Hailing out of Three Bridges, just outside of Melbourne in Victoria, Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders’ impressive off-road career came from humble beginnings. The now 22-year-old began his road to the pinnacle of the sport by contesting local club events before progressing through to state, national and international events in recent years.

“I did my first junior season in 2007 on an 85, just ripping around doing club days and I did my first state round in 2008,” Sanders told MotoOnline.com.au. “I kept ticking along from there and in 2009 I won my first state round Outright in the intermediate class.

“Everyone kept getting onto my dad saying that I’ve just beaten some really fast riders and that I should be doing the series. So after that we went off and did all of the big series from then on and I just always wanted to improve from there.”

With a family of motorcycle enthusiasts, it was natural for Sanders to join in on the fun, but it was his father who steered him towards off-road following his early days of experimentation within multiple disciplines of the sport.

“Both my parent’s families were into bikes, so Easter and Boxing Day for example, we would always go ripping around and I was always hitting jumps,” he explained. “I used to venture off and do some motocross, even some freestyle as that was the time when Crusty Demons were around. Dad tried to keep me away from all of that because I was a bit of a crazy kid when I was young.”

A rider who enjoys all disciplines of the sport, Sanders found the off-road side of motorcycle racing more fun and challenging thanks to the long distance cross-country aspect of events such as the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC).

“I always enjoyed every discipline of riding, but enduro is just more fun I’ve found and it’s more challenging with the cross-country races,” he commented. “If it was just sprints, I’d maybe go into motocross, but because we’ve got the cross-countries and enduro events, it’s more physically demanding than motocross. If you can do a three-hour motocross, you can do a cross-country [laughs].”

Now a two-time International Six-Day Enduro (ISDE) E3 category winner and the 2016 AORC Outright title holder, Sanders believes it was all about finding what works for him and putting in 100 percent at all times in order to achieve his goals.

“It was really about finding out what works for me and putting in 100 percent, not half-arsing anything – you’re either going to become a professional racer or you’re not,” he said. “That’s the decision I had to make when I finished school in 2012, 2013 was my first year out of school and off mum and dad’s wallet, I had to go out and do it myself.

“2013 wasn’t the best, so I said if I was going to make it, 2014 was the year. I went out and bought two bikes and I finished sixth Outright and won the 19 and Under category. Following that year I picked up a ride with KTM Australia, but it was definitely hard to get sponsors as a kid when nobody knew you.”

On his way to the top of the sport domestically, Sanders put in the hard yards working five days a week at the family business in order to pay for his weekend racing expenses: “It was work first and then try and ride. We have the family apple orchard, so I got to work on that five days a week, eight hours a day, until I paid off my bikes and all of that.

“I never had over a thousand bucks in my account, it was always paying for bikes, entries, licence, all of that stuff. Until you get a ride and start making some money out of it, it’s hard, it’s definitely hard going. But you just have to sacrifice things and go for it.”

In the end it was those sacrifices and his work ethic that placed him in a dream position to contest the 2017 and 2018 Enduro World Championship (EnduroGP) with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in the E2 category.

“It has always been my dream to race in Europe, and on that team as well,” Sanders admitted. “It’s probably the most prestigious team and they have so much support behind them, the technology with KTM is unreal as well. It was a goal, but now it’s time to go and chase that world championship that I’ve been working for and we’ll see where it goes from there.

Joining the ranks of high-calibre Australian riders to make it to the world stage in off-road, Sanders is taking advice from fellow Aussies such as 2016 EnduroGP champion, Matthew Phillips, and former international off-road star, Shane Watts, in order to ensure a smooth transition to the series.

“Matty has been a massive key to getting over there,” said Sanders. “He’s a good mate of mine and he’s good mates with everyone, he’s a very likeable dude. To see what he’s done over in Europe in the past few years, it’s unreal.

“To have him over there helping me out with what’s available, where to be based and all of that, it’s helped out so much. I’ve also had Shane Watts helping me out on how to approach things, he’s been there and done that, so it’s just handy to have those guys there to let me know what to expect.”

The Victorian, set to base himself out of Italy for the next two seasons, isn’t forgetting the help he received domestically, either. Sanders also gained vital experience and knowledge as part of the KTM Enduro Racing Team for the past two years under the guidance of team manager, Ben Grabham.

“Also with the experience I’ve had here in Australia with the team over the past two years, Grabbo has helped me out a lot and Tim Cole as well,” he added. “They’ve helped with how to approach things mentally, physically, all of that stuff, every little bit helps and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Sanders will head to Europe next week to begin his dream run in the EnduroGP series, he is also confirmed to contest the Italian off-road series during his stay. Chances are, he’ll be just as successful at the international level.