Even though we are heading towards autumn here in the highveld the skies were covered in banks of clouds the last couple of weeks in the Hartebeespoort valley as preparation to the course took place. And race weekend wasn’t any different to the weekends leading up to the event, with lower temperatures and late afternoon showers it was a welcome relief to the otherwise hot Hartebeespoort area.

The course was slightly changed and improved from last year with the start extended back about 20 meters and giving the track a slightly more interesting start. The first roadgap saw the addition of a launch and a landing giving the track some much needed flow, given the rocky terrain. The remainder of the course was cleaned up and widened in a few turns and ensured a speedy run down to the seven meter table top finish. The table top was reworked with a more gradual and extended lading and a new launch ramp three meters before the table ensuring some good airtime for those who attempted the gap.

The Saturday qualifying runs yielded some interesting results with Matt Smith posting the fastest time of the day with a time in the mid 1min30’s, clearly showing that he improvements to the track resulted in similar times compared to last year, even with the track being slightly longer. The rainy weather of the previous couple of days meant that there were no dust on an otherwise hot and dusty track and the riders all welcomed the extra grip that the moist soil provided.

Race day came with it’s own surprises when we woke up to early morning showers, rain on a rocky track naturally means you have to be more selective on where and how you brake, but gave the course a whole new feel. All the pros advocate the faster is better principal over rocky terrain, but it only begins to make sense when you can’t apply the brakes as and when you want due to the wet and slippery conditions. And to the surprise of all the riders, Sonehouse became a lot faster and flowyer compared to it’s otherwise bumpy feel.

Despite the rather small field of 23 participants out of the 29 entries, each and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day’s racing and lady luck was on our side again with yet another newcomer to the sport, showing that the sport is still growing. The racing was fierce and the riders pushed hard and the finish line provided some spectacular finishes over the last tabletop jump. But Ryno Fourie was the winner of the day and reigning champion taking the overall and elite title with a winning time 1:22.75. Matt Smith took the subvets first place with JP Du Plessis clinching the juniors top spot and James Morland winning the veterans category.

ELITES

The overall results are as follows:

POS        NAME                                 CAT         TIME

1              Ryno Fourie                     EL            1:22.75

2              Matt Smith                        SV           1:29.85

3              Dustin Rudman               EL            1:31.22

4              Anthony Brookes           EL            1:32.00

5              Andries van Wyk            EL            1:33.55

6              Josh Liebenberg             EL            1:34.79

7              Hennie Blignaut              SV           1:35.58

8              Sean O’Flynn                    SV           1:35.72

9              James Moreland             V             1:37.61

10           Marius Snyman               EL            1:37.68

11           Everd Vermeulen           EL            1:37.75

12           Patrick Alexander          EL            1:38.30

13           JP du Plessis                     JR            1:38.49

14           Luke Evans                        JR            1:40.77

15           Warren Garbutt               EL            1:42.50

16           Des Ellis                              SV           1:43.95

17           Laurentius Potgieter    SV           1:44.16

18           Neil Evans                         V             1:51.81

19           Francois Swanepoel      SV           1:53.93

20           Johan Woest                    SV           2:06.89

21           Tynan Uswald                  JR            2:30.38

22           Andy Hasenkopf             SP           2:52.82

23           Ryan Casey                       JR            3:14.42

A big thank you to Michael Fickert and the rest of the Stonehouse team for the use of their venue and all the help they put into the track. To Julie Hall and her team from Moyomedics. The event would also not be possible without our series sponsors: Mongoose, thank to Neil, Francois and everyone at Omnico. And also a special thank you to Hennie, Marnus, Christo and Eric from Van Gaalens who all ensured the smooth and safe running of the event. Our next race is on 28&29 May at Giloolys farm in Bedfordview, watch this space for updates on upcoming events.

SUBVETS

JUNIORS

VETS

Thank you to Erlo Brown for capturing the action of the weekend’s racing on camera. If anyone wants to get in contact with Erlo and purchase images of the race, click here.

Greg Illingworth put this rad edit together for us featuring some of the action from the first round of the Nationals. We hope you enjoy!

The 1st round of the SA National DH series has gone down and what an awesome weekends racing it was. The track was fairly testing and a number of riders were caught out in its rough technical sections. Watching guys going through the rougher bits it was also clear that very few guys set up their bikes for this track. And pogo stick rebound was causing a lot of guys to crash. Greg Minnaar, Tim Bentley, and Pottie were in a league of their own, and put a huge margin into the rest of their competitors.

Here are some pics and results at the bottom.

