Zone 7 – Cape Town
The Mother City looked forward to an action packed weekend of racing as the bikes rolled in on Friday afternoon, the eve of 1st April.
Round 2 and 3 was set to separate the men from the boys and the daisies from the roses.
Scrutineering started early and the line grew as anxious riders and mechanics queued to have their machines checked for compliance. All around was the sound of bikes being revved out among the trees and as the sun started to set on Friday.
Final checks were made for best performance.
Dawn broke and the call for riders briefing increased the anticipation.
The weather man knew that this was no ordinary weekend and gave the competitors the best that a rider could wish for. The track was prepped with wedding cake precision as the MX 50cc riders lined up in order of national ranking.
Practice made its mark through the extremely well-designed Zone 7 track that offers riders everything, from a sand section to hard pack, short and long jumps and a fantastic sand bowl.
Throughout the 1st day of racing a lot of lessons were learnt among the teams. Some mechanical failures and mistakes that cost places were all part of how these 4 heats would determine the end goal of this challenging weekend of motocross.
In the MX 50cc class it was most certainly Riley Geldenhuys from East London who dominated the track through all 4 heats. He made the Eastern Cape proud with his stellar performance across 4 heats.
Parker Cik had an amazing ride and then Mason Visser clinched a third in heat 2 on Saturday.
Luan Jordaan and Aden Fisher rode their hearts out and Ulrich Sterley was not far off the pace.
Ben Jacobs from the Free State was in that top 10 mix and had an absolute blast.
Dorian Botes from KZN had some bad luck in the 1st heat on Sunday, however he still managed to perform extremely well.
Mason Barnes from Border had a fantastic outing with Coby Kretzmann in a close tussle.
Joshua-Zion Naude pushed hard with Bjorn Roets also in the mix. Julian Ferguson, Jarret Basson and Hanro Basson ensured some good competition in the favourite 50cc pack. It was eventually Riley Geldenhuys who took the glory in round 1, with Parker Cik and Luan Jordaan in the top slots.
The MX 65cc was amazing to watch as the youngsters battled it out lap for lap. It was a goosebump victory with two first places for Trenton Kretzmann and two 1st places for Evan Frost. Trenton was on fire but not without pressure from the infamous Frost-bite.
Cassie van Zyl was not letting go of the top steps and Kabelo Jnr from Gauteng, Aiden Retief and Kyle Brunette from the Eastern Cape stamped their mark.
It was awesome to see our little ladies battling it out in the MX 65cc class, so well done to Chloe Odendaal and Kendra Krull – you girls Rock!!
The MX 85cc is where the magic starts coming together and local champ Jack Anderson was not shy to show his authority.
Christian-Berrington Smith pushed the limit and took the win in the final heat on Sunday but it was definitely Jack Anderson carrying the smiles and trophies home for his two wins.
Christian is no stranger to the top steps and took one win and two seconds for the top steps. Caden Weise, Blade Tilley, Aiden Henley and Ashton Martin kicked off some dust to keep the pressure at boiling point. Trent Valsecchi also had an amazing weekend with a 3rd and three 4th places.
The MX High School, commonly known as the kamikazes, did not disappoint the crowd.
It was a full house mix on 1st places with Luke Grundy power clinching one win, two 2nd’s and a 3rd.
Bryce Peterson snatched 2 x 4th places, a 3rd and a 6th.
Blake Young brought his B-Lake powerhouse from Swaziland and grabbed hold of a 5th, two 3rd’s and one top step win.
Barend du Toit was the star for sure taking two wins, a second and one really bad luck mechanical failure but he still finished.
Ryan Adler brought his Husky to war and played around with the top runners extensively.
Jordan van Wyk is no stranger to MX and is paving his way in the High School class. Thor Johnson, Lucas Venter, Emmanual Bako, Alon Orland, Rory Donaldson, Kyle Townsend, Daniel Venter and Matthew Correia fought out the mid pack riders battling for positions.
