South Africa’s James Moore is the current Junior World Hard Enduro champion. He also happened to win last year’s Roof of Africa, which was where he decided to go pro.
But who is he and where did he come from?
What’s this guy all about? Here’s a rundown and catch the interview at the bottom of this lot.
By Glenn Foley. Images: @fimhardenduro and @macphtos
The 19 year old James Moore was born in Bethlehem. (No, not that one – the one in the free State, South Africa.) He was raised in Harrismith, which is where he first discovered the joy of riding motorcycles at the tender age of two and a bit on his Osset electric bike. Pretty soon, he was racing MX on a PW80 and he soon progressed up to a KTM65.
The MX phase was great, but at 10 years of age, the family decided that James needed a break from it all, and the boots were hung up for six months. As any motorcyclist knows, this is simply not sustainable in any motorcycle family and, pretty soon, James was back in the saddle, this time exploring QwaQwa with his dad on his
Modified KTM 85. The enduro bug bit. Hard!
At 15, James was riding and racing in all the fun events like Impi on his first, very modified Enduro machine, a 150 KTM. From there, it was an upwards trajectory for young Moore.
In ‘22 he took his first bite at nationals, both extreme and enduro, and he won both classes in J2. Oh yes! He raced Roof Gold and came in 12th overall.
In ‘23 he was picked up by the Ride Motorsport outfit for the national series and he had his first opportunity at a race abroad – Romaniacs.
At this time, because of SA’s age restriction rules, James could only race the 150 at home, but he started practicing on a 300, and that year, he raced the 300 at Romaniacs silver where he got a top 10, and then Sea to Sky where he finished sixth overall.
The 2023 Roof of Africa was his first “proper” Roof with a big bike – he finished fourth in Gold and won on the last day… that’s when we all sat up and started to pay more attention.
In ‘24 James was hooked by GasGas South Africa for the local racing. That lekker bunch from Rigo racing picked him up with an overseas seat… things were really starting to happen.
That year, he took the E1 championship and he grabbed a 3rd in gold at The Roof of Africa. He finished a gold Romaniacs, 7th in Serbia (First Junior) and enjoyed a great Sea to Sky.
The year 2025 was his breakout year with KTM South Africa and Rigo racing.
He won his first Gold Roof Of Africa (at the time he hadn’t realised that he’d actually won) AND he became the World Hard Enduro Junior Champ.
This was when he decided that, perhaps, it was time to go pro….
For 2026, BETA Factory racing reached out and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands… And what a year it has been!
At Alestrem in France – 2nd place in juniors.
Legares, 6th overall, first in juniors.
Erzberg (Did you watch it?) 6th overall and first SA rider home…
Silver Kings in the USA – 16th and 3rd in juniors.
Impi was a win and Romaniacs was a 3rd time lucky for James: 3rd place in Gold!
We had this chat with James the day after Abestone in Italy where he won juniors and grabbed a 4th overall!
That’s nothing to sneeze about for sure.
James is still firmly in the running for his second junior world championship, currently placed second only 7 points behind the leader with 3 rounds to go.
The first of those three rounds is The Roof Of Africa, his favourite race…
We’ll see you there!
Give him a like and a follow. Proudly South African!
