First winners at Stanford Junior National off-road race

Feb. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- STANFORD JUNIOR NATIONAL PRODUCED FIRST BIKE AND QUAD WINNERS

Strong winds and a dry and dusty and very twisty route did not stop almost 200 young motorcycle and quad racers who competed in the Stanford Junior National off-road race, the first round of the 2010 season that was held outside Stanford in the Western Cape.

In the senior category, the competition was extremely stiff in the Open Bike and Open Quad classes with more than 30 entrants in each class. In the end it was Scott Bouverie (Criterion Yamaha) who beat the Miller Moore Honda team-mates, Tyron Miller and Gerald Campher comfortably in the Open Bike Class to take the victory after the three hour race. Campher fought a tough battle with Meiring Vermeulen (Salley’s Yamaha) who had to settle for fourth place, a mere 18 seconds behind Campher. Justin Young (Yamaha) was fifth.

In the Senior Open Quad Class for racers younger than 17 years and on quads fitted with engines no bigger than 450cc, it was the defending champion, Giacomo Antiga (Team Can-Am) who showed why he is the champion when he beat his team-mate, Michael von Zweel, who scored one of his best results recently. Michael Wagner (Factory Racing KTM) finished third albeit only nine seconds ahead of local hero, Julian Greef-Hoffman (Yamaha). Greef-Hoffman is the 2009 Junior Open champion and has moved to the Senior Open Quad Class.

Local Cape racers ruled in the Junior Open Quads with Jason Botha (Yamaha) beating Joshua Schenk (Yamaha) with Shaun Smith (FD Racing Honda) third. It seems as if the terrain suited the Cape racers better and three more local riders scored points – the only girl in the class, Tara Falkenberg (Honda), finished fourth beating Tyrone Renwick (Yamaha) by 33 seconds with Joshua Louw (Yamaha) sixth. CJ van der Westhuizen (Factory Racing) was seventh.

A local racer also walked away with the Junior Modified Quad victory – Melchior Huskisson (Yamaha) finished ahead of Christopher Petersen (Jag Quad Yamaha) with Wynie Steyn (FD Racing) rounding off the podium. Seven young racers managed to finish the race with CDV Racing’s Morné Fourie (Arctic Cat) fourth; PK Pandelis Kafaltis (FD Racing Arctic Cat) fifth and Wayne Smith (Honda) sixth with Colin-Nicholas Meder (Yamaha) the last rider to walk away with points after experiencing mechanical problems during the race.

Juanri Meintjies (Team Nako Suzuki) was the first female quad racer home followed by Megan Dunning (Yamaha) and Elanie van den Berg (Suzuki).

On two wheels, the 2009 85cc Junior champ, Wade Young (Criterion Yamaha) continued his winning streak when he won the Senior Bike Class from Angus Coetzee (Shimwells Yamaha). Craig Munton (Honda) finished third with local racer, Jason Helm (Honda) fourth while Kyle Flanagan (Honda) rounded off the top five.
It seems as if the technical and sandy route took its toll on these youngsters aged between 12 and 15 years with eight of the 21 entrants completing the full race distance.

In the Junior 85cc Bike Class, local Keeler Racing Suzuki rider, Aeron Thompson, won a close-fought battle with another Cape rider, Calvin Wiltshire (Shimwells Yamaha) who finished in an excellent second place after starting behind everyone else when his bike died on the start line. Alastair Drennan (The Roost KTM) was third with two Yamaha riders, Ruan Nortjé and Tristan Menschy also in the top five.

Dean Lindsay (KTM) finished on top of the 65cc Bike Class podium with Marco de Souza (KTM) and Tiaan Shattock (Kawasaki) second and third respectively.

With the first points on the scoreboard, racers will now start to prepare themselves for the second round of the 2010 World of Accessories Junior National Off-road Championship that will take place on 13 March in the Port Elizabeth area.


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