KTM DOMINATES MONTAGU NATIONAL ENDURO

Competitors had to expect a dusty track due to no rainfall within the last couple of weeks. The route comprised three laps of which the first lap was a sighting lap that had to be completed within the regularity time of 2h40 and lap two and three including two timed special stages. The regularity times on lap two were cut by 25 minutes and by another 25 minutes on lap three, on which riders had to increase their speed on the regularity stage in order to make the finish line on time and not to get any penalties for being late.

KTM dominated the day with eight KTM’s finishing in the top ten, taking home the race win as well as a win in the Open Class, 200cc class and the Senior Class.

Chris Birch on his Comsol Alfie Cox KTM started from the first row, therefore being one of the few lucky guys that did not battle with dust. The talented New Zealander who is racing the full National Enduro series here in South Africa had a great race on his KTM 300 and brought home the race win once again, extending his lead in the Open class championship. Full Throttle Red Bull KTM’s Brian Capper finished in fourth place and now lies only one point behind Brother Broadlink KTM rider Darryl Curtis who finished in fith place.

The Brother Broadlink KTM team enjoyed themselves with five of the Brother Broadlink KTM riders finishing in the top ten. Riaan van Niekerk finished a mere four seconds behind team mate Curtis, followed by Altus de Wet, Mark Fox (Wildcoast KTM), Lionel Seydoux and Scott Scheepers in 10th place.

The 200cc class was dominated by Brother Broadlink KTM rider Altus de Wet and his team mate Scott Scheepers on their KTM 250 EXC-F 4-stroke machines. “The dust made it difficult to see and to pass other riders in front which made me loose precious time on the special stages. I crashed once, unforntunately also on the special stage, where I lost more than a minute. That effected my overall results badly, only finishing 7th overall. Other than that I really enjoyed race.” said Altus de Wet, who won the 200cc class ahead of Scott Scheepers.

The Senior class saw again a battle between ccGallery KTM rider Mike Morris and Comsol Alfie Cox KTM rider William Gillit. This time it was Gillit taking the win in the Seniors class after Morris had problems on one of the special stages. Morris and Gillit are now tied in points.

Competitors are looking forward to the Vryburg Offroad National at the end of the month and the Humansdorp National Enduro in the Port Elizabeth area on 14 May.

Article and Pictures: KTM