NamibiaSport

By Bernd Kroemer

It was a racing day the (few) spectators enjoyed, but unfortunately the Super 14 Rugby tournament on TV must have kept a lot of people from coming to Gallina. Honda was the brand with the most wins. A pleasant surprise was that Jose Teixeira brought four MX-riders with him from Angola.

As announced, the youngsters in the MX 2 Class were the measure of all things, especially Björn Bierbrauer. While his racing style was a bit gruff in the first heat, he improved during each following race and in the “Wesbank King of the Dirt” his riding was totally relaxed, he manoeuvred his bike smoothly across the track and won this race with a big lead ahead of the present champion in the Open-Class, Tommy Gous. Animal Wise also knew how to please: two second places, behind Bierbrauer with whom he fought out some tough duels, proved his talent.

A highlight was the second heat of the combined MX1/MX2 Class. The gate falls and Bierbrauer, Wise and Alexander Howard assume the lead. Gous finds himself on fifth place after a bad start. Wise attempts attack after attack but ultimately has to accept Bierbrauer’s superiority. Now we can see that Bierbrauer received some excellent training during his three years in Germany, where he also rode for the Kölling-Team in Cottbus.

Gous got stuck behind Jaco Loots, who defends his position for five laps but then has to give in to the strong 450cc Yamaha. Gous dashes past him. On the next lap he leaves Howard behind to finish the race behind the Honda-riders Bierbrauer and Wise.

A highlight as ever was the “Wesbank King of the Dirt” which lasts for 20 long minutes. An obvious sign of the riders’ tension is the way they play with their clutches. The gate drops and Bierbrauer grabs the holeshot, ahead of Wise and Gous. While Bierbrauer is up and away, we witness an exciting tussle between Wise and Gous. Wise however drops out of the race due to engine problems on the fourth lap and Gous pursues Bierbrauer who is in the lead.

Alexander Howard suffers a major crash at the jump behind the Honda-tower, when his own bike hits him in the back. He was carried off the track. At half-time the Angolans Narciso Jose and Roberto Tolain have to quit the race due to exhaustion. They aren’t used to the speed nor used to the length of the heats. Close to the end of the race Ronnie Adams on his Kawasaki manages to pass KTM-rider Frank Klosta. Someone who knew how to please was little Jaco Loots, who finished in an excellent fifth place on the only two-stroke Suzuki.

Results Wesbank King of the Dirt

1.) Björn Bierbrauer, Windhoek, Honda Muxima Racing, 25 points
2.) Tommy Gous, Windhoek, Novel Yamaha Zenner Racing, 22
3.) Ronnie Adams, Windhoek, Kawasaki Namibia, 20
4.) Frank Klosta, Swakopmund, Bikes 4 Fun-KTM, 19
5.) Jaco Loots, Windhoek, Suzuki Namibia, 18
6.) Henry o’Kennedy, Windhoek, Honda Muxima Racing, 17
7.) Ruhan Gous, Windhoek, Honda Muxima Racing, 16
8.) Rudi Brand, Swakopmund, Honda Coastal Racing, 15
9.) Jose Teixeira, Windhoek, Honda Muxima Racing, 14
10.) Tony Viljoen, Windhoek, Joker’s Pizzeria-Honda, 13

Nederlof wins MX 65 Class

Matthew Nederlof won the scholar’s Class MX 65 in which he displayed a brilliant performance especially in the second heat. After initial starting problems he had to chase after his contestants who were already 300m further. He caught up with every single one of them and achieved victory with a maximum number of points, ahead of Michael Barlow and Jay-Em Tredoux.

Mark Sternagel took part with two broken toes which handicapped him enormously. Despite it, he won the MX-Lights Class (former 85cc Class) ahead of Tristan Muller from Okahandja, while Pauli Loots finished in his usual third place.

The races in the various Quads-Classes were extremely exciting. In the Quads-A-Class the expected winner was Michael Behnke, ahead of Fanie Steenkamp and Jean Venter. Jean Skoppelitus won the Quads-B-Class ahead of Eugene Slippers and Louw Greyvenstein.

The newly established “King of the Quads” race was won by Honda-rider Michael Behnke after exciting duels, ahead of Wolfgang Rohl on his Polaris, and Jean Venter who came third on a KTM. This race was without any doubt the icing on the cake of the quads-category.

In the Quads-Ladies-Class Mandy Huysamen won with a maximum number of points and left Charney Joubert and Maike Bochert in second and third places respectively.

Gerhard Henning won the “Quads-Clubmen’s Class, ahead of Greg Dickmann and Jaco Snyman. The Quads-C-Class was also newly established, for kids up to 13 years. Here it was André Maree who won ahead of Jaycee Le Roux and Pierre Cronje.

After the prizegiving the Jägermeister Party continued the entertainment on this exciting racing day. A thank you goes to the sponsor Wesbank and to all officials and helpers.