Words: Grant Foley
Pics: Ziggy Brodalka
A hot and humid Pietermaritzburg welcomed the National MX circus to a beautifully and extremely well prepared albeit a fairly muddy start at the Thunder Valley track. All the big names were in attendance from national teams and riders to all the heavyweights with one hand on the title.
To top it all, our neighbouring states sent a strong contingent of cremé de la cremé riders from Uganda, Zambia and Swaziland.
The riders briefing and national anthem was at 7:30 sharp before kicking off an injury free event. KZN always puts on a great carnival atmosphere with the local fans and spectators showing huge support for the sport.
The 50cc class kicked off the day’s proceedings on the long, technical and well sorted junior track with the usual exciting and competitive racing between the youngsters. It was a three way tussle between Parker Cik, Riley Geldenhuys and Luan Jordaan, there was a lot of bar bashing and position jostling and the lead regularly swapped between the three contenders in both heats. The eventual podium saw Riley Geldenhuys on the top step with Parker Cik as the runner up and Luan rounding off the podium for the day.
The 65cc’s were the usual mix of wild excitement and hard racing with local lads Evan Frost and Trenton Kretzman fighting hard for the lead. Both ended up going down in both heats but they still managed to retain their positions. Aiden Retief fought hard to finish up third for the day with Evan Frost taking top honours for the day with Trenton Kretzman taking a well deserved second for the event.
The 85cc Pro Mini class really saw the racing heating up with Christian Berington-Smith totally dominating the day right from the start. In heat one, Christian was followed in by Ashton Martin in second and Aiden Henley third. Heat two saw Christian on the top step and Ashton in second again with Blade Tilley in third.
MX125 always offers some of the best racing with elbows out and teenage testosterone kicking in hard. Slower riders were hunted down and quickly lapped by the more experienced riders in the pack. Both heats saw a great battle between Luke Grundy and Barend du Toit, really throwing down. Jordan van Wyk had a great race on his rare Fantic.
And that was how the final podium ended for the day, a big congratulations must go out to Jordan for taking his first ever national podium.
A visibly stoked Grundy commented, “Despite being sick I really gave it my best shot for the day. I got great results at the end of both heats going 1-1 and I couldn’t be happier. Im excited to come back for round five stronger and better.”
du Toit commented, “I struggled a bit with armpump in the first heat and not feeling the best due to the demanding track conditions. In the second heat, I had a terrible start but I managed to claw my way back to battle it out and claim the second overall spot for the day.”
MX2 saw Cameron Durow dominating the field with the rest fighting for remaining positions in both heats. Jonathan Mlimi also from the Red Bull KTM team took second in both heats and it was a maiden national podium for Mark Carty for the day.
Durow said, “I’m really happy with such a solid day in the bag, and beyond stoked to get 4 – 4 at a home national as well.”
He went on to say, ”The track couldn’t have been better, and we couldn’t have asked for more perfect riding conditions for the day. Thanks to the whole Pietermaritzburg Motocross club for getting the track ready for an awesome day out!”
MX Ladies turned out to be exciting with Leah Heygate managing to hold Kayla Raaf in second and Cheyenne Da Lima in third in heat one. Kayla came back strong for heat two for the win with a bold pass on Leah, and Cheyenne in third again. Overall standings for the day was Kayla in first, Leah in second and Cheyenne in third.
MX3 was as expected with Anthony Reynard taking overall honours for the day followed by Royce Griffen and Sheldon Watkins rounding off the day’s podium.
MX 1 again saw Cameron Durow dominating both heats with Joshua Mlimi, Dirco van der Westhuizen, Stav Orland and Jesse Wright fighting hard in both heats. Heat one saw Durow on the top step with Stav Orland in second and Jesse Wright in third. Heat 2 was Durow on the top step again with Josh Mlimi in second and Dirco in third.
A fantastic and exciting day of racing all round with spectators definitely getting the money’s worth of brilliant action.
Grant Frerichs, the KTM group marketing manager rounded up the day by commenting, “The Red Bull KTM team showed pure dominance at round 4 with wins in every class. It was great to see 3 KTM’s on the podium in the MX2 class. We go into round 5 leading all of the racing classes and look forward to defending those red championship plates.”
See you at the next one, Round 5, on the 24th of June at TEZZA in Richards Bay.
