PORTRAIT: Matt Sutherland ...
"MY RACING HISTORY
IS QUITE MINIMAL"
A
telephone call at the eleventh hour saw a relatively
inexperienced racer land a ride in one of the world’s
toughest races. That call came on the way to the
Baja 1000, Australian born Matt Sutherland wasn’t
entirely surprised yet couldn’t quite comprehend that the
Africa ECO Race was less than two months away. He had
to prepare.
“He (Mike Johnson) told me that he had been asked
to join Lyndon Poskitt’s team for the Africa ECO Race,”
explains Matt. Johnson is the owner of Rally Comp in
the United States and knew the Australian from the
few deserts races they’d done together. Matt had also
received training at Johnson’s complex in El Paso, Texas.
Johnson was quick to point out that Poskitt was also
looking for another rider, his regular rider injured, he’d
suggested that Matt would be a perfect fit. Perhaps
strange as Matt had only four years of racing experience.
At 35, Matt’s racing experience might be limited yet he
TRAVERSE 35