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RACE REPORT: FULL THROTTLE GAUTENG
MX CHAMPIONSHIP - ROUND 2: SMOKING PISTONS
25 March 2013
by Laren van der Westhuizen
After some delay on official results and points, we can tell you
the story of round 2 of the Womza Full throttle Gauteng regional
champs.
MX has experienced great momentum in 2013. The first regional attracted
some 197 riders and a mass of spectators and hype. The national
was a raging success with great racing and some 2000 spectators.
MX SA worked really hard to carry the flow to Smoking Pistons and
despite some challenges, was able to assist in running another great
day of racing. The nature of the soil at SP makes it tough on a
hot summer day to keep the dust at bay, but the Gauteng committee
and the track owners did the best job possible to get through the
day.
The most important thing for me was that 200 spectators were recorded
through the gate after the riders were in. This is a far cry from
the goals we have set, but a great improvement on the years gone
by. We have an iniative to expose this sport to people that would
not normally be associated with a day at the track and wefeel we
are slowly achieving that. I even had a lady in the commentry box
commnt on the fact that this was her first time at a race and didn't
even know this sport existed in the country. She has always seen
it on TV. She was impressed!!!!
A decent turn out of riders were up for racing the regional and
this was espite all the racing w have had in a row at the start
of 2013.
Once again the focus has been on juniors as they are the future
and the gates were stacked with talent once again.
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The 50cc senior class
was dominated by Vincent Van Rooy who woke up and obviously
ate a full bowl of Jungle oats that morning. There was a serious
battle for 2nd which was awesome to watch. Camden McLellan
fought back from a bad start to 2nd, but had to leave the
track for school sports before heat 2. This handed 2nd overall
to Hayden Tully and 3rd to Cody Tebbutt who has been solid
this season. Jono Mlimi showed flashes of brilliance again,
but inconsistancy affected his result once again. He will
click soon.
The 50cc junior class
has become the Barend Dutoit show and everyone else is playing
catch-up. Lucas Venter is the man leading that chase pack
in 2nd and hot on his heels is our lady star, Emma Jennings.
There was a great ride from an ever improving James Thompsonin
4th and Aeron Wecke in 5th
(Left: No. 5 Vincent van Rooy - courtesy SLN Photography)
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The 65cc class saw Dalton Venter
ride a Huqvarna and win. He seemed at home on the new bike, but
his starts weren't quite the same. I am sure he will work on those.
Calvin Jean Jacques got rider of the day in this class, which was
sponsored by Audio touch. He has been solid this season and is about
to really click I feel. Christiaan Cilliers has amazingly good pace
this season but the odd mistake is costing him from a really great
result. He finshed 3rd ahead of Hayden Tully and Jono Mlimi.
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The 85cc class saw a
great win in heat one from Ricky Raaf. He is a real talent
and everyone has been waiting for the beast to arise, which
it did on this day. Unfortunately a bad start in heat 2 handed
the win and overall to Slade Smith who is becoming a formiddible
presence in this class. Mathew Kruger was a solid 3rd ahead
of Ruben Aucamp.
The pro-mini class was
once again very exciting. Jason Visser suffered mechanical
failure in heat 1, but came back and won heat 2. He had his
hands full of Joshua Mlimi who decided to bring his A game
on the day. Joshua won overall ahead of the pocket rockt Justin
Thompson and 4th belonged to an out of sorts Marcus Phelps.
(Right: No. 737 Slade Smith - courtesy SLN Photography)
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The 125 class was full again
and was awesome to have KZN talent Dirco VD Westhuizen in the field.
Dillon Charalambous won heat 1 ahead of Jason Visser and Trisan
Cuthbert in 3rd. In heat 2, Tristan Cuthbert flew out the gate and
rode a raceto behold. He won ahead of Charalambous who did enough
for the overall. Dirco VD Westhuizen had to settle for 3rd on a
track he isn't familiar with and the mot improved rider of the season,
Nicholas Phelps, was in 4th.
The MX2 class was a get up and
check out race by Richie VD Westhuizen. Great battles happened behin
him between Dillon Juul, Danny Lailvaux and Wesley DuPlooy. Wesley
would win that battle ahead of Lailvaux and Dillon Juul had to settle
for 4th. It was great to have 2 Angolans in the field, Zeferino
Fernandes and Ferans Baptiste who finished 9th and 10th respectively.
The MX2B class saw Nicholas
Phelps on the top step of the podium ahead of Sebastian Cullen and
Sarel Prinsloo.
(Right: No. 54 Sacha Naude - courtesy SLN Photography)
The MX1 class was dominated
by Sacha Naude who seems to be the King of regionals. He was on
another planet ahead of Richie VD Westhuizen who looked like he
was just putting in some good saddle time in this class. It was
geat to have Lloyd Vercuiel back on track as he is such an exciting
rider. H did a great job to finish 3rd. Wes DuPlooy was 4th and
Ian Topliss 5th.
The Vets, masters and ladies
all rode together and Glen Hermon got his first win of the season,
by winning the masters class. Marc Ansley won the vets and Amy Sawyer
won the ladies class. This class in particular had great battles
right thoughout the field.
The senior support class was
won by David VD Westhuizen who had a bit of a tough time on his
250f against the 450's, but fitness got him to the line up front.
Johan Bezuidenhout was 2nd ahead of Robert Broadhurst and Michael
Mogondo who has been steadily improving.
Round 3 heads to Polokwane for a truly
international event. Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland and SA will do
battle at an awesome track. Make sure you there on the 13th of April.
For pictures from the event contact:
SLN-PHOTOGRAPHY - 082 560 0519
[email protected]
. www.sln-photography.com
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