Terreblanche ninth in France
South African motocrosser Shannon Terreblanche finished ninth overall in a Dutch Motocross
Championship event on the weekend.
A new breeze of enthusiasm is blowing through Terreblanche's racing career. After an
injury-riddled 2010, the outlook was bleak for the likeable youngster, but like many a blue-blooded
racer, he picked himself up by the bootstraps, and bit by encouraging bit, the muse is returning. An
expensive world championship campaign was out of the question for 2011, but such was his enthusiasm
that team owner Coen Van Haut made the decision to enter him for the second European Championship
race at St Jean D'Angely in France.
Terreblanche had a busy week leading up to the French event. Last weekend he made a sudden
decision to participate in an ADAC MX Masters event in Friesing, next to Munich airport. There was
no technical staff available to assist him, so this was a man-alone effort in the good old tradition
of the blue-bearded hard men of motocross. With just a training 250cc bike against the 450cc thunder
of most of the opposition, Shannon was always going to be out-gunned, and but for the kind
assistance of a few other riders' crews he would have had an even harder time of it. Be that as it
may, the event served as a good training outing for him, and as soon as the dust had settled, he was
on his long, lonesome way back again to Holland.
On Thursday there was a whole different focus on the racing. The Dutch Championship round of
Rhenen traditionally takes place on Ascension Day, and as this is the team's domestic series, the
team's rig, mechanics, equipment, dogs, chicken and goldfish all descended on what is in all
probability Holland's most hilly and hard-packed track. Terreblanche guided his Honda to a handy
ninth place in the qualifying session. He used his favourable gate to good effect, and joined the
fray well inside the top 10 in heat 1. Two crashes spoiled the party somewhat, but nonetheless he
finished ninth in the first race.
The team made a frenzied effort to fix the bike for race two, but in the rush the adjustment of
the clutch was overlooked. This made for some rather, shall we say, 'challenging' clutch work in the
second race, but despite this, Terreblanche kept the plot on the boil and crossed the line in eighth
position. This slotted him inside the overall top 10 for the day, and despite him having missed the
first two rounds of the series, has now hoisted him to 15th in the championship standings.
Time was pressing, and the team tent was hurriedly packed for the long trip to France and round
two of the European Championships. Terreblanche has had ample world championship experience at this venue, and
the experience came shining through. He rode his red machine to the sixth-fastest time on the
qualifying session, but the result did not come without sacrifice. During the session, the hub of
his bike broke, which sent the chain flailing about. This particular kind of moving metal has never
been known to be kind to engine cases, and the race motor developed a hole where none was originally
designed.
The team hurriedly fitted the training motor into the race bike in time for the qualifying race,
but the power delivery was of course not the same. Terreblanche was held down to 17th in the start,
but he rode like a seasoned veteran, and forced his way through to fifth before the French flagman
did his duty, thus ending a very satisfying premier qualifying race in the European series for the
year.
With all in fine fettle again, he started off well in the first heat, and slotted into the top
10. He kept the pressure up, and was involved in a tussle that included the riders placed sixth to
eighth in the race. He looked for all the world like the fastest and most comfortable of the group,
but all his efforts came to naught when his front wheel slid out and he bit the stony dust. He
remounted in time to save his position, and when the rain came bucketing down towards the end of the
race, any further progress up the rankings was nigh on impossible. Terreblanche was happy to collect
a bagful of points for crossing the line in ninth.
In race two, the South African had a bit of a lesser start, settling into thirteenth spot. He
immediately made his way forward, and the lap chart showed linear progress through the field. The
progress gave his team lots to cheer about, and with one lap to go, he was in sixth position and
headed for fifth spot. A fellow rider then donned the less-than-sporty suit of armour and slammed
into him at full throttle, in a clear attempt to unseat him. Terreblanche went down, and it took him
a seeming eternity to restart his bike. He finally crossed the line in fifteenth position, more than
a little miffed, and entered into diplomatic negotiations with the rider concerned to avoid a repeat
of the incident.
Despite being massively disappointed at how it turned out, Terreblanche could still derive a
measure of cheer at his ninth place overall in a European Championship event. Even though he did not
participate in the first round of the series, he has vaulted to 18th position in the championship
standings.
Race One
Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 1 Joel Roelants 16 34:32.154 2:07.947 7 55.964
2 25 Glenn Coldenhoff 16 35:13.418 41.264 2:08.612 2 55.674
3 5 Mike Kras 16 35:39.701 1:07.547 2:10.183 3 55.003
4 77 Erik Eggens 16 35:49.423 1:17.269 2:11.348 3 54.515
5 11 Donny Bastemeijer 16 35:56.044 1:23.890 2:11.708 3 54.366
6 14 Sander van Herpen 16 36:01.741 1:29.587 2:13.156 9 53.775
7 29 Nick Kouwenberg 16 36:08.637 1:36.483 2:11.861 4 54.303
8 52 Petar Petrov 16 36:13.323 1:41.169 2:12.872 6 53.889
9 22 Shannon Terreblanche 16 36:23.435 1:51.281 2:12.004 2 54.244
10 62 Lukasz Lonka 16 36:24.302 1:52.148 2:13.657 5 53.573
Race Two
Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 84 Jeffrey Herlings 16 36:00.190 2:05.120 3 57.228
2 1 Joel Roelants 16 37:55.773 1:55.583 2:08.626 3 55.668
3 5 Mike Kras 15 36:06.850 1 Lap 2:11.509 1 54.448
4 52 Petar Petrov 15 36:18.340 11.490 2:14.390 3 53.281
5 77 Erik Eggens 15 36:23.790 16.940 2:12.675 3 53.969
6 14 Sander van Herpen 15 36:48.330 41.480 2:14.559 2 53.214
7 62 Lukasz Lonka 15 36:51.129 44.279 2:15.347 4 52.904
8 22 Shannon Terreblanche 15 36:55.245 48.395 2:16.447 4 52.478
9 25 Glenn Coldenhoff 15 36:59.510 52.660 2:13.244 6 53.739
10 11 Donny Bastemeijer 15 37:01.212 54.362 2:16.344 1 52.517
2011 Dutch MX Championship
Pos Nr. Name Total
1 84 Jeffrey Herlings 223
2 1 Joel Roelants 167
3 5 Mike Kras 160
4 52 Petar Petrov 153
5 25 Glenn Coldenhoff
6 8 Michael van Wezel
7 51 Harri Kullas 113
8 77 Erik Eggens 113
9 91 Jordi Tixier 91
10 11 Donny Bastemeijer 84
15 22 Shannon Terreblanche 56