The Roof Of Africa Part 3

Day 3. The last day of the Roof.

Feature pic by Justin Waddington – Shock Logic.

“I can’t believe it’s gone so quickly!” one of the young ladies at the start of the day. But that was just the beginning of the day – 11 hours of saddle time ensued for most of the riders…

Bushmans Pass saw a slightly smaller group of riders and spectators gathering on the mountain top.

Smaller?

Well yes. Time bars and general attrition through day 1 and 2 saw some unfortunate racers unable to continue. Remember. This is The Roof.

Not only is the ride itself tough, but the intense heat played a massive role in the DNF’s.

There was such a cool vibe in the morning. Some riders looked a bit wide eyed, but on the whole, the mood was happy and the riders were itching to get going. Interestingly, the morning was chilly, but that didn’t take long to change as the sun steadily peeped out and crept into the blue Lesotho sky.

A seriously long day lay ahead.

This has to be one of the most spectacular starts that we’ve seen in a long time. Riders were dropped off the edge of the escarpment, straight into tech.

If you were a spectator and slept late… well you missed out.

Photographers lined up to get that perfect shot and we were able to watch the top guys for literally miles as they raced along the sides of the mountains.

Silver followed – and then bronze and Iron on a slightly different trail.

As the mayhem around Bushmans eased off, we heard of a spectacular spot in a river where the gold riders were scheduled to come through, so we raced across to watch the action. And ended up chilling in the shady riverbed for almost 3 hours. The routes look short on the maps, but man, they were hard work.

Although Wade left Bushmans well in the lead, we soon got word that the top riders were literally seconds apart at the DSP – and that young James Moore had taken the lead – and some silvers were in hot pursuit. Behind Moore was Tristan Tamsen, Cody Webb, Wade Young, Brett Swanepoel and Matthew Green. The young guns were dipping toes into the lead waters…

Eventually, we heard that the goldies were inbound and lined up for what we thought would be a battle Royal display of skill because the rocks and slippery surfaces looked so gnarly…

You know when you look at something and think to yourself: “How the hell are they going to ride that?”

Well they did and it was almost like a non event. Testimony to how good the gold riders and the current crop of enduro bikes really are. And the order had changed with riders all really close. Wade now had a slight lead. He was being chased by Tamsen, Green, Kyle Flanagen, Swanepoel and Webb. It was flippen epic to watch!

You don’t want to miss any action, so we tore out from the river and back to Bushmans. Three climbs lay ahead there with all classes converging and then the riders were scheduled to hit the “easier” terrain back the Thaba Bosiu.

Bushmans was, again a hive of activity with riders coming in from all directions. While Silver, bronze and Iron climbed one pass, Gold came down another – a seemingly endless train of bikes taking on the Maluti mountains. Always fantastic. We heard a spectator observe: “They seem to be doing this climb a lot better than they did yesterday.”

And she was quite correct, the guys did look stronger.

It was so cool to see Dakar hero Ross Branch and his Mrs on the side of the mountain cheering the riders on. Just a normal guy who loves racing. Interesingly, his dad entered, more about that soon.

The locally designed and manufactured PZ490? Well it trekked up the hill.

The Binder boys?

Bru!

They looked fresh still!

We hung out at bushmans for a while while gold climbed. The lead had changed again with James Moore was back in front. And he was now ahead by a fair distance…

More goldies eventually appeared, Wade Young, Matthew Green, Brett Swanepoel… it was fantastic!

A quick nod to the rest of the classes… man, there is much skill out there and to retain a sense of humour with chirps from this guy and Blankie Man… well done!

We know that if you don’t move a bit, you often miss the finishers. We wound our way back to the road and headed back down the hill towards Maseru. All around us, vehicles and bikes had the same idea.

Get to the finish and cheer the riders as they arrive.

Thaba Bosiu was HEAVING – and as predicted, we missed the Top silver guys.

In silver, Yamaha mounted Tate Stro managed to hold off Daniel Peckham’s Sherco and Grant Burton-Durham’s GasGas for the win. Flippen Epic! Well done. Seriously, these guys are machines.

A long, long race determined the three premier riders in the bronze class, the biggest class at The Roof. Boys. Fantastic! Louis-Bresler Knipe on his 500 (yes, read that again) Sherco took the win. He was followed by Shabeer Moosa on his KTM and Tyrone Bird on the Husqvarna.

Jack Brotherton took Iron on his KTM, followed by Charles Harrison (KTM) and Frans De Klerk on his GasGas. Iron class is tough! Take nothing away, we spoke to lots of them and they were challenged way out of their comfort zones…

The wait was on to see how the gold class panned out and pretty soon there was a susurration in the crowd that turned into a roar as young James Moore riding out of the Ride KTM Durban Stable took the days win.

Amazing!

No-one saw it coming. This soft spoken unassuming youngster has really come into his own at just his second roof Attempt. At the end, he looked to be in total shock. What a race! “It feels totally Insane!”

His overall position was 4th for the weekend. Next year he joins Heinrich Aust in the GasGas national team. Best you keep an eye on him.

With all the position changes through the day, who would be next to cross the line?

Tristan Tamsen crossed to great roars and unbridled joy from his family and crew. The young Natal riders were taking names…

Matthew Green was next in. A fantastic ride from this star. A firm crowd favourite, he was mobbed at the finish.

Brett Swanepoel was next. Man it was so cool to see this man have such a great result from such a crappy start. We still give him our man of the match trophy for sure!

Wade pulled a massive wheelie as he came in to roars of approval from all present. The Basotho people love Wade. He has made Lesotho his own. He is the king of the mountains.