RACE REPORT: RAD MOTO MX TEAM - WOMZA MX NATIONAL Round 1
3 March 2013

RAD Report by Geoff Kruger

Held at DIRT BRONCO, KRUGERSDORP held on 23rd and 24th Feb 2013

The opening round of the WOMZA, Full Throttle National Motocross Championship event for 2013 greeted some 2000 spectators and some 170 competitors alike with great fan fair. Start gates were packed and an average of 20 competitors lined up in each heat, across all championship classes. How’s that for an improvement in motocross numbers!

Monster Energy put on a show second to none and one could have mistaken the event for an international event. This event that promised to deliver - did exactly that and a very successful day was the ultimate result. Thanks to many behind the scenes individuals and sponsors such as Ryan Shapiro, Laren Van der Westhuizen (and the MXSA Team), Matthew Phelps and Ernie Voulton. Well done!

The event was held at the DIRT BRONCO Circuit just near Krugersdorp. Thanks to Ernie and team the track was immaculately prepared and set up. By Sunday’s 3rd heats though, the track was the roughest it has ever been and this separated the men from the boys.

Again the weather played its part and temperatures soared into the 30’s throughout the day on Saturday with a cooler morning on Sunday.

RAD Moto Team Pits – National MX Round 1 – Dirt Bronco 2013

The RAD Moto MX Team Review
Matthew is building on his fitness and is starting to show good pace and improvement. Matthew demonstrated patience and consistency to finish well in the points in 4th place.

The 85cc Junior Class
The 2013 season should be very exciting in this competitive class. The older boys (Phelps, Thompson and others) have moved on up to the Pro Mini class and have made way for the youngsters (Kruger, Smith, Raaff, Van den Abele, Mahoney and Aucamp) to prove themselves.

Matthew qualified well in qualifying practice to come in 4th fastest.

Heat 1 saw Matthew charging strongly out of the start gate, getting the holeshot and straight into the first corner with a healthy lead. Round the back of the circuit in the new section, Matt almost had a big off over the double and while recovering was caught by Smith, Mahoney and Van den Abele. Matt composed himself and rode solidly to maintain 4th position from hard charging Ruben Aucamp.

Matt with the holeshot in heat 1 aboard his Rad Moto KTM 85cc

Heat 2 again saw Matthew getting a good jump out the gate and coming out 5th behind old rival Ricky Raaff. Although Matthew was running consistently faster lap times he could not find a way around the competitive and experienced Raaff. Matt pushed Ricky all the way to the flag and almost made a clever pass on the line, but had to settle for 5th place

Heat 3 saw Matt again get a good start and slot into 3rd position behind Mahoney and Regan Wasmuth. I believe that Smith and Van Den Abele went down at the start and had to charge their way through the pack. Matthew rode consistently and although he was caught by Smith late in the race, both Smith and Wasmuth went down battling for 2nd and Matthew brought it home in a smart 2nd place. The 4th, 5th 2nd place finishes gave Matt a solid 4th overall for the day and represents a good start to the season for the RAD Moto MX Team.

With two sand tracks coming up in Cape Town and P.E, we expect to see the local boys Van Den Abele and Mahoney being strong. However with the 2 day format, consistency will be key and in Motocross anything can happen, so Matthew will be training hard to improve his results to capitalise at the away Nationals. Good luck Matt.

Matt thanking his sponsors at prize giving (Cute Monster Energy Girl)

Prize Giving
We look forward to Round 2 of the WOMZA Full Throttle MX Regional Championships, which will be held on the 9th March at Smoking Pistons.
A BIG thank you to Pritchard from RAD Moto who put in a massive effort for the team trackside on both Saturday and Sunday.
Overall I believe that the RAD Moto MX team represented themselves very well at the event and a BIG thank you to Dave Griffin, Nel Bosch and everyone at the RAD Moto team for your on-going valuable support. It is much appreciated.

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