Scenic race route in the Mountain Kingdom
EXCITING NATIONAL ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON STARTS WITH NEW SERIES SPONSOR IN LESOTHO
The 2010 National Motorcycle Enduro Championship for motorcycle competitors welcomes Liquorland as the official series sponsor for the season on board and will visit Lesotho for the opening round, the Lesotho Enduro that will take place this weekend (6 March) in the Mountain Kingdom.
The national motorcycle enduro championship has not had a series sponsor for years and the support from Liquorland, who also sponsors the KwaZulu-Natal regional motorcycle enduro championship, will take this popular form of racing to new heights.
The Lesotho Sun in Maseru has for years been a loyal supporter of racing in Lesotho and is once again the event sponsor of the Lesotho Enduro. The luxury hotel, which has just undergone a R140 million facelift with its conference facilities and casino, will serve as the race headquarters for the event and will host the documentation process as well as the prizegiving on Saturday evening.
The more technical one-day enduro races, not to be confused with off-road racing that takes place over two days and more than 400 kilometres, has grown in popularity over the last few years and all the big names represent their sponsors at every event. Lesotho is Roof of Africa-country and presents motorcycle competitors with two opportunities to get to know the type of terrain for the Roof of Africa off-road race in November – the Lesotho Enduro and the national off-road race in June.
According to the race organisers, LORA (Lesotho Off Road Association)
Multiple Super Motard and Trials champ, Brian Capper (Full Throttle/Red Bull KTM) is making a return to the national enduro scene and will play with the Big Bikes in the Open Class. The mountains will be a good test for this talented ‘foot-up’ rider and he can be the spoke in a few wheels this coming weekend.
Team DCM Yamaha scored the first victory of the 2010 season in the national off-road championship and former enduro champion, Louwrens Mahoney will compete with the YZ250F in the 200cc Class with Bradley van Aswegen while Ermelo Toyota 400 winner, Jade Gutzeit, will tackle the race with the bigger Yamaha YZ450F in the Open Class. Both Gutzeit and Mahoney have lots of racing experience in Lesotho and both will aim for the overall laurels.
Kawasaki rider Bollie van Rooyen (The Roost/Out of Africa Kawasaki) has also given notice of intent as well as Wynand Delport who will tackle Lesotho for the first time with the BMW G450X 4-stroke and Zac Botha, the lonely Shimwells Yamaha rider.
There are two more new teams that would like to get the 2010 national enduro season off on a high note – Team Connix Internet/Salleys Yamaha consist of a mixture of riders with lots of experience (Errol Dalton) and talented youngsters (Charan Moore) with Wynand Badenhorst also included in the team.
It will be a second outing to Lesotho for Team ORD/Insurance Zone/ProAction KTM and former champion, Spencer Kriel will lead team-mates, Mark Garland and CJ Blackman at the first national enduro of the season.
It seems as if the various regional enduro and off-road championships as well as the junior off-road series serve their purpose to be the feeder for the senior national events with a few names appearing regularly on the entry lists. These include junior off-road racers, Timothy Young (Extreme Yamaha/Yamaha Support) and Jarryd Coetzee (Miller Moore Honda Sandton) as well as the young off-road racer, Dominic Mantle (Yamaha).
The Lesotho Enduro will consist of three 60km Regularity loops with a Special Stage in each these loops. National competitors will have to complete three loops with riders in the Silver Challenge, Senior and 400 Plus Classes doing two loops while Master and Novices Class riders will only complete the loop once.
Competitors do not have to fear the same extreme level of difficulty of the 2009 event and the organisers foresee an enjoyable event that will kick off at 08h00 on Saturday (6 March) at Trading Post at Roma.
For more information, visit www.lora.co.ls
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Photo:
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