Exceptional performances were definitely shared between Luke Grundy, Barend du Toit, Blake Young and Bryce Peterson.
MX 1, the premier class saw Cameron Durow dominate that top podium step again.
Cam was on absolute prime as he took three wins the weekend.
Dirco van der Westhuizen did not let go under any circumstance, he fought tooth and nail to the end. Dirco snatched a win on heat 2 on Saturday.
Jesse Wright was very consistent throughout the weekend but with Neville Bradshaw and Joshua Mlimi around, he had to have some added energy to hold them off.
It was an amazing performance from Cameron Durow in MX1, a well deserving winner.
MX 2 was the same for Cameron Durow who took all four wins.
Stav Orland and Dalton Venter found chance to create a symphony mixing it up with seconds and thirds. Mark Carty was the crowd pleaser for sure as this was his first podium in 12 years. He took the 3rdposition in heat 2 on the last day and his dedication and devotion to the sport clearly shines through.
As Mark and his plethora of supporters lifted the roof on Sunday with cheer as this amazingly talented rider took that step.
Dalton Venter, Jonathan Mlimi and Davin Cocker kept the crowd entertained with their high energy race skills, and lap after lap kept trying something different.
MX 3 is where the stalwarts of MX flex their muscles and Anthony Raynard kept that pressure pot on the boil. Ant took all four wins on the weekend, reminding everyone that his skill on a bike is phenomenal.
The all-time favourite and legend Neville Bradshaw came out to SA to ride for Tintswalo and took four 2nd places.
What a champion ride from Nev.
One of SA’s fastest, Royce Griffin also no stranger to the gates, made his mark and clinched three 3rd places and, sadly one DNF.
Sheldon Watkins, Jonathan du Plooy and Levi Doherty completed the pack.
The MX Ladies class showcased some jaw dropping moments as Kayla Raaff showed the crowd how its done.
Kayla took four wins this weekend, hotly chased by Leah Heygate. Leah certainly pulled out some Bruce Willis skills and refused to let go.
Kayla took the lead in absolute style. Puck Klaassen gave her best and has become well accustomed to the podium steps this year. Puck was smiling at her three 3rd places and one second place take home.
Cheyenne de Lima is a favourite from KZN and kept the pressure on, managing to take home four 4th places. Zoe Botha and Dakota Grobbelaar gave it their all.
Jadene de Lima unfortunately had an incident in Heat 1 on Saturday and we wish her well on recovery.
The manufacturer performance measured across MX High School, MX 1 and MX 2 classes saw KTM take the manufacturer award for the weekend.
Thank you to the Zone 7 organising committee, Officials, Marshals, helpers, the MX Commission,Motorsport South Africa and FIMA affiliation for this amazing event.
We also acknowledge Woman in Motorcycling (WIM)
Thank you to our Sponsors: TRP Distributors, Venture Sports, Prepsol, Missing Second, Bar Aviation, Bandit Graffix
@RedbullZA #givesyouwiiings
Thank you to local Class Sponsors:
– MX 50cc Total Control SA
– MX 65cc Graven Racing
– MX 85cc Sygnia
– MX High School Tip Trans Group
– MX 1 Tallie Marine
– MX 2 Geoff Kruss
– MX 3 Spar Century City
– MX Ladies Bar Aviation
– Senior Support Zone 7
Overall stars for these two rounds are undoubtably Cameron Durow (MX 1 & MX 2), Riley Geldenhuys (MX50cc), Anthony Raynard (MX 3) and Kayla Raaff (MX Ladies).
Well done to all riders for their awesome achievements during rounds 2 and 3 of the Official MSA MX National Championship.
Round 4 of the Official MSA MX Nationals will be held at Thunder Valley in Pietermaritzburg on the 6th May 2023.
Feature by: Neville Townsend
Pics by: Zygmund Brodalka
