An amazing and challenging bike spectacle

This was, undoubtedly South African rider Wade Young’s race. He basically led the whole way and finished more than twenty minutes ahead of Yamaha’s amazing wonder kid, Brett Swanepoel. They were followed by most people’s favourite to win, Husqvarna’s Graham Jarvis.

Day one: Round the houses and time trial:
Two of the sponsors, Monster and Motul made it so festive. Monster energy with their extreme sports rigs and sound, and Motul with the awesome branding. Motul also bused in hundreds of local school kids to watch the fun.
Round the houses is an amazing spectacle to behold as 400 motorcycles set the streets of Maseru on fire. This year was a veritable bike fest with South Africa’s freestyle talents putting on a great show for the crowds. Trials specialists, the Le Riche brothers added their flavour – all of this had the crowds fired up for the racing. It was brilliant to watch guys like Husqvarna’s Darryl Curtis entertaining the crowds. Fantastic!
It is difficult to explain just how tough the race was this year. On day one, competitors were lulled into a false sense of ease by the short (35km) time trial. The original time trial was scrapped because of a serious storm the evening before that caused mayhem, fallen trees, big washaways and all sorts. Everyone rode the faster bronze time trial, a great trail ride with some nice technical stuff in between. This did not really suit the extreme specialists.

Day two:
This was a whole new ball game. Long, hot, in your face… the guys and girls were truly tested out there. KTM’s South African lady rider, Kirsten Landman stole the show. This silver-class rider was in the top 20 for the whole day and finished in an amazing 12th position.
Chatting to the gold guys at the end of the day – most agreed that it was absolutely brilliant, but the distance and saddle time is what really takes its toll… most felt that it could have been a bit shorter without taking anything away from the extreme enduro element.
Day two saw many of the top favourites falling out – Scott Bouverie injured his knee, Travis Teasdale took a wrong turn and could not make up enough time for day three, Andreas Lettenbichler, William Gillit and Blake Gutzeit all took a wrong turn and rode for miles before realising it. Letti injured his knee and sat out the last day.
Despite the fact that Jarvis drowned his bike twice in the deep rivers, he still managed a third for the day.
One hell of a story in the bronze class, Israeli rider Jonathan Levy finished the day in first place. But he made a mistake and actually came in on the tougher silver route. He was sent back to Bushman’s Pass and re-rode the entire last section of the bronze route to finish in 14th position.

Day three:
The live GPS tracking made sure that we could watch the riders out in the mountains. What a race, KTM’s Young increased his lead the whole day. At the second last DSP, Swanepoel was seven minutes behind Jarvis. His radiator was leaking, so he stopped for a quick patch and fill. At the last DSP, he was only two minutes behind Jarvis. Somehow he managed to overtake the champ and finished in second place just over 20 minutes behind Young and three minutes ahead of Jarvis. We see a bright future for this man.
Silver saw a draw for the first time in history. Dalan Hall and Lloyd Kirk somehow got the exact same time over three days of racing. The two are long-time friends and rode together the whole way. Still, amazing. KTM’s Kirsten Landman cemented her position as one of the worlds top female riders when she came in in 33rd position, also in silver.

Some quick highlights:
• Gold route 400km.
• Silver route 380km. Bronze 300km.
• South Africans dominated this event with eight in the top 10 gold.
• Top 10 bikes: Yamaha – four, Husky – three, KTM – three.
• KTM won the manufacturers trophy.
• Yamaha’s Gilbert and Swanepoel were on the brand-new YZ 250FX. Second and sixth overall in gold.
• Husqvarna’s Blake Gutzeit, 14th in gold after getting badly lost on day two.
• Israeli riders Jonathan Levy and Nimrod Hemmo took top honours in bronze, followed by SA’s Charl Weyer.
• Austria’s Lars Enockl (KTM), second international rider in 10th place.
• 36 riders came from abroad to compete.
• Three lady riders entered and completed the Roof this year. Veronika Dallhammer (44th) and Natasha Rugani (70th) in bronze – and Kirsten Landman 12th overall in silver. All on KTMs.

Results: Locals that finished

Gold:
Louwrens Mahoney – 11th Gold
Barend Erasmus – 15th Gold (third Roof and first finish).

Silver:
Johan van Rensburg, Warwick Mason, Greg Hodgskin.

Bronze:
Jack Brotherton, Brenden Benade, Barend Beeslaar.