Team Rhide SA’s off-road quad racer, Brian Baragwanath, has shattered the records by becoming the first quad competitor in the past decade to win all the rounds of a modern South African national off-road series. By accomplishing this, he won the quad category overall and claimed the Q1 Class Championship title. It was the eighth time Baragwanath (26) finish on the overall podium of the National Off-road Quad series since 2006. This is Baragwanath’s second national off-road title as he has also won the overall standings and class championship in 2008. His record might even stretch over a longer period of time, but no records of race results for the years between 1994 (when the South African off-road quad racing series produced its first national champion) and 2000 could be found. Team Rhide SA was formed at the beginning of the season with the aim of its four members to tackle the 2015 Dakar Rally and to compete in the South American event in January to promote rhino poaching awareness. Unfortunately only two members – Baragwanath and Hannes Saaijman – will now be participating in the 9000km event. Baragwanath has won his entry by winning the Dakar Challenge earlier this year in Botswana during the desert race, while Saaijman’s entry was accepted a few weeks later. Ted Barbier’s entry was declined due to a lack of racing experience according to the ASO (race organisers) while the motorcycle rider, Ruan Roberts, has temporarily stopped racing due to work commitments. With the record books being rewritten and the 2014 season now something of the past, Team Rhide SA’s Baragwanath and Saaijman are extremely busy with their Dakar Rally 2015 project. They might be new on the Dakar Rally scene, but as two experienced off-road quad racing competitors, they are aiming at podium results. They are on short finals with the preparation of their Yamaha Raptor 700 quads to be race-ready and shipped to South America – either via France or directly to South America. In the meantime the team is still in need of sponsorships. They would like to thank all their current sponsors including Yamaha SA who supplied them with Yamaha Raptor 700 quads and Imperial GM Isando from who they acquired an Isuzu NPS300 4×4 truck that will serve as the service truck for the crew.