Tanoshi Racing Team Post National Report - Teza
19 June 2014

Published with Permission
Submitted by Tanoshi Racing Team

The Gates dropped and we are off - Braaap!!

This was the first time Tanoshi Racing Team Rider Liam Lambert raced at the Teza track in Richard’s Bay and WOW what can I say! This must be one of the most beautiful and challenging tracks in SA! Pictures or videos cannot prepare you for this amazing scenery. As you ride on the dirt road through the trees, suddenly out of nowhere jumps this Valley of Motocross set in the most beautiful surroundings!
Liam was the only Tanoshi Racing Team Rider competing in the 50cc jnr event as all our other riders had injuries or other educational commitments (Western Cape School exams). When we walked the jnr track for the first time it was evident that this track was going to be intimidating to say the least!

Practice
Practice did not go so well as the 50cc KTM was not set up properly and had some mechanical difficulties for this demanding track. The bike overheated & pushed out all the coolant and we had to pull Liam off to save the engine.

Qualifying
Again Liam found it difficult to adjust to the track and tried our best to put in a good qualifying lap and so ended up qualifying 4th with a 1min 17. Liam knew he had to dig deep to try and get a good result out of this National!

Heat 1
Liam had a good start in heat 1, but by the second corner Liam was lying in 4th place. He soldiered on with fluids still dripping out of the radiator overflow pipe. We actually found that it was the pressure valve in the radiator cap that malfunctioned and it did not close to stop the fluids from flowing out of the overflow. Any way the track was so tight that some of the boys bikes did overheat naturally because they did not ride it fast enough for the air to cool the fluids in the radiator properly. Liam managed to finish 4th though with a best lap time of 1min 09. A big improvement on the qualifying practice’s times earlier and with that hope for a better finish.

Liam keeping up with Keegan Hannekom

Heat 2
Liam got a great start and was second going into the first corner. This position he could not hold onto for long as two riders past him fairly quickly. He was now in fourth place and latched onto the wheel of Border Rider Keegan Hannkom. He kept Keegan insight for most of the race but made a small error towards the end and this also denied him the chance for a podium finish for this heat as well as the overall for the weekend. His fastest lap time was now 1 min02 and showed me that he really tried hard to fight for the position.

A bit of air time

Heat 3
This was the last Moto of the weekend and we had high hopes for a podium place in this race. The gates dropped and Liam ended up in fourth place going into the first corner. This position he held for the rest of the race. His fastest lap time for this heat was a 1 min03.

So all in all Liam finished 4th for this National is still in 2nd place on the overall standings. What we have learned from this weekend’s racing is immense and will take it with us to the next national.
I need to thank the van Eedens on a superb track and for hosting a great event. We had fun and I can honestly say that one item has been removed from my bucket list. To all our competitors and fellow racers thank you for making the time and effort to race at such a glorious venue and were it not for you we would not have had such a brilliant event.
Hopefully by the next National in East London the Tanoshi crew will be back in full force, so see you all there!!

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