MXSA: Race Report: The MSA S.A. National MX Championship

Race Report: The MSA S.A. National MX Championship - Round 3: Springfield
27 May 2014

There was huge excitement at the announcement that Springfield would host the South African National MX Championship. It was great to see a historical track like Springfield jump at the opportunity and put on a great show. Riders from all over the country descended on Durban and in typical hot KZN weather conditions, the third round of the championship kicked off under the watchful eye of a massive crowd that lined the entire perimeter of the track.
A massive thank you to all the sponsors involved in making this event a huge success: Fox, Red Bull, Xtreme Projects, M Projects, Rock Powerline, Prepsol, Pac-Rite, The Ink Drop, Amandla Plumbing, Specialized Abnormal Transport, Station Masters, Africa Paint, Eldor Engineering and Bellmoral Truck Spares.

It was great to see the spin off of the Green Bus Racing programme and a nice line up in the 50cc Support class. It was young Seth Young that picked up where he left off at the last round and took two wins and the overall for the day. We look forward to seeing this young rider join the 50cc Senior ranks in 2015. Newcomers Jordan van Wyk and Tristan Durow joined him on the podium and it seems clear that junior racing in KZN is in excellent hands.

In the 50cc Senior class it was Zimbabwean rider Daiyaan Manuel that again proved unstoppable as he racked up another overall. The battle behind him between Chase Hanekom and Nate McLellan made for some exciting racing and this class is certainly going to get interesting as the season continues.

The 65cc class is one of the most anticipated classes to watch at the moment. The ongoing battle between Jonathan Mlimi and Camden McLellan follows them to every race that these two compete in together. Camden clinched the overall for the day with Jonathan in second. Christiaan Cilliers put in an excellent performance and took third for the day.

In the 85cc class we saw solid performances all around. Slade Smith put in two excellent heats to take first overall for the day with KZN rider Cameron Durow and Regan Wasmuth taking second and third respectively. When looking at the Pro Mini class we know that in only a few short years we will see these riders in the senior ranks and we have to say that the racing is guaranteed to continue to be first class. It was Janes van Sandwyk that took both heat wins and first overall for the day and it was almost Déjà vu as we saw Slade Smith and Regan Wasmuth back on the podium for second and third.

The High School class was undoubtedly one of the most exciting of the day. These guys pushed the boundaries and it was a massive battle between the front runners the whole day. Some excellent riding from Charl van Eeden saw him out front with Jason Visser and Joshua Mlimi hot on his heels. It was a small mistake by Charl coming out of the bottom sandy section that saw Jason make the pass and a mistake by Joshua in that same section that saw him drop back. Tyron Nel also put in an excellent performance and it was only a few mistakes that saw him miss out on a podium spot.
The day ended with an overall win by Jason Visser, Charl van Eeden second and Joshua Mlimi third.

The stacked gates form MX2, always has people dropping what they are doing to watch. The pace and intensity of these riders is a must see for any spectator and its guaranteed that if you miss even one minute you will likely have missed at least one change in position somewhere. It was great to see Michael Kok on the 250 as well Reid Sinnicks back on the bike after some time off.
A solid performance by Sacha Naude saw him take the overall win for the day with Michael Kok in second and Wyatt Avis in third. Both Kerim Fitz-Gerald and Ross Branch where right on their heels.

Ross Branch put in a stunning performance in the first heat of MX1 and the battle was the battle was on with Sacha Naude until Sacha had to slow down and just circulate due to a puncture. Michael Kok and Kerim Fitz-Gerald had a great race as well and there was a lot of anticipation for Heat 2. The day definitely boiled down to who had the most consistent performance. With Michael Kok, Kerim Fitz-Gerald and Ross Branch having a better first heat, it was Lloyd Vercueil, Sacha Naude and Royce Griffin what had the better second heat. Sacha Naude took the overall win for the day with a well earned second from Ross Branch and great third for Royce Griffin who had a solid day.

In MX3 it was Rod Bergstrom with the win and Darrel Fitz-Gerald and Greg Aspinall in second and third.

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