.”

How did the whole Erzberg thing come about?

“It was my own doing. I did it because I wanted to do it. I came last year as well, basically just to figure out what I’d need to learn to do well here. I did my research and then trained all year for this race. My training paid off! I lined up a borrowed bike, a 2008 KTM300EXC. I’ve been racing the 300 two-stroke at home and I think it’s the best bike, period. It’s in the middle of everything, tons of power and still really light.” 

No factory effort here. Just Cory's family and friends, a borrowed KTM and a truckload of talent were enough for him to beat the best in the world and land a chance at a factory ride in Europe!

Ya, but how do you train for a race like Erzberg?

“(Laughs) You go find spots where nobody else will ride and you ride there. Rockslides and valleys with nasty rocks. But rocks are only part of it. The forest…the most extreme stuff we get in terms of off-road racing in Canada isn’t even close to the trails at Erzberg. It’s just ridiculous. You have to get good at riding stuff that is no fun. It’s torture, but you have to do it if you want to get good at it.”

Do you still race any motocross?

“I raced a couple regionals just for fun, but no Nationals or anything. I never even raced motocross until I was sixteen, and then only raced motocross two years. The first year I came out as intermediate and did all right, then the second year I rode as a Pro. I just do motocross for training, but I enjoy it when I can fit it into my race schedule. I really wanted to ride the Kamloops national…just no time to do it all.”

Help me try to get a grasp of the scale of Erzberg as a race…

“There were over 1600 riders this year. There are a lot of guys that come just for the prologue, you know qualifying Friday and Saturday. This year they let 600 riders into the big race on Sunday. Those guys are all pros who won’t even try a race like this if they aren’t prepared for it. Of that 600 who qualify for Sunday there are a lot of fast guys, like maybe 40 or 50 factory sponsored riders.”

1600 riders? Like triple the size of the biggest motocross race in Canada?

“Oh ya, easily. It’s unreal! You are sitting on the line and there are fighter jets flying overhead with smoke coming out, plus so many helicopters flying around that you can’t even hear your own bike. There are trucks driving around with huge loudspeakers…it’s just crazy.I just can’t explain to you how big this race is.”

Graffunder's race up the Iron Giant of Erzberg shocked the European off-road elite

For a Canadian Enduro rider it must have been very intimidating to be in the middle of that circus…

“I remember last year sitting in the bottom of the bowl and looking up and seeing each level just packed with people. The atmosphere, the bikes, just everything…I was pretty nervous. This year I knew what to expect; no nerves, just focus on getting a good start and don’t fall down too much after that.”

Who was your crew?

“I had big support. My mom and dad came, and another guy who has been helping me came with his whole family. Another family here in Czech that I met last year also helped me out. We had two mechanics…it was a huge effort, but it takes that many people to do well at an event like this.” 

They call it the Erzberg Rodeo, and as I understand it there are a bunch of different races that week…

“Erzberg is about four days of racing now. They had a new event this year called the ‘Rocket Ride’ using a section of the hare scramble course that is this massive gravel hill. They go up four levels with six start gates; just a head to head race from bottom to top, run in elimination format. That was really fun! They also had a full-on Endurocross track, which I raced as well. Friday and Saturday are qualifying days, racing from the bottom to the top of the mine just wide open…we were reaching speeds over 100 MILES (!!) per hour…that was pretty fast. I was seventh fastest in that, so that put me into the race on Sunday.”

Sunday, the day of infamy…well, what’s the scoop on your fifth place finish?

“I was about sixth around the first turn and on the very first hill climb I passed up to second place. A hundred yards further I took over the lead and led overall for the first three checkpoints until I watered my bike out…”

HANG ON A SEC! DID EVERYONE GET THAT? A CANADIAN KID WAS LEADING 600 OF THE BEST RIDERS IN THE WORLD! IN THEIR OWN BACKYARD! OK, back to Cory’s story.

Graffunders's fifth overall is reason for all Canadians to be proud!

“…I hit this rut that was full of water and completely killed it. I dragged the bike out of the mud and kept trying to get it to start, I mean there was water shooting out the pipe…I was watching all these Pros go by and was thinking ‘Shit. My race is over…’ I lost about two minutes there until it finally fired. It ran like garbage the rest of the day. It wouldn’t idle and kept stalling…it was a pain to deal with but I just kept going and worked my way back to 15^th place and then just put my head down and worked my way back up to fifth.”

How did the European riders and fans treat you after the race? Were they stoked about your ride or kinda’ snooty acting toward you?

“Everyone was great. I’ve mostly been hanging out with the factory KTM guys and they all treat me very well.”

You first got the Euro’s attention a few years ago at the WEC race in Canada. Are those Euro Factory teams are now beating a path to your door?

“(Laughs) I’ve been doing some dealing yesterday and today. Umm…I won’t be coming home for a few more weeks now. I had a meeting with the head of KTM’s racing department in Austria and they have invited me to race in Italy. I will be racing an Italian National out of the factory KTM rig.”

Dude, that is a dream come true for every kid with a dirt bike in Canada! Speaking of which, does this mess up your ability to race the Royal Distributing Canadian Enduro Championship series?

“I can’t make the opening round and may miss round two as well. I will definitely be in Canada to race the Eastern rounds though.”

A lot of the Pros at the Canadian Enduro Championship are going to be so relieved that you won’t be at the first couple rounds…

“I was really looking forward to it. (Laughs) I will send my team-mate Bobby Prochnau to represent the West for me.”

And now you’re going to have to get used to living over there…

“I’ve been in Czech for a few weeks now and its pretty cool. I am picking up the language a little bit, you know, please and thank you and all the swear words. (Laughs) Now I have to go Italy and learn how to swear in another language. This is awesome over here. We took a day to tour Prague and look at all these old buildings…when you realize how old everything is compared to Canada it’s amazing!”

Have you been riding much since Erzberg?

“Oh ya, every day. I’ve been riding motocross on a KTM 250F and spent a day in the woods on a 300. The bike I raced at Erzberg was totally blown up after the race. Fried. I should get it back soon though.” 

Are there lots of places to ride?

“Oh man, it’s cool and it makes you realize how enduro racing was developed. In Canada you disappear into the forest and you’re gone. Over here you start in the middle of town and go down the road, then dodge off into a trail section, then you go ride back down the highway to the other side of town and ride over there a bit. It’s different and very cool.”

Good luck man! I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Eastern CEC races.

“Ya, for sure. Umm, do you want me to call you after that race in Italy?”

Absolutely!!

After our talk I did a bit of surfing around for some Erzberg footage and found this on YouTube. 

While it’s a bummer that Graffunder won’t be here to entertain us during the entire CEC series, in the big picture having a Canadian competing at this level in Europe is awesome! Talk about being proud to be a Canadian! So stay tuned, I’ll keep you guys informed of how Cory’s European invasion is going whenever I get news!