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enduro
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 Jade
Gutzeit wins Lesotho Enduro. (National)
The current Open Class off-road champion, Jade Gutzeit (DCM Yamaha), has claimed his second consecutive national race victory for the season when he won the Lesotho Enduro, the opening round of the 2010 Liquorland SA National Enduro Motorcycle Championship that took place in the Mountain Kingdom this past weekend. The Lesotho Enduro consisted of three regularity loops that included three racing sections and Gutzeit posted the fastest racing times after all three racing sections – he has also won the Open Class. In enduro racing, the competitor with the least amount of penalty points is the declared the winner and Gutzeit beat his team-mate, Louwrens Mahoney, by 227 points. Mahoney has won the 200cc Class in Lesotho and between them, Team DCM Yamaha has claimed four of the possible six podium positions after the opening rounds of both the national off-road and enduro championships. Riaan van Niekerk (Brother KTM), who earlier this year competed in two of the world’s toughest bike races – The Tough One in England and Hell’s Gate in Italy – competed in both the national off-road enduro and off-road championships and scored podium positions in both. He completed the overall podium with a third place and finished behind Mahoney in the 200cc Class. The young KZN racer, Marc Torlage (Yamaha), who also finished one of the toughest Roof of Africa races in 2009, finished fourth overall (third in the 200cc Class), only 59 points behind Van Niekerk. Veteran racer, Darryl Curtis (Brother KTM), who competed internationally with Van Niekerk and was still suffering from flu, was fifth overall and finished second in the Open Class. Van Niekerk and Curtis competed in three enduro races in three countries in five weeks. Their team-mate and the 2009 overall enduro winner, Altus de Wet, had to settle for sixth place (only 17 points behind Curtis) and finished third in the Open Class championship. FDBR Racing Yamaha’s Shannon Frost was seventh overall and was followed on the overall standings and in the Open Class by the international guest racer from Switzerland, Lionel Seydoux. Seydoux also compete in extreme bike races and finished fourth at the 2009 Red Bull Romaniacs (Curtis was sixth). Another former off-road champ, Spencer Kriel, brought his ORD/Insurance Zone/Pro Action KTM home in ninth place – a mere three points separated him from Scott Lance Scheepers (Brother KTM) who rounded off the overall top ten. One point – that is what young Adrian Fourie (Criterion Yamaha) had less than Wynand Badenhorst (Connix Internet/Salley’s Yamaha) to put him in 11th place overall with Badenhorst having to settle for 12th. Mark Fox (GasGas) was 13th; Bollie van Rooyen (The Roost/Out of Africa Kawasaki) had only 15 penalty points more than Fox and was 14th with Bradley van Aswegen (DCM Yamaha) 15th. Wynand Delport (BMW) unfortunately crashed and has torn ligaments in his shoulder. William “Wild Will” Gilltt (Red Yamaha) won the Senior Class ahead of suspension guru, Hilton Hayward (Yamaha) with Gary Sox Smith (BMW) third and the experienced Errol Dalton (Connix Internet/Salley’s Yamaha) in fourth place. Richard Moore (KTM) had the fifth least amount of penalty points in the Senior Class. The Silver Challenge for the inexperienced and beginner riders received a huge amount of entries with David Thomas (Connix Internet/Salley’s Yamaha) beating Riaan van der Walt (KTM) and Craig McGregor (KTM) who finished in second and third place respectively. The second round of the national enduro motorcycle championship, the Montague Enduro, will take place on 24 April in the Western Cape. Report: Louw Breedt |