Former SA Enduro champion Altus de Wet (KTM) won the Hi-Tec Enduro in the Humansdorp area of the Eastern Cape at the weekend, Round 2 - but the results are under appeal and are provisional for now.
De Wet had to start from the back of the field, as he did not finish the first race of the season. The race consisted of one loop that included two racing sections, but all competitors were penalised after the first sighting lap as they did not complete it within the allowed time. De Wet received the least amount of penalty points as he finished closest to the set time. He also won the first special timed stage and provisionally claimed E2 (200cc) Class honours as well.
Scott Bouverie (also on a KTM) scored his first podium position and finished second overall. He won the last of the six special stages and was second in E2. He was followed by De Wet's team mate Louwrens Mahoney, who also won a timed stage and claimed his second overall podium position this season.
BOTTLENECK SITUATIONS
He won the E1 (Open) Class after many riders found themselves in bottleneck situations behind stuck riders on the route. The organisers were also forced to cut out a section of the route in a river that was quite deep due to the amount of rain the area received just before the race.
Scholar Wade Young (Yamaha) finished fourth (third in E2) after a race he described as 'demanding' and was followed by works Yamaha team mates, Marc Torlage and Jade Gutzeit. Torlage, who won E2 and finished second at the previous meeting, posted the fastest time after the second stage while Gutzeit, who won the previous race, was fastest after the fourth and fifth stages. He finished second in E1.
KTM team mates, Riaan van Niekerk (E2) and Darryl Curtis were seventh and eighth respectively with Curtis rounding off the E1 podium. He finished a mere five points ahead of Gutzeit's younger brother, Blake (Yamaha) who suffered from arm pump, but posted his best result. Kenny Gilbert (Yamaha) rounded off the top ten.
CASUALTIES
Chris Birch (KTM) withdrew during the race due to his knee injury caused by a crash last time out; Michael Creevy (KTM) withdrew due to a bad bout of flu; James Hodson (Yamaha) crashed out and Stefan Oosthuysen (KTM) drowned his bike.
Defending Senior Class champion, William 'Wild Bill' Gillit (Yamaha) claimed his first national class victory of the season and won two of the four timed racing sections. He beat Ryan Struckman (Yamaha) who posted the fastest time after racing section three, but suffered a crash, while the winner of the opening race, Jody Engelbrecht (Yamaha) claimed third place after winning the first racing stage,.
Master Class champion, Denzil Torlage (Yamaha) also received penalty points after the first regularity stage, but he still made it two in a row by winning the class again. He was followed by KTM's Graydon Ilderton with Mark du Plessis (KTM) third after he ran out of fuel.
Round 3 of the 2012 SA Enduro championship, the Kei Enduro, will be run in the East London area of the Eastern Cape on 12 May.