South Africa’s world motorbike champ in town
It was good to hear Brad and his family saying that good old South Africa is still the best place to be.
IT’S not every day of the week when we have a world champion visiting the Hibiscus Coast, but indeed we really do have a such a winner in our midst – none other than 21-year-old Brad Binder, recently crowned 2016 World Champion in the Moto3 Motor Cycle World Championships. Not only did Brad win the World Championships, but he did it in style with four races to spare, too.
Methinks this really is a case of ‘boy with local connection making good’. In October, I was asked by good neighbours, Brian and Joan Muir, of Uvongo, to meet and interview Wally and Hazel Williams of Shelly Beach “They have a grandson who rides motorbikes.” Didn’t think there would be much of a story there, but popped round to see the Williams’s to find out what it was all about. It turned out to be a prophetic afternoon as I discovered that the ‘grandson who rode a motorbike’ was none other than Brad Binder, who was fast becoming a potential ‘world champion’.
I followed up the story and elicited a promise from the Williams duo that when the Binder family visited here at Christmas, I would be given the opportunity to meet them. So, it was with good fortune that promises were kept and I was able meet Brad, his family and friends, who are here for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Brad was, obviously, the ‘star turn’, although one wouldn’t think so by first looks. Just an ordinary S’african oke, albeit with a broken arm (I wonder how he got that?) growing a beard, euphemistically called ‘designer stubble’. The usual questions were asked. The usual answers given back: born, raised and educated in the PWV area and riding motorbikes from the age of 10.
His folks, Trevor and Sharon Binder, are domiciled in Krugersdorp and as can be appreciated, have made many sacrifices in order to help Brad achieve his ambitions and to reach a pinnacle at such a relatively young age. Life, however, has its compensations, as the Binders spend several months a year in Moraira, Costa Blanca, Spain, when the racing season is up and running. And, just to keep it in the Binder family, younger brother Darryn (18) is following in Brad’s tracks and is also an up-and-coming Moto3 class rider.
Of course, I just had to ask a ‘personal’ question. Whenever we see the winners on the podium, or even in the pit stops, or whenever there’s a spot featuring the riders, there always seems to be a ‘drop-dead-gorgeous, beautiful young woman’ around. I asked ‘our Brad’ if any of these young women is perhaps a girlfriend? Brad just smiled and emphatically rejected such a notion.
“No,” he replied, “they are just ‘brolly dollies’ – there to add a bit of glamour to the scene.” Hmm, nice work if you can get it, what?
The 2017 season starts early in the new year, when Brad makes his debut in the Moto2 division. So next stop is Tucuman, northern Argentina. Really one of the last frontiers at the foot of the Andes Mountains in South America. Don’t forget the oxygen, Brad. Then it’s on to Europe, Australia, Asia and North America. Not a bad life if you don’t weaken. However, right now it’s a case of ‘home is where the heart is’, home being the family’s holiday residence in St Michael’s.
Indeed, it was good to hear a young South African and his family saying this, having travelled to many parts of the world, that good old South Africa is still the best place to be. Ah, Brad, but have you ever been to Grimsby?
Beaming grandparents Wally and Hazel are justifiably proud of Brad’s wonderful achievements, especially Wally, who even discarded his beloved Liverpool football shirt, to replace it with a Moto3 Champions shirt – a gift from champ Brad himself.
All we can say, Brad and family, is “Well done from all of us, wherever be it – Krugersdorp, Blikkiesdorp, or the Hibiscus Coast. We are dead chuffed. And may your success be a long and happy ride to the very top. And have a great Christmas and New Year here on the Hibiscus Coast.
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