The beautiful wine lands around Worcester in the Western Cape played host to the final two rounds of the Totpak National Offroad championship and it was down to these last two rounds of the championship to determine who would be crowned South African champion for 2015.
Rough tracks with different terrain from rocks to sandy sections would make for an interesting two days of racing with three different loops of approx. 55 km’s that had to be completed twice each day. Round six of the championship was held on Heritage day with a day’s break in between before competitors headed out for round seven the following Saturday.
Brother Leader Tread KTM’s Louwrens Mahoney set the fastest time on Thursday’s time trial, being the first man out however with the terrain unknown it was hard for Mahoney to keep the lead and he had to settle for second place overall and second place in the OR1 class. Mahoney also had a great day out on Saturday, rounding off the OR1 podium. Whilst luck was not on Ross Branch’s side on the Thursday the talented Botswana rider impressed with a steady performance at round seven of the championship, taking victory on the day, both overall and in the OR1 class.
In the competitive OR2 class Brother Leader Tread KTM’s Louw Schmidt dominated both rounds of the championship, winning round six and seven with a comfortable lead, securing yet again another South African championship title in this highly competitive class. Tyron Miller backed up his team mate and finished in second place in the OR2 class on Thursday and in fifth place on Saturday.
“I started my time trials slow, but got into a good rhythm towards the end. I made no mistakes and managed to qualify well. I enjoyed the race and with the track being more open and knowing the first loop as it was identical to time trial, I started pushing to pull a gap to stay in the lead for the championship. The track was enjoyable and rough and I’m extremely happy to have brought home the OR2 championship title onboard my trusty KTM 350 XC-F.”, said Schmidt.
After winning the previous two rounds of the OR3 championship Jarryd Coetzee was driven to bring home the championship, but an unfortunate crash on Thursday’s time trial put Coetzee out of title contention and he could not continue racing after injuring his knee.
He however quickly recovered and dug deep to come back on Saturday and finish the season off on a high note. He pushed hard and only missed out on the OR3 class win by a few seconds, very happy with his result for the day, seeing the talented youngster from Mafikeng finish the season off as the runner up in the OR3 class for 2015.
The Seniors class was another competitive class to follow in 2015 and after a consistent season it was Brother Leader Tread KTM’s Juan ‘Bollie’ van Rooyen who won both rounds in Worcester, securing his Seniors championship title for 2015 for the second year in a row.
“I really enjoyed the route and the organisers put a lot of effort into marking it well for us. I enjoyed my 300 XC-W and had a great race on both days, playing it safe on Friday however to secure the championship.”, said Van Rooyen.
The competitive High School class was dominated by KTM Centurion’s Eduan Bester who raced a consistent season, winning most rounds and bringing home the High School class title for 2015. Provisional results also see KTM Centurion’s Ian Venter taking the Masters championship.