Fast forward a few years and the Roof of Africa had already established itself as one of the toughest off road events on the planet. Cars and bikes raced over the same route, but eventually were separated and after a while the cars, bakkies and buggies found it too tough once the race moved further in to the real mountains that make up the awesome Maluti range. This was because the race organisers had to move away from the roads used regularly by the Basuto people, and also because the ever-evolving sophistication of off road racing motorcycles required more and more difficult racing routes. Riders revelled in the harsh conditions, and heroes were made over the tracks of the remotest areas of Lesotho. Over the years names like Letele Pass, Rampia’s Pass, the T Junction, Blue Mountain and God Help Me Pass, Baboons Pass and many more first struck fear into the hearts of competitors, but as time passed they became part of the modern road infrastructure of Lesotho, and have been replaced by new challenges like Snake Bite Pass, Pulane Pass, Bushman’s Spiderman, Mad Cow, Puke, and many more. Over the years the fame, reputation and often notoriety of the Roof of Africa has spread around the World, and led by the famous Malcolm Smith who came here in 1975 to give all the South African riders a real lesson in not only riding skill, but also to show how real off road racing should be done. His input changed the race forever. If you don’t know who Malcolm is, download the best motorcycling movie ever made, “On Any Sunday” to find out. Malcolm, sponsored by the then importer of KTM, Italo Lupini, opened the way for a steady flow of top off road racers coming to Lesotho to face, and often conquer this magnificent challenge. So we come to 2016, the 49th Roof of Africa. Quite recently it has attracted the attention of some serious sponsors, and this year Motul hitched their name to the event, assisted by Red Bull and quite a few subsidiary sponsors, one of them yours truly, Dirt & Trail, who have been media partners for the past three years . This year we spread our wings a little, and included the internationally famous off road racing journalist and super enthusiast Peter Schluter in our team. He runs two very successful on line magazines with the most incredible following of over 150 000 members throughout the World. (Catch him on Zona Enduro and Hard Enduro World)… and he gave the Roof and all the facets that make it up a good punt. The field was divided into three groups, as it has been for several years. In the Gold class all the top seeded riders as well as over 120 of our fastest national competitors race over the longest and most difficult route. The second group is the Silver class, which features a very mixed selection of fast riders, from up and coming youngsters to fast national championship riders and several past top National contenders now riding more for fun, but still very capable of taking home trophies in this group. They rode a route almost as long and as difficult as the Gold class. However the edge was just nipped off it to make it a little easier than the top class. Finally there is the Bronze class. This consists mainly of youngsters riding their first Roof, or weekend warriors who feel skilled and fit enough to take on the challenge that is the Roof. Inevitably in both the Silver and Bronze class there are a few sleepers who should be in one of the more skilled classes. 20 DIRT & TRAIL MAGAZINE JANUARY 2017
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