Pos No Cat Name Run 1 Run 2 Best
1 53 EM Greg Minnaar 01.33.34 01.33.12 01.33.12
2 6 JM Timothy Bentley 01.36.17 01.34.47 01.34.47
3 1 EM Johann Potgieter 01.35.20 01.36.15 01.35.20
4 9 EM Wesley Augustyn 01.47.17 01.40.57 01.40.57
5 17 EM Hayden Brown 01.41.26 01.41.04 01.41.04
6 15 EM Jarryd Haley 01.46.29 01.44.36 01.44.36
7 10 EM Luke Davis 01.45.28 01.44.28 01.44.28
8 29 EM Justin Cope 01.49.06 01.44.58 01.44.58
9 41 EM Ryno Fourie 01.45.11 01.45.04 01.45.04
10 20 YM Tiaan Odendaal 01.51.24 01.45.55 01.45.55
11 51 SV Mark Hopkins 01.47.03 01.46.01 01.46.01
12 16 EM Thomas Rood 01.50.47 01.46.21 01.46.21
13 46 JM Alasdair Fey 02.05.01 01.46.33 01.46.33
14 62 SV Robin Rumbelow 01.48.01 01.48.15 01.48.01
15 8 EM Dirk van Schalkwyk 01.50.57 01.48.25 01.48.25
16 55 EM Travis Browning 01.48.52 01.48.33 01.48.33
17 50 EM Andries Nortier 01.52.21 01.49.15 01.49.15
18 61 SV Dirk Lourens 01.49.02 01.49.57 01.49.02
19 24 EM Bradly Illingworth 01.49.57 01.51.34 01.49.57
20 14 JM Simon Dinkelman 01.57.20 01.50.15 01.50.15
21 52 EM Stefan Garlicki 01.53.26 01.50.23 01.50.23
22 54 EM Doug Du Plessis 01.50.41 01.52.15 01.50.41
23 43 SV Tyrone Van Rooyen 01.53.29 01.55.17 01.53.29
24 22 JM Andries Van Schalkwyk 01.53.50 02.02.32 01.53.50
25 48 JM Christo Venter 01.54.22 01.57.16 01.54.22
26 35 SV Matt Smith 01.55.28 01.59.38 01.55.28
27 30 YM Kyle Davids 01.57.13 02.00.54 01.57.13
28 57 EM Neil Fourie 02.03.57 01.58.28 01.58.28
29 69 EM Marnus Swanepoel 01.59.26 02.27.25 01.59.26
30 39 YM Peter Bentley 02.02.05 02.00.36 02.00.36
31 75 EM Dricus Pretorius 02.00.48 02.14.10 02.00.48
32 42 YM Shane Martin 02.02.28 02.06.12 02.02.28
33 33 EM Marius Snyman 02.04.22 02.11.37 02.04.22
34 38 SV Norman Hatherly 02.05.14 02.04.26 02.04.26
35 25 SV Brent Carpenter 02.05.50 02.04.57 02.04.57
36 40 YM Raymond Acutt 02.05.33 08.09.03 02.05.33
37 67 EM Tiaan Maartens 02.10.51 02.05.11 02.05.11
38 58 EM Joshua Liebenberg 02.10.41 02.05.11 02.05.11
39 73 SV Devlin Fogg 02.10.48 02.05.50 02.05.50
40 64 EM Cornel Claassen 02.06.24 DNS 02.06.24
41 34 EM Mark Malherbe 02.07.12 02.27.24 02.07.12
42 27 EM David Dinkelman 02.12.10 02.08.54 02.08.54
43 31 EM Lee Stopforth 02.10.27 02.35.29 02.10.27
44 23 SV Antonio Silva 02.10.29 02.14.32 02.10.29
45 63 EM Andre Pretorius 02.14.18 02.13.06 02.13.06
46 60 EW Carla Freysen 02.47.03 02.13.09 02.13.09
47 65 EM Louis van Sandwyk 02.18.28 02.13.33 02.13.33
48 66 JM Dewald Oosthuizen 02.18.55 02.27.19 02.18.55
49 26 JB Chris Rigby 02.20.02 02.26.01 02.20.02
50 36 SV Michael Kemp 02.25.47 02.20.25 02.20.25
51 32 JB Luke Evans 02.30.29 02.21.52 02.21.52
52 45 EM Dustin Rudman 02.41.33 02.22.02 02.22.02
53 76 SV Hennie Blignaut 02.23.03 03.37.29 02.23.03
54 49 SV Conrad Davies 02.23.13 02.26.06 02.23.13
55 37 SV Neil Evans 02.27.00 02.25.32 02.25.32
56 44 JM Vivian Viljoen 02.27.03 02.33.47 02.27.03
57 47 EW Tayla Brown 02.36.36 02.30.37 02.30.37
58 56 SV Mark Sydney 02.32.43 02.31.20 02.31.20
59 21 EW Victoria Phillips DNS 02.33.19 02.33.19
60 59 YM Jean-Pierre Du Plessis 02.46.21 02.40.18 02.40.18
61 72 JB Sean Attridge 03.02.10 02.43.15 02.43.15
62 28 EM Emile Raubenheimer 02.49.45 DNS 02.49.45
63 70 JM David Hogan DNF 02.52.11 02.52.11
64 74 JB Matthew Densham 02.57.43 03.14.21 02.57.43
~ 68 EM Patrick Mc Kellar DNF DNS DNF
~ 71 EM Andries van Wyk DNS DNS DNS