1601 DT final

Story by Clive Strugnell. Pics by the Dirt And Trail Army: Glenn Foley, Ian Mclaren, Byron Rudman, Craig Barendson, Wayne Phillips and
Irina Gorodniakova. Jay Groat got the cover shot this year for Motul.
Guys and gals. The focus on this feature is on the
incredible battle between the top gold riders who
entertained us so well for the weekend. It is impossible
to tell everyone’s story but we have to doff our collective
hats to everyone who took part in this year’s Roof Of Africa.
Silver and Bronze riders, we are in awe of what you guys
achieved and we ask the following:
For the Febuary issue, please send us your story – with a
pic or two. We’ll make space for the second Roof feature and
share your experiences… foleyg@mweb.co.za
For years The Roof has attracted top riders from all over
the World, its’ reputation as the hardest extreme enduro
ensuring that competing in the event is very prestigious on a
riders’ racing CV. Finishing in the top ten is really cool, and of
course winning it puts the rider into an elite group…
For many years overseas riders came, saw and
conquered. Every now and then they had a glitch when
a local like Alfie Cox, Jeremy Davies or one or two local
champions pulled off a win, but in general for quite a
long time it was almost a foregone conclusion that top
International riders would take home all the silverware. It isn’t
always like that, and every now and then we would have
a superb bunch of local riders capable of winning against
anyone. Names like Tissen, Brand, Wicks, Rogers, Beattie,
Falconer, Curtis and Van Niekerk, to mention a few, are
engraved on the Roof trophy.
More recently South Africa has produced a crop of fabulous
young riders not only capable of winning the Roof against any
competition, but they have been taking the fight to the Internationals
in their own backyard in events like Erzberg, Sea to Sky, Romaniacs
and many others.
This year any one of several local young guns were in the hunt for
the honours after 3 days of racing. Wade Young, Brett Swanepoel,
Travis Teasdale, William Gillett, Altus de Wet, Charan Moore, Jade
Gutzeit and Kenny Gilbert were all closely bunched in the top 20.
Wade Young was the hot favourite, having won it for the first time in
2012 and again in 2014. Just a short few months before the event,
none of the top International riders had even entered. For the first
time in ages it looked as though the fight for the lead would be an all
local one, with the home boys lining up for a shot at the title.
One of the reasons for this was that the finals of the world indoor
enduro series was held on the same weekend, this despite the fact
that organiser Peter Luck had moved the Roof date for 2015 to as
late as possible in December to avoid a clash. Despite this the FIM,
who sanction all these events, allowed the indoor organisers to hold
their event really close...
Another reason, dare we say it, is that the reputation of our top
youngsters and the impressive performance they put in last year scared
the Internationals away? After all, no works rider with a big reputation
internationally wants to come all the way to Lesotho to eat dust!
Just hours before the closing date for entries former winner,
veteran Graham Jarvis from the UK, agreed to come back again,
DIRT & TRAIL MAGAZINE JANUARY 2016 17
1601 DT Roof 2015.indd 17 2015/12/16 9:36 AM