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PRESS RELEASE MUSICAL CHAIRS SCENARIO SETS SCENE FOR EXPLOSIVE OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP The musical chairs scenario especially in the motorcycle category of the national off-road championships for bike and quad competitors, sets the secene for an exciting season that will start on 12/13 February with the Ermelo Toyota 400, the opening round of the 2010 season, in Mpumalanga. Almost all the big names will be competing again this season, but one will have to get used to seeing them on new bikes, in new teams and in the colours of new sponsors. Team DCM Yamaha is a brand new three-man team with two multiple former champions – Louwrens Mahoney and the 2009 Open Class champ, Jade Gutzeit – who will both aim for the top spot. Podium positions are, however, still within reach of Team Bavarian Motorcycles/BMW Motorrad – Wynand Delport has teamed up with Gray Dick, who will only start to compete in the second half of the season as he is still recovering from a back operation. Inbetween his international racing responsibilities, the 2008 and 2009 overall winner, Riaan van Niekerk, will aim for a hat-trick in the colours of Brother KTM where his team-mates include the two-time enduro champion, Altus de Wet and Ruan Roberts who is returning to the sport after senious injuries. Another former champ, Spencer Kriel, will lead Team ORD/Insurance Zone/Pro Action KTM and together with CJ Blackman (brother of the 200cc Class champion, Jarrod Blackman, who will not be competing due to serious injuries sustained after a crash earlier this year) and Mark Garland, they will be a team to take note of. The competition for the podium will be stiff and will also come from Team Ramco Honda Cayenne where the youngster, Theo Potgieter, will make his come-back to the sport. Laurence Murton has frequented the podium in the past and together with fellow Swaziland racer, Jonathan van Wyk, as well as Craig Ramsay, they would like to prove a few points. The Kawasaki racers have also proved that they are worthy of victories although The Roost/Out of Africa Kawasaki’s Juan “Bollie” van Rooyen would hope he has more luck this year while Gavin Louw (The Roost Kawasaki) will be aiming to win again after doing so for the first time last year. With so many talented racers – be it with experience or the youth on their side – it will be foolish to predict possible winners while riders like Wade Blaauw (Connix Internet/Salley’s Yamaha); Zac Botha (Shimwells Yamaha) and Dillon Inggs (Naledi Motors Wesbank Racing Yamaha) can also upset the applecart. Not much has changed in the national quad category although some of the top names like Hendrik Potgieter and Enrico da Silva (Da Silva’s younger brother, Mikhail, will however compete) do not appear on the Ermelo Toyota 400 entry list. The 2009 Quad MX and off-road champ, Dirkie Baard, will defend his title with the support of his brother, Philipie and Eric Williams, in the colours of Honda Windhoek. Former champions Brian Baragwanath (EMD Racing Yamaha) and Brendan Badenhorst (Brother KTM) will both be on the start line as well as the 2009 runner-up, Juan Coetzee (Race Nation Honda); the Open Class champ, Stefan Swanepoel and Jacques Struwig (Boesman Racing LTR). EMD Racing will also be represented by André du Plessis (Suzuki) who has visited the podium on various occassions the last few seasons. Leander Pienaar (Connix Internet/Salley’s Yamaha Can-Am) did not give up after a horrendous season and would hope that his luck will turn. Vincent Loubser (Team Yamaha) will tackle the season without ‘kleinboet’ Glen while Dale Stock (Roost/Out of Africa Kawasaki) will also again be in action. A few youngsters that will add lots of interest to the mix include Junior National Off-road racers, Jurie Meyer (Yamaha); Reghardt Oosthuizen and the 2009 Silver Challenge winner, Elaine Roberts, both representing CDV Racing with the Can-Am DS450as well as Keegan da Silva (Belcherbuilt HST Yamaha). The senior competitors in both the motorcycle and quad categories now only have to complete three-quarters of the race while the Master Classes will carry championship status in both categories. Entries for these classes are also healthy with four-time quad champion, Cornel de Villiers, making a come-back in the Senior Clas. The Ermelo Toyota 400 will also form the opening round of the AMU Southern African Off-road Championship and will start with a 50km time-trial on Friday (12 February) in the Douglas Dam area just outside Ermelo. The time-trial determines the starting order for the main race on Saturday (13 February) and competitors will have to tackle a 400km route consisting of two loops in the Sheepmoor area. The start of the race as well as the finish and the central pit area will be at the De Rust Guest Farm. End Issued on behalf of Ermelo Toyota by ETdotKomm (Elza Thiart. Tel: +27 82 4588 517 / et.komm@worldonline.co.za).
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Press Release
READY TO GO! The 2010 SA National Off-Road Motorcycle and Quad Championships will kick off on 12 and 13 February with the Ermelo Toyota 400, the winner of the coveted “Best Event of the Year” award in 2008. This event provided a lot of drama in 2009 when the race had to be shortened due to extremely heavy rain and floods before and during the race, but despite this, the event was highly rated by competitors. For 2010 the organisers will have an all new route albeit again in the Sheepmoor region just outside Ermelo in Mpumalanga. This area has more than adequate spectacular terrain in terms of mountains, forests and lakes. The race will consist of two loops of about 120 kilometres each which will be traversed twice by all national competitors. The Ermelo Toyota 400 will not only form the opening round of the national championship series, but will also be the first round of both the motorcycle and quad championships of the Northern Regions championships. In addition this event will also form round one of the African Motorcycle Union (AMU) Southern Off-road Championship (SORC) of which round two will take place in Namibia (3 April); round three will co-incide with the national off-road event at Mafikeng on 8 May; round four will be in Zimbabwe on 5 June and the final event of the series will take place on 18 September in Zambia. What also makes the 2010 Ermelo Toyota 400 event extra special is that all national off-road championship awards for 2009 will be done at the prize giving at a huge function named “Night of the Champions”. An exciting development to look forward to, is the planned “Around the Houses Race” through the centre of Ermelo which will form part of the time-trial which will also be held just outside Ermelo this year. Documentation will be at Ermelo Toyota and as the “Around the Houses Race” and time-trial will also be taking place in the areas directly surrounding Ermelo, the need to travel to Sheepmoor on the Friday will be alleviated. The main race will, however, still be based at Sheepmoor on Saturday (13 February) and this will be much more convenient to competitors. This event is known for its spectacular scenery and the balanced race route encompassing technical parts as well as tight and relatively fast sections. The organisation has always been top class and will this year – for the first time – be totally under the control of ladies. Lizelle van Aardt, regarded as one of the best Clerks of the Course (CoC) in South Africa, has been appointed CoC with Alana Geerdts, also a qualified CoC and from the organising club of the 2009 “Event of the Year” award, acting as a deputy for motorcycles while Lindy Vermeulen, another qualified CoC, looking after the quads. In addition, Gillian Dykes from Botswana will be CoC for the AMU SORC Championship. These ladies intend to proof a point by having the best organised national off-road race in the history of the sport at Ermelo. The prizegiving venue will be at the Ermelo show grounds and can comfortably seat 500 people – the organisers are also flying in an entertainer and Master of Ceremonies of note from Namibia. Enter now for a race that promises to be one hell of a ride (and an even a bigger party afterwards).
Issued by the organisers of the 2010 Ermelo Toyota 400 |
