The Richmond WFO National Enduro, the penultimate round of the 2010 Liquorland National Enduro Motorcycle Championship that takes place on 11 September in the Richmond area in KwaZulu-Natal, will be a make or brake for the title chasers and they will be out to stop the winner of all four previous events, Jade Gutzeit, in his tracks.
Gutzeit (Full Throttle Racing Yamaha) is leading the overall standings as well as the Open Class championship, but there are a few riders who have been on the podium and who would like to chase him down. Brother KTM’s Altus de Wet, who is behind Gutzeit on the overall standings as well as in the class championship, had to play second fiddle to him for the last two events and would be chasing hard to score his first victory of the season.
Marc Torlage (Red Yamaha) is leading the 200cc Class and is third overall with a single point separating him from De Wet and therefore also putting him in line for the title chase.
Other podium finishers include Riaan van Niekerk and Darryl Curtis (Brother KTM), who are fifth and sixth respectively, as well as Louwrens Mahoney (DCM Yamaha) who has dropped to ninth place, but is still in the running for the 200cc Class title. They can all move in for the kill while Gutzeit’s team-mate, Brian Capper (KTM) has showed that he is moving closer to a podium finish at every race and will also be a threat. He is 10th overall.
Two-times winner of the Baboons Roof of Africa as well as 2010 winner of the Red Bull Romaniacs race, Chris Birch, is visiting South Africa and will also be competing in this event. It will be interesting to see how this enduro specialist will do in a South African enduro event.
Consistency is the name of the game for Spencer Kriel (ORD/Insurance Zone/Pro Action KTM) who is fourth overall and third in the Open Class championship. The terrain will probably suit most of the local KZN-riders like Gutzeit, Torlage, Kriel, Scott Scheepers (Brother KTM), who is seventh overall and his arch-rival, Bradley van Aswegen (DCM Yamaha), who is laying 11th overall.
The Swiss racer, Lionel Seydoux (Habitat KTM Cape Town) is also in the top ten and has been slowly moving up the points’ ladder while seasoned off-road racer, Juan “Bollie” van Rooyen (The Roost/Out of Africa Dev Kawasaki) would like to enter the top ten from his 13th place – he has the same amount of points as the young 125cc racer, Dominic Mantle (iMAS Racing Yamaha) for who this race will also be on his doorstep.
BMW racers, Gray Dick and Wynand Delport as well as Team Liquorland Racing’s Steve Landman and local KZN racer, Adrian Fourie can also upset the applecart.
The event will also be in the backyard of the Senior Class leader, William Gillit (Red Yamaha) who would like to make his home-crowd proud with a fifth class victory. Although he has a comfortable lead ahead of Richard Moore (KTM) and third-placed Gary Sox Smith (BMW), he can not afford to put a foot wrong.
The same goes for Mark du Plessis (Habitat KTM Cape Town) who is leading the Master Class championship ahead of Torlage Snr, Denzil (Red Yamaha) and Roger Clarke (Yamaha). Torlage has won the last three events and is on a mission.
The battle in the Silver Challenge will be on between class leader, Chris Strampe (KTM) and Craig McGregor (KTM) with only four points separating them.
It is, however, important to keep in mind that only five of the six events will count towards the championship and if this system is applied at this stage, things are looking a bit different. Torlage Snr has a fighting chance of winning the Master Class while Smith will be able to hunt Gillitt down in the Senior Class battle.
The gaps will also be much smaller between Mahoney and Torlage, who has won the 200cc Class on three occasions as well as between Gutzeit, De Wet and Curtis in the Open Class chase where one slip-up of the current front runners can be to the benefit of the rest.
The Liquorland WFO National Enduro will start on Saturday (11 September) at 08h00 at the Richmond Country Club. There will be two (timed) Special Stages on the 48km loop of which one will include an enduro-cross track at the Richmond Country Club that will be ideal for spectator viewing.
On the loop competitors will also come across a rocky riverbed as well as a new section on an old access road to the power lines.
For more information, visit www.wforacing.co.za
Scott Scheepers (Brother KTM)
End
Issued by ETdotKomm. (Elza Thiart Kommunikations. Tel 082 4588 517 / etdotkomm@worldonline.co.za)
For more information visit www.wforacing.co.za / www.mqoecommission.co.za
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