East London - A wet and challenging Kei Enduro produced new winners this past weekend and, with the 2015 SA Enduro series at the halfway mark, new championship leaders.
E1 (200cc) class leader Travis Teasdale (KTM) posted the fastest time of the day in the 2.4km Extreme Special but then lost lots of time when he got stuck in a mud hole on the sixth of the eight Special Stages.
That dropped him to sixth in class and cost him the championship lead while Yamaha rival Brett Swanepoel took the win. Conditions were so slippery that Swanepoel was the only E1 rider who wasn't penalised for overstaying his welcome in the regularity sections.
Teasdale's team-mate Dwayne Kleynhans finished second in E1 despite collecting a hatful of penalties - as did Kyle Flanagan (KTM) who rounded off the E1 podium despite a huge crash on the last lap.
Brandon Warwick-Oliver (Yamaha) was fourth with Henco Botha (KTM) fifth, ahead of Teasdale, Ross Blackwell (KTM), another of Teasdale's team-mates, Jarryd Coetzee, Blackwell's team-mate Tim Young (Yamaha), who battled through the pain from a fractured thumb, and motocrosser Richie van der Westhuizen (Yamaha), who came home 10th despite struggling through the final with a bent rear sprocket that was missing seven teeth.
Defending E1 champion Wade Young (KTM) completed a hat trick with his third consecutive E2 (Open Class) win of the season. Young, who'd been injured during a race two weeks previously, had a problem free race and was followed home by team-mate Scott Bouverie with Kenny Gilbert (Yamaha) third on the day.
Sherco rider Altus de Wet was slowed by a bent front brake disc on his last lap of the 13km Enduro Special, which dropped him down to fourth in class, ahead of Bronson Louw and his Husvarna team-mate Blake Gutzeit, temporarily back in South Africa to sort out his visa to continue international racing.
Rounding out the E1 top 10 were Nick Wade (Husqvarna), Louwrens Mahoney (KTM), Nicholas Pienaar (Husqvarna) and schoolboy William Oosthuizen (KTM).
SENIOR CLASS
Close racing in the grown-up category produced its third winner in three races and a new championship leader as defending title-holder William 'Wild Bill' Gillitt (Yamaha) took his first win of the season.
That didn't improve his standing (third) in the class championship but it did move him closer to team-mate Bruce May, who finished second in East London and moved into the championship lead, ahead of Jody Engelbrecht (Yamaha), who won the season opener and finished third at Spring Valley.
Local rider and former SA Trials Champion, Mark Fox (KTM) was fourth, ahead of with Graham Hedgcock (KTM), who won a stage but then lost time with a damaged bike.
The Kei Enduro delivered another hat trick for Master Class championship leader, Hilton Hayward (Yamaha), who moved from the Senior to the Master Class this season. He was followed by team-mate and former champion Denzil Torlage, with Garth Prost (Husqvarna) retaining his third place behind Hayward and Torlage in the championship by finishing third at 'The Kei', ahead of Steve Botha (Yamaha), Shaun Kirk (Beta), who endured a frustrating 'nothing-went-right' day in the saddle, and Carl Rohrbeck (KTM), the sixth and the last Master Class finisher.