Kimberley - It was business as usual on the rocky trails and disused diggings around the quaint old town of Windsorton in the Northern Cape and down near the Vaal River as Louwrens Mahoney (KTM) and Brian Baragwanath (Yamaha) each took their second consecutive win of the season in the motorcycle and quad categories of the Windsorton 400, Round 2 of the SA Off-road championship, at the weekend.
Each started from pole but, while Mahoney's team-mate, Ross Branch, chased him all the way to finish second (again) - 1m16 behind after 360km of racing, Baragwanath's competition fell by the wayside as both Jurie 'Botter' Meyer (Yamaha) and Jaco Moller (Yamaha) went out due to mechanical problems.
Baragwanath took Q1 honours by almost 15 minutes from David Hollis (Yamaha), who survived on the last of the six laps to come in a fraction of a seconds ahead of Hannes Saaijman (Yamaha) in third.
Dust played a big role on the dry route with competitors struggling to pass slower riders. André du Plessis (Yamaha) started further back and had to settle for fourth overall and third in Q1, while Stuart Freemand (Yamaha) took fifth overall and his second Senior Class win.
On two wheels Ruan Roberts (Yamaha) got the better of a race-long battle with defending title-holder Kenny Gilbert (Yamaha) who crashed on both the fifth and sixth loops - to round off the overall and OR1 (Open Class) podiums with Gilbert a mere 11 seconds behind in fourth place.
SENIOR CLASS
There were also second consecutive class victories for KTM's Tyron Miller in the OR2 (250cc Class), Louw Schmidt in the OR3 (200cc Class) win (as well as sixth overall) and Juan 'Bollie' van Rooyen who was again the fastest Senior Class rider and finished seventh overall.
Husqvarna hero Altus de Wet started way down the field after a DNF last time out and battled with dust all the way, as he clawed his way up the field to finish eighth overall and second behind Miller in OR2. Jarryd Coetzee (Honda) also started at the back and finished second in OR3 (ninth overall) while local Kimberley rider, Franco Smith (Kawasaki), who was on the same mission, rounded off the overall top 10 (and took fifth in OR1).
Behind Van Rooyen, the competition in the Senior Class was tough between defending champion Pieter Holl (KTM), who had to settle for second, with less than a minute separating two former champions behind him - Wayne Farmer (KTM) was third with Guy Henley (KTM) fourth. Ian Venter (KTM) rounded off the top five.
All four Master Class entrants finished with Garth Prost (KTM) claiming his second victory while Adrian Storm (KTM) second, new entrant Robert Streak (Yamaha) third and Jan Berning (KTM) was fourth.
QUADS
Berne Bester (Suzuki) and André Park (Yamaha) each scored his first points of the season for sixth and seventh overall (fourth and fifth in Q1 respectively), while Russell Ferreira (Honda) was second in the Senior Class ( and eighth overall) after brake problems on the final lap and Willie Roos (Yamaha) rounded off the Senior Class podium with his ninth place overall.
Paul dos Santos (Suzuki) was 10th and just missed the Senior Class podium; only four more competitors managed to complete the full race distance - Eric Williams (Yamaha), Hannes Annandale (Suzuki) - second in Q2 - Justin Robert (Suzuki - also third in Q2) and Barbier (Yamaha).
Defending champion Jurie Meyer Senior (Yamaha) and the winner of the opening round, George Twigge continued with Meyer taking the victory this time - by just 46 seconds. Tony dos Santos (Suzuki) was third followed by three East London veterans - Peter Schenk (Honda) fourth, 68-year old Roger Barnes (Polaris) fifth and Milton Thesen (Yamaha) sixth.
LADIES
There were new winners in both two categories with Liezel Barnard and her gynormous Can-Am winning overall and on four wheels - she beat Chardri Monk's pink Yamaha by less than a minute - while Toni Jardine (KTM) won the motorcycle section with Nanda Swiegers (Yamaha) second and 'Tiny Taye' Perry (KTM) third. Monk was second overall, followed by Jardine, Swiegers and Perry.
There were some red faces among the High School Class teenage riders - who raced over half the National distance - when they found out they'd been beaten fair and square (again!) by Honda quad rider Wilmarie Moller of Tzaneen, although Ramon Lopez, also Honda Mounted was less than two minutes behind her at the finish, while Eduan Bester's Yamaha was the first High School two-wheeler home, ahead of Alastair Drennan (KTM), Brendon Fourie (Kawasaki), local Douglas youngster Cilliers Fourie (KTM) and Dean Lindsay (Yamaha).
Round 3 of the series, the Bell 400, will be run on 10 May at Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal.