Former multiple national enduro champion, Louwrens Mahoney (Brother KTM) was victorious at this weekend’s Liquorland National Enduro @ Lydenburg, the fourth round of the Liquorland National Enduro Championship that was held in the Lydenburg area in Mpumalanga. E1 and E2 competitors had to post their fastest times at 11 dry and dusty Special Stages that varied from a short, grassy stage to an Extreme Special that was quite rocky as well as a longer Enduro Special that took riders into the surrounding hills and mountains.
Mahoney did not compete for the best part of the previous season as he was recovering from a broken ankle. He claimed his first overall and E2 (Open Class) victories this season with his 500cc-powered KTM and won two of the eleven Special Stages. Mahoney was followed by his team-mate, Wade Young, who won the E1 (200cc Class) for the fourth consecutive time this season. Young returned from clinching a third place at the Red Bull Romaniacs in Romania with a serious bout of flu. He crashed in the penultimate stage and lost valuable time, but was happy with scoring good points to keep his overall and E1 championship lead.
Altus de Wet (Cargo-Tac Husqvarna Factory Racing), who also finished the extreme enduro event in Romania, finished a mere nine points (seconds) behind Young and rounded off the overall podium. His second place in E2 ensured he keeps his lead in this class championship. A mere seven points (seconds) separated Travis Teasdale (Brother KTM), who finished second in E1 and fourth overall, from Blake Gutzeit, who participated for the first time in the 2014 Liquorland National Enduro championship with his new team, Cargo-Tac Husqvarna Factory Racing. Each of the top five riders claimed at least one Special Stage victory with Young posting the fastest times after four stages.
Brett Swanepoel was happy to bring home some silverware for his new team, Proudly Bidvest Yamaha. He rounded off the E1 podium and finished sixth overall. It was, however, a close call as Dwayne Kleynhans (Leadertread Racing KTM), who also competed in the gruelling Red Bull Romaniacs, finished a mere five points behind him. Kleynhans was fourth in E2. Swanepoel’s team-mate, Marc Torlage, was back in action after recovering from injuries that have prevented him from competing since early March this year.
He finished fourth in E1 (eighth overall) with his team-mate, Kenny Gilbert, rounding off the overall top 10 (he was sixth in E2) after losing time when his Yamaha’s chain came off in the final Extreme Special. Brother KTM’s Scott Bouverie, who is still recovering from an injury after competing in the Erzberg Rodeo in Austria in June, was sandwiched between the two Proudly Bidvest Yamaha team-mates and was happy to bag some valuable points.
Henco Botha (KTM) posted his best result in his first season in the senior enduro series to finish just outside the overall top ten. He was only eight points behind Gilbert to finish eleventh and rounded off the top five in the E1 championship. Brandon Warwick-Oliver (Honda) was 12th overall (sixth in E1); Kyle Flanagan (TLB Plant Hire / Alfie Cox Racing KTM) finished 13th (seventh in E1); James Hodson (Team Liquorland Yamaha) was 14th (eighth in E1) with Charan Moore (Kargo Racing Yamaha) rounding off the overall top 15 (he finished seventh in E2) while his team-mate, Tim Young, scooped the final overall points with his 20th place (he was ninth in E2).
Kyle Erasmus (Yamaha); Damien Scott (Manhand Ridgeway Yamaha) – he won a Special Stage; Mauritz Meiring (VANS Racing Division KTM) and Louw Schmidt (Brother KTM) finished in the 16th to 19th overall positions respectively.
There were more victories for the leaders in both the Senior and Master Class championships. The defending Senior Class champion, William ‘Wild Will’ Gillitt (Team Liquorland Racing Yamaha) extended his lead in this championship with a third victory while Alfie Cox (KTM) claimed his fourth consecutive victory in the Master Class.
In the Senior Class championship, Hilton Hayward (Yamaha) strengthened his second place by claiming his fourth runner-up result this season even though only a mere three points ahead of third-placed Bruce May (Yamaha). Franz Czepeck (KTM) finished fourth with Gillitt’s team-mate, Stephen Landman, rounding off the top five.
The battle between Cox, who leads the Master Class championship after three previous victories and the defending champion, Denzil Torlage (Proudly Bidvest Yamaha) continued with Cox beating Torlage with 55 points. Garth Prost (Cargo-Tac Husqvarna Factory Racing) finished third with Shaun Kirk (Beta Racing SA) fourth and Richard Cunniffe (Yamaha) rounding off the top five.
It seems that the new High School Class Championship will go down to the wire as the battle between Eduan Bester (NUTS Racing / Civil Century KTM), who tackled the race as the class leader, and second-placed Chayse Orsmond (TLB Plant Hire / Alfie Cox Racing KTM) continued at Lydenburg. Orsmond took the championship lead from Bester after claiming his second victory this season.
Bester experienced some bad luck as his KTM rolled down a mountain resulting in him losing a lot of time and having to settle for fourth place. Dean Lindsay (Manhand Ridgeway Yamaha) finished second – this was his best result so far this season – with Orsmond’s team-mate, Daniël van Zyl rounding off the podium.
Bester eventually finished four points behind Van Zyl with Dalton de Bruin (KTM) rounding off the top five of this championship for riders between the ages of 14 and 16 years who had to tackle eight Special Stages.
The Kokstad scholar, Dylan Barker (Pa Ma Racing Yamaha) tackled the Silver Class Challenge with a mission to win this class and that is exactly what he is doing. Two crashes did not stop Barker from winning this class for the fourth time this season. (At the end of the season, the ‘prize’ for the Silver Class Challenge winner is a free entry for each round of the following season’s national events.) Barker was followed by two Free State riders, Behan Boshoff (KTM) and Christiaan Greeff (KTM). Sage McGregor (KTM) had to settle for ninth place after his chain came off in the Extreme Special, but he has scored enough points for him to keep his second place in the Silver Class Challenge while Boshoff has now moved into the third place.
The fifth and penultimate round of the 2014 Liquorland National Enduro Championship will take place on September 6th in the Patensie area in the Eastern Cape.