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RACE
REPORT: MIDAS, RAD MOTO, VISION RACING MX TEAM - MX NATIONAL Round
4 at TEZA
27 June 2013
RAD Report by Geoff Kruger
The Fourth and FINAL round of the WOMZA, Full Throttle, Monster
Energy, National Motocross Championship event for 2013 was held
at the TEZA Circuit near Richards Bay in KwaZulu Natal. The track
was in awesome condition, thanks to Leon Van Eerden and Family,
and without a doubt turned out to be the best MX National Event
of the year. Overcast weather on Saturday and sunny weather on Sunday
made for an awesome weekend of racing for competitors and spectators
alike. The Teza circuit is a fast GP style circuit with amazing
elevation, every type of obstacle and really sorts the men from
the boys.
Thank you to all local sponsors involved as well as Full Throttle,
Monster Energy, Intertherm and TRP, who ensured the success of this
event and the continued rise of South African Motocross.
Walking the track on Sunday, we looked around and there must have
been at least 2000+ spectators lining the upper banks of the valley
overlooking the track. An awesome view and like PE was synonymous
with International events! This shows the importance of marketing
and advertising before all MX events. The sport is nothing without
the spectators!
PRESS RELEASE:
WE SAY A SAD FAREWELL TO TWO LEGENDS IN MOTOCROSS
FULL THROTTLE: To Ryan Shapiro (The Face of FULL THROTTLE at MX
for the last 5 years) a HUGE THANK YOU for all your dedication,
commitment and support for South African Motocross over the past
5 years. Without FULL THROTTLE, South African Motocross would probably
not have made it through the last 3 years and certainly would not
have risen to new heights, as it has over the past two years.
RICHIE VD WESTHUIZEN: RETIREMENT OF A
MOTOCROSS RACING LEGEND!
Richard’s retirement is a huge loss to South African Motocross!
Richard Van der Westhuizen has inspired many a young motocross racer,
including my two sons, during his successful racing career in South
African Motocross. He has always been a humble man with no airs
and graces. Richard has quietly gained massive respect on and off
the track, from young and old alike. Richard is the epitome of a
True Champion and we shall certainly miss him in the sport. Thank
you for your commitment to the sport Richard and may you have many,
many more successes in whatever you do in the future. THANK YOU!
The Team Review – TEZA NATIONAL
MIDAS, RAD Moto Vision Racing Team Pits – National MX Round
4 – TEZA 2013
Grant Foley puts in a massive effort at every race event and works
really hard for the team. The TEZA National event was no different
and this was a great event for the RAD Moto, Midas, and Vision Racing
team. Well done to all the riders and support people in the TEAM
and particularly good rides from James Thompson with a 4th overall
and 2nd overall in the 50cc Junior Championships and Matthew Kruger
with a 1st Overall at TEZA and a 2nd overall in the 85cc Championship.
- 25 James Thompson 50 junior 4th overall
- 6 Cameron Kruger 65 cc (Currently Injured)
- 92 Tristan Tredoux Pro Mini 7th Overall
- 4 Matthew Kruger 85 cc 1st Overall
- 64 Shayne Steenkamp 125 cc 15th Overall
- 35 Peter Thompson 125 cc 14th Overall
The 85cc Class
An ultra-competitive class. This Championship could have gone to
any of the top 4 Riders.
Keegan Hickson-Mahoney started the year strong, but picked up an
injury after winning round 1. Seth Van den Abele was very strong
in Cape Town and PE, where he won all 6 heats and effectively cemented
his chance of winning the championship. Slade Smith was strong at
all 4 rounds. Matthew Kruger stayed consistent and improved the
whole season, eventually winning at Round 4.
Matthew finally broke through to be rewarded for all his hard work
with an overall win. Matt trained hard for Teza and it showed as
he came out firing on all cylinders. In practice however, Matthew
had a BIG CRASH over the large table top coming into the stadium.
He was shaken up but thankfully not injured. Amazingly, he composed
himself quickly for the Qualifying session and went out slowly,
building up speed each and every lap until the last lap of qualifying,
Matt put in a scorcher to qualify fastest.
Heat 1 saw Matthew with a decent
start round the 1st corner in 2nd place behind holeshot candidate,
Cayle Dormeyl, followed by Slade Smith and Seth van den Abele. Midway
through lap 1, Matthew saw his opportunity and took a tight inside
line going up the hill into the two doubles. Matthew was the only
85cc rider able to clear the doubles from the tight inside line
and knew that this was his chance to act. Matthew took the lead
and never looked back. Some attention from Slade Smith for two laps
kept him honest, but Matthew found some extra pace mid race and
was able to pull away and increase his lead. By the checkered Flag,
Matthew had pulled a substantial gap and was able to cruise the
closing laps and bring it home for a comfortable win.
MIDAS, RAD Moto Vision Racing Rider, Matthew Kruger leading comfortably
Heat 2 saw Matthew struggling
with his starts. Matthew is usually very competent on the starts,
but uncharacteristically he struggled at TEZA. If not for the starts,
we may have seen a clean sweep of heat wins by him. Off the gate
Matt was buried in the pack and came through the 2nd corner in 6th
place. He worked his way forward and with some aggressive passing
he managed to get up to 3rd place by the checkered flag.
Heat 3 , again saw Matt getting
a poor start. He rounded the 2nd corner in 5th and had his work
cut out for him. Riding aggressively Matthew picked off riders one
by one. By lap two Matthew was in 4th and battling with Seth van
den Abele for 3rd place. Matt made the pass down the fast downhill
ski jump section and set about hunting down Cayle Dormeyl for the
2nd position. By lap 3 Matthew was on the wheel of 2nd place Dormeyl
and made an aggressive aerial pass over the start finish table top
and into 2nd place. Slade Smith had pulled a slight gap over the
field by then and Matthew decided he wanted the overall win and
rather than risk all, he cruised to a solid 2nd place finish in
heat 3. The overall therefore belonged to Matthew, with a heat win,
a 3rd and a 2nd.
Well done Matthew!
(Left) Prize Giving at TEZA (Right) The 85cc Podium: From left
Slade Smith 2nd, MIDAS, RAD Moto and Vision Racing rider ,Matthew
Kruger 1st and Cayle Dormeyl, 3rd
SkullCandy HOLESHOT awards for the season: From left - Kerim Fitzgerald,
Lucas Venter and Matthew Kruger
Little James Thompson of RAD Vision racing holding up 2nd place
spoils in the 50 Junior class for the day
From Left: 85cc Class Podium for the year: From Left- MIDAS, RAD
Moto and Vision Racing rider, Matthew Kruger 2nd overall, Seth van
den Abele 1st overall and Slade Smith 3rd overall.
We look forward to Round 5 of the WOMZA Full Throttle MX Regional
Championships, which will be held on the 25th July at the famous
Syringa circuit, North of Joburg.
A BIG thank you to Grant Foley
for his support over the weekend. It is much appreciated.
Overall I believe that the RAD Moto, Midas
and Vision Racing MX team represented themselves very well at the
event and a BIG thank you to Dave Griffin, Nel Bosch and a special
thanks to Loodt at RAD Moto workshop for making sure the bike was
perfect! Thanks to everyone at the RAD Moto team for your on-going
valuable support. Thank you to Stefan Le Roux and Ken Taylor from
MIDAS and Phil Baker from Autocycle centre for sponsoring Matthew
the fantastic Golden Tyres. Really awesome tyres!
Remember: “DREAM
BIG and work hard” – Bryan Habana
Thank you to all our sponsors:
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