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Pickering Winning Battles on and Off-Track |
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Wednesday, 04 July 2007 |
 While he has been winning battles on-track and currently leads the 2007 Toyo Drift Australia Series, Christian Pickering has been facing - and winning - a much bigger battle off-track.
The South Australian was diagnosed with cancer late last year making his off-track life tumultuous, in stark contrast to his exceptional on-track performances ahead of round three of the national series this weekend at Sydney's Eastern Creek.
"I found out a couple of days after Christmas last year, and then went in to have surgery the next day," he recalled.
"From then on, I was having chemotherapy in cycles of five days on, two days off.
"It's really been the support of my Mum and girlfriend that has kept me going, and when I'm in the car things have been better."
It hasn't stopped Pickering from competing, though.
He leads the championship after finishing second in the season opener
at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway in February, and third in round two at
Mallala Motorsport Park.
"I raced in Perth, finished second, and then had to fly back to
Adelaide on the Sunday night for more chemo on the Monday morning," he
explained.
"The weekend before that, I had a round of the South Australian G1 Series and took the trophy I won in to my next appointment.
"I wasn't going to give up and needed something to keep my mind off it
- if you're going to sit in bed thinking about it it's going to get the
better of you."
Since he last raced at Mallala in April, Pickering underwent further surgery, and received the all-clear.
"After the surgery, the doctor told me I could shut the door on cancer
- it was the best news I've had all year," Pickering beamed.
"I've got a 45cm scar on my stomach which was pretty uncomfortable last
Saturday night when I drove the car at a practice night, and I only
ended up doing a couple of runs because of it.
"The on-track stuff has gone really well for us this year, and now it
looks like the off-track stuff is going in the right direction too."
Now, with a clean bill of health, Pickering is determined to remain
on-top of the 2007 championship aboard his Nissan with three rounds
remaining.
"Eastern Creek will be the first race meeting this year where I haven't been having chemo at the same time," he said.
"I'll still be a bit sore from the surgery, but I'm leading the title
so I'll go to Eastern Creek and put up with it - it'll need to be
really bad for me to pull out.
"We made some changes to the car after Mallala and it's even better now.
"The Commercial Truck Sales team have put it together beautifully, it
does everything well and the Toyo tyres have been awesome, they're
definitely the best tyres to be on."
"I just can't wait to get out there this weekend."
Pickering will be one of 32 drivers competing at Eastern Creek in the
top-level Toyo Drift Australia Series, with a further 32 contesting the
Super Drift feeder class.
The action starts at 10am Saturday and 9am Sunday with team Drifting,
expression sessions, stunt bikes, and a Show 'n' Shine presented by
Ignition DVD and Meguiars also part of the entertainment.
Tickets are available for $20 on Saturday and $30 on Sunday, with a $40 weekend pass available, while kids under 12 are free.
For more information about the Toyo Drift Australia Series, head to www.driftaustralia.com.au
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