DIRT and TRAIL January 22
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in getting a coffee station up <strong>and</strong> running. Kudo’s to them! You<br />
had to spare a thought for the guys on the bikes. Racing Roof is<br />
tough – but when it rains… it’s a whole new beasty.<br />
The gap between the riders grew. Trax GasGas rider Travis<br />
Teasdale came through, followed by TT Racings Maddy Green.<br />
Then there was quite a long wait – when we noticed a Sherco<br />
rider coming in from a different direction… it was Young!<br />
Somehow he had missed the course.<br />
A quick chat with the clerk of the course <strong>and</strong> he was off again –<br />
<strong>and</strong> the speculation started among the spectators. Did he have<br />
enough of a lead to stay ahead? Would Teasdale be able to haul<br />
him in? He only needed to get back to the point where he had<br />
gone wrong - he did not have to re-ride the whole thing. But<br />
still… It was turning out to be an interesting morning.<br />
The silver leaders stated coming up the last hill <strong>and</strong> you could<br />
see the absolute joy on the guys faces as they crossed the finish<br />
line. And it was for good reason.<br />
The Silver class saw only 9 finishers from 89 starters <strong>and</strong> it also<br />
happened to have the closest podium finish of the event. Sage<br />
McGregor took a well-deserved victory over Jason Stay by less<br />
than 7 minutes <strong>and</strong> despite setting the fastest time of the day,<br />
Whitey Oosthuisen (One Nine Auto) came in third overall, less<br />
than 2 minutes behind Stay. It was awesome to watch. Next year<br />
we are pretty sure these guys will enter gold.<br />
In between all of this, the Top golds started to come in. Wade<br />
made it 4 in a row <strong>and</strong> his sixth Roof win overall, by winning<br />
the 53rd edition of the Motul Roof of Africa . He was followed<br />
home by the GasGas duo of Travis Teasdale (Trax TT Racing)<br />
who ended up just over 28mins behind the leader with Matthew<br />
Green (TT Racing) a further 44mins behind Teasdale.<br />
We’ve watched these guys since they were kids – it’s<br />
awesome to see the men that they have become – <strong>and</strong> you<br />
only underst<strong>and</strong> how important it is to these guys when you<br />
experience the emotions first h<strong>and</strong>. Green is usually one of<br />
the happiest guys out there – when he crossed the line with a<br />
podium, he was overcome by the sheer magnitude of it all. Very<br />
cool to see.<br />
But The Motul Roof Of Africa is not only about the gold riders.<br />
Eventually, thanks to the rain, the final climb turned to slush –<br />
the guys crossed the road, saw the Motul arch <strong>and</strong> thought that<br />
their race was over…. But that was not the case. They were<br />
greeted by a steep, slippery rock strewn climb. And when they<br />
got through that… they hit a sticky muddy slope. If it was dry, it<br />
would have been a cakewalk, but Lesotho had other ideas. The<br />
guys were exhausted <strong>and</strong> no matter that you were riding with the<br />
very latest rubber from Michelin – traction was non-existent. And<br />
spectators were, once again not allowed to assist at all.<br />
Rory Gower led the bronze class from start to finish taking first<br />
overall, followed by father <strong>and</strong> son duo Pieter Holl (Bert Smith All<br />
Stars) <strong>and</strong> Jukka Holl in Third. The Bronze class fared the best in<br />
the race against attrition with 131 finishers from 199 starters.<br />
Drama unfolded as the guys tried everything to get unstuck.<br />
Everything from launching your bike up the muddy slope <strong>and</strong><br />
trying to follow it, to finding a line that someone had not tried<br />
before. Some of the teams came in with the lead rider stopping<br />
to help, ropes were attached <strong>and</strong> bikes were manh<strong>and</strong>led up<br />
the hill. Some guys got properly stuck <strong>and</strong> were simply too<br />
exhausted to do anything about it…<br />
Kids <strong>and</strong> wives stepped in to cheer their family members on…<br />
It was awesome to watch. Indomitable human spirit at its very<br />
best. The hours literally flew by as the sun started to set on<br />
another epic Roof. We waited for the last gold riders to come<br />
home – SA’s hard enduro teacher <strong>and</strong> Roof legend, Mclarens<br />
Racing Wild William Gillitt soon made an appearance on the<br />
mountains <strong>and</strong> stormed up the hill to massive applause with<br />
his riding buddy Graham Hedgecock. These guys contribute so<br />
much to the South African racing scene.<br />
Route Director Altie with Hard<br />
Enduro Worlds Peter Schleuter<br />
Team Michelin.<br />
Team Motul <strong>and</strong> Team Trax<br />
Leo<br />
LESOTHO<br />
OFF ROAD ASSOCIATION
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