Podium finish for Swanepoel at Roof

With a risky move two kilometres from the finish, Brett Swanepoel secured his place on the podium at the 2015 Roof of Africa International Hard Enduro race held from December 2-5 in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.

Widely considered as one of the absolute toughest off-road endurance events in the world, the “Mother of Hard Enduro” attracts the world’s best Xtreme Enduro riders.

With the finish line in sight and entangled in a battle for third place, Swanepoel went for a risky different line, taking his 250cc four-stroke Yamaha sightly off track, in a do or die move to overtake Travis Teasdale.

“I had a front wheel over Teasdale and turned in front of him, which forced him to brake and let me through. I felt the pressure of racing the final two kilometres with Teasdale right on me,” said Swanepoel.

Swanepoel completed the podium line-up alongside fellow KZN enduro racer and two-time “Roof” champion, Wade Young, who made history in 2012 when he became the youngest rider ever to win this iconic event at the age of 16, and overall winner and enduro world champion, Graham Jarvis from the United Kingdom.

The race was entirely navigated by GPS and Swanpoel said the dry, dusty conditions made it very difficult to see what was happening on the GPS screen while simultaneously traversing a myriad of steep, very rocky climbs with minimal traction.

Racing on day one was very close in searing 35 degrees Celsius heat and only 20 seconds separated the first four riders at the end of the stage.

Swanepoel said day two was, although 11 kilometres shorter, even harder than day one, especially the middle part which was where Jarvis applied his superior technical riding skills to pull away from the rest of the field.

In the end it was Graham Jarvis claiming the top spot in 13:11:00 with Wade Young second in 13:30:57 and Brett Swanepoel third in 13:33:06.

To crown Swanepoel’s very successful first year as a professional rider, he received his protea colours at the Motorsport SA Gala evening for South African champions, held at Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park on Saturday, December 5.

Swanepoel is the current 250cc South African off-road champion and ranked the second best 250cc enduro racer in the country.

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