August 2020 -- Vol 4 -- Issue 8 August 2020 | Page 175

On The Pegs VOL. 4 ISSUE 8 - August 2020 175
On The Pegs spoke with New Zealander Rachel Archer after her recent “firstever”
GNCC win at the Mason Dixon GNCC in West Virginia.
Tell us about growing up and racing in New Zealand? What type of racing did
you do?
I started racing when I was ten. I first got a dirt bike when I was three. Every day
after school I’d ride my dirt bike out on the farm and stuff until dark. I wasn’t very
good at doing my homework. I started racing cross-country when I was ten, and
then I got into motocross when I got an 85 when I was 12 or 13. I won a few New
Zealand motocross titles and then started racing the New Zealand cross-country
series. Was doing really well in the women’s class and then moved up to the senior
grade when I was 14 on the 125.
Against the men?
Yeah. I won the intermediate under 200 cc two-stroke New Zealand cross-country
title when I was 15 on a Husqvarna 150. Then from there, Yamaha started looking at
me. I went over to Australia and did some desert racing with the Husky team over
there called SIMFORD. This was with Daniel Sanders. I did that and I got second in
the women’s class to Megan Rutledge who is a motocross champ. That was my first
year on the big bike, on the 250. Then I came over to America for some GNCC’s.
So last year was your first year, right?
No. I actually came over in 2015 and did two with KR4 on a 125. I got fourth at Wild
Boar and seventh at Big Buck, I think. Then I was hooked.
Did your father ride? Is that how you got into it?
Yeah. My dad has always been into dirt bikes. He’s raced all over the world and
stuff, represented New Zealand. He was going to go to the Six Day in 2000, but he
broke his leg really bad. Mom was pregnant with me at the time and they had just
bought a new farm, so he decided to miss out on that one.
Was it a cow farm? What kind of farm was it?
Back home we’ve got just under two-and-a-half-thousand acres of cattle country.
We’ve got a 620-cow dairy farm and a 1400-cattle dry stock farm.
Did you ever milk a cow?
Yeah. Lots of hours in the milking shed.