Race Report: The MSA S.A.
National MX Championship - Round 3: Springfield
27 May 2014
Copyright Motocross South Africa (MX SA)
Written by Michelle Smith.
Unauthorised use of this content is prohibited.
There was huge excitement at the announcement that Springfield
would host the South African National MX Championship. It
was great to see a historical track like Springfield jump
at the opportunity and put on a great show. Riders from all
over the country descended on Durban and in typical hot KZN
weather conditions, the third round of the championship kicked
off under the watchful eye of a massive crowd that lined the
entire perimeter of the track.
A massive thank you to all the sponsors involved in making
this event a huge success: Fox, Red Bull, Xtreme Projects,
M Projects, Rock Powerline, Prepsol, Pac-Rite, The Ink Drop,
Amandla Plumbing, Specialized Abnormal Transport, Station
Masters, Africa Paint, Eldor Engineering and Bellmoral Truck
Spares.
It was great to see the spin off of the Green Bus Racing
programme and a nice line up in the 50cc Support class.
It was young Seth Young that picked up where he left off at
the last round and took two wins and the overall for the day.
We look forward to seeing this young rider join the 50cc Senior
ranks in 2015. Newcomers Jordan van Wyk and Tristan Durow
joined him on the podium and it seems clear that junior racing
in KZN is in excellent hands.
In the 50cc Senior class it was Zimbabwean rider Daiyaan
Manuel that again proved unstoppable as he racked up another
overall. The battle behind him between Chase Hanekom and Nate
McLellan made for some exciting racing and this class is certainly
going to get interesting as the season continues.
The 65cc class is one of the most anticipated classes
to watch at the moment. The ongoing battle between Jonathan
Mlimi and Camden McLellan follows them to every race that
these two compete in together. Camden clinched the overall
for the day with Jonathan in second. Christiaan Cilliers put
in an excellent performance and took third for the day.
In the 85cc class we saw solid performances all around.
Slade Smith put in two excellent heats to take first overall
for the day with KZN rider Cameron Durow and Regan Wasmuth
taking second and third respectively. When looking at the
Pro Mini class we know that in only a few short years we will
see these riders in the senior ranks and we have to say that
the racing is guaranteed to continue to be first class. It
was Janes van Sandwyk that took both heat wins and first overall
for the day and it was almost Déjà vu as we
saw Slade Smith and Regan Wasmuth back on the podium for second
and third.
The High School class was undoubtedly one of the most
exciting of the day. These guys pushed the boundaries and
it was a massive battle between the front runners the whole
day. Some excellent riding from Charl van Eeden saw him out
front with Jason Visser and Joshua Mlimi hot on his heels.
It was a small mistake by Charl coming out of the bottom sandy
section that saw Jason make the pass and a mistake by Joshua
in that same section that saw him drop back. Tyron Nel also
put in an excellent performance and it was only a few mistakes
that saw him miss out on a podium spot.
The day ended with an overall win by Jason Visser, Charl van
Eeden second and Joshua Mlimi third.
The stacked gates form MX2, always has people dropping
what they are doing to watch. The pace and intensity of these
riders is a must see for any spectator and its guaranteed
that if you miss even one minute you will likely have missed
at least one change in position somewhere. It was great to
see Michael Kok on the 250 as well Reid Sinnicks back on the
bike after some time off.
A solid performance by Sacha Naude saw him take the overall
win for the day with Michael Kok in second and Wyatt Avis
in third. Both Kerim Fitz-Gerald and Ross Branch where right
on their heels.
Ross Branch put in a stunning performance in the first heat
of MX1 and the battle was the battle was on with Sacha
Naude until Sacha had to slow down and just circulate due
to a puncture. Michael Kok and Kerim Fitz-Gerald had a great
race as well and there was a lot of anticipation for Heat
2. The day definitely boiled down to who had the most consistent
performance. With Michael Kok, Kerim Fitz-Gerald and Ross
Branch having a better first heat, it was Lloyd Vercueil,
Sacha Naude and Royce Griffin what had the better second heat.
Sacha Naude took the overall win for the day with a well earned
second from Ross Branch and great third for Royce Griffin
who had a solid day.
In MX3 it was Rod Bergstrom with the win and Darrel
Fitz-Gerald and Greg Aspinall in second and third.
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