Former champ makes his mark once again

Although all eyes were on championship leader, Wade Young who just returned from Romania, a new overall winner was crowned during the fourth round of the National Enduro Championships this weekend in Badfontein.

The former multiple national enduro champion, Louwrens Mahoney (Brother KTM), who is also the coach of local favourite Bernard McGee, snatched the title from Young, who recently became the youngest rider ever to finish on the podium in Romania during the Red Bull Romaniacs.

Mahoney, who was not able to compete for the best part of the previous season due to recovery from a broken ankle, was eager to show what he had to offer on the racing track and claimed his first overall victory and E2 (open class) in the national enduro series for this year with his 500cc-powered KTM in dry and dusty conditions.

Competitors had to complete four laps that consisted of a MX special, an Extreme special and an Enduro special. Both the MX- and Extreme special were timed from the first lap while the Enduro special was only timed from the second. Riders were given 1:45min to complete the first lap and 1:30min for the second, third and fourth lap with national competitors having plenty of time to spare in the pits, not having to push hard on the regularity stages, so they could focus on the specials.

“I overshot the first corner on the MX special and stopped before the timing arch, not sure how I got that so wrong, so I lost time. I then got stuck on the first extreme special and was still learning how to ride the 500 in the rocks. I didn’t feel great on the first long special and rode on my back brakes too much so they didn’t work anymore. On the third lap the MX and Extreme specials went a lot better but I went wide on the long special and hit a tree and went over the bars and lost some precious time there. The last lap however went well and I felt great on the Extreme special as well as the long Enduro special where I didn’t make any mistakes,” said a very happy Mahoney.

Although Young had to settle for second best, he still comfortably leads both the overall and E1 championship after he managed to score good points and cleaned up in the E1 class, making it four out of four class wins this season with two more rounds to go.

Local riders also didn’t disappoint and although two favourite youngsters Bernard McGee and Brendan Swanevelder, were unfortunately not able to show their steel due to injury setbacks, Klaas-Johan Prinsloo and Craig Gregory nevertheless held not only Lydenburg’s name high, but also Yamaha’s when both celebrated top 10 finishes in the club 200 and club open respectively.

The fifth and penultimate round of the National Enduro championship will take place on September 6 in the Eastern Cape.

Championship standings (top 5 overall, provisional) after round 4 of 6:

1. Wade Young – 97 points

2. Altus de Wet – 86

3. Louwrens Mahoney – 73

4. Scott Bouverie – 68

5. Travis Teasdale – 68.