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Race Report: The MSA S.A.
National MX Championship - Round 5: Harrismith
17 September 2014
Copyright Motocross South Africa (MX SA)
Written by Laren van der Westhuizen
Unauthorised use of this content is prohibited.
I have to think back to the early 90's to recall an MX race
of sorts in Harrismith. It was a supercross race behind the
old Holiday inn and I think it was in 1994. So here we are
some 20 years later, not far from the old SX track, at a new
venue called "Holeshot Harrys" and boy it looks
like fun.
The organizers did a great job to get the track ready for
a race of this calibre and even though it was hot and windy,
managed to keep the dust to a tolerable level. A great track
always provides great racing and that is what happened. MXSA
did a great job of the organizing and admin and the day flowed
smoothly. It was also great to see live entertainment from
the country blues band, "the yes we dos" and a very
busy lunch break autograph session.
The day kicked off with the 50 pro class and a young
rider from Zimbabwe who has dominated 2014 did the winning,
Daiyaan Manuel. The battle was for 2nd between Dylan Kirk
and Blake Young from Swaziland and Nate McLellan from SA.
Nate had a great race to finish 2nd ahead of the 2 Swazi contentenders.
The 50 support class was dominated by Swzi talent,
Seth young. Nice to see some new blood in the class with Jordon
Van Wyk finishing 2nd and Levi Bekker 3rd.
#88 Michael Kok
The MX1 class was a tough class on this relatively
tight and twisty track, but the 2 Yamaha teammates would go
head to head, Michael Kok and Sacha Naude. Sacha won heat
1, but Michael Kok put in a blinder of a second heat to win
convincingly. Kerim Fitzgerald was consistant with 2 x 3rds
to get 3rd overall.
The 85 junior class heat 1 was one of the best races
of the year. 3 riders put on a show of note. Cameron Durow,
Cayle Dormehl and Slade Smith. That would also be the order
they finished heat 1. In heat 2, Cam Durow and Slade would
swop places handing the overall to Slade. 1 point separated
the top 3.
Intense racing between #58 Cameron Durow, #20 Cayle Dormehl
& #1 Slade Smith
The 125 high school class saw Jason Visser check out
in heat 1, while Reid Sinnicks had a bad start. Reid managed
to come back to 2nd, but could catch the flying Husqvarna
rider. Charl Van Eerden finished 3rd. In heat 2, Reid Sinnicks
lead from start to finish and Visser had some issues. Van
Eerden managed 2nd which gave him 3rd for the national, just
behind Visser who fought back to 4th in heat 2. Reid Sinnicks
has impressed this year and the young gunners will make an
impact in 2015.
#225 Reid Sinnicks
The 65cc riders were all trying to catch Camden McLellan.
Christiaan Cilliers had the speed to win, but not the consistency.
Jono Mlimi managed a podium, but was a relatively quiet day
for him. Great ride in 4th from Zimbabwe star, Mudiwa Chigumba.
#122 Camden Mc Lellan
The MX2 class was a nice big field, but just like
the 65cc class, everyone was trying to catch 1 rider, Michael
Kok. 2 easy wins for him and sometimes 2 secs a lap quicker
than anyone else. Sacha in his experience decided to settle
for 2nd ahead of the RedBull KTM of Kerim Fitzgerald. Nice
to see Maddy Malan and Jesse Wright getting in on the action
as well.
MX2 Start in Heat 1. #94 Nicholas Adams with the Holeshot.
The pro-mini class saw hometown favourite Janes Van
Sandwyk take both heats, The crowd went mad. Justin Thompson
was very quick, but mistakes in bad places cost him badly
and he had to settle for 3rd overall behind a flying Slade
Smith who has to be a favourite for this class in 2015.
Wayne Smith and Greg Aspinall were destined to have a big
dice throughout the day in the MX3 Class. Unfortunately
it didn't materialise as Greg had issues in heat 1 and Wayne
made a mistake in heat 2. Wayne did enough to win though ahead
of Greg and Geoff Den in 3rd.
Gerhard Grove has been nursing a wrist injury, but it didn't
look like it in the open support race. He won both
heats ahead of Mason Buist and Zane Odendaal. Nice to see
Sam Spiers in the class and she finished 4th.
The national was a great success and no doubt we will be back
there again for 2015.
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