Leaders close together on Roof
Three riders are battling it out for victory on this year's Roof of Africa Race in Lesotho.
It became clear that the New Zealander and triple Roof of Africa winner, Chris Birch, former winner, Jade Gutzeit (RSA) and rookie Graham
Jarvis (UK), are all in with a chance of taking the winner's trophy.
Birch (Comsol KTM) started the day from fourth position and was the first of the three riders to take the chequered flag after a total
race time of 7 hours 45 minutes and 41 seconds. Friday's racing section consisted of about 200km that included five treacherous mountain
passes including Spider Man Pass which riders had to climb up this year.
Birch was followed closely by Jarvis (Flite Extreme Husaberg) who showed the hundreds of spectators why he is currently rated as the best
extreme enduro rider in the world and why he has won four of the five World Extreme Enduro races this year. No obstacle seemed to be a
problem for Jarvis who was 31 seconds behind Birch. Gutzeit (Bidvest Yamaha) admitted that it was a tough day in the saddle racing together
with the two trials specialists and 1min 38s separates him from the Husaberg rider.
Marc Torlage (Mr Price Yamaha) started the day from pole position, but had to settle for fourth place after he lost time during the
second half of the day struggling with his bike. He was 25min 20s behind Birch and only 32 seconds ahead of the multiple trials champion
from the UK, Ben Hemingway (Fever KTM). After finishing Friday's section, Hemingway walked all the way back down Free Fall (a gruelling
climb to the finish) to support his brother, Dan, who finished 19th.
Three team members from Brother KTM finished in the top ten albeit without Paul Bolton who crashed and could not finish the race. Darryl
Curtis was sixth after the two days; Altus de Wet was eighth with Riaan van Niekerk ninth. The German rider, Andreas Lettenbichler (Montage
Husqvarna) was sandwiched between Curtis and De Wet and was leading De Wet by 36 seconds after completing a total of 250 kilometres in dry
weather conditions with a cool breeze that welcomed the riders.
New Zealander Michael Skinner (Liquorland KTM) rounded out the top ten making it five international entries and five South Africans in
the overall standings.
New Zealand's Mitchell Nield (Gas Gas), finished 11th in his first multi-day enduro race while Brian Capper (Full Throttle KTM) stood his
man and was 12th. Wynand Badenhorst (Nomadik KTM) was 14th and was defending against multiple South African off-road champion, Gray Dick
(Brother KTM) who was only 34 seconds behind him. Bradley van Aswegen (Kargo Yamaha) had a long, but good day in the saddle and was 16th
overall with James Hodson (Liquorland Husaberg) 17th.
Jade's younger brother, the 16-year-old Blake Gutzeit (Fever Yamaha) finished 18th after a fairly trouble-free day. The youngster
admitted that he paced himself and enjoyed the more difficult sections of his first ever Roof of Africa. Adrian Werner (Fever KTM) crashed
early in the race and was 20th.
Mark Garland (Kargo Husaberg) had to fight from the middle of the field (he started 94th) as he lost time when he drowned his bike during
Friday's racing section. He worked his way through the field to be 25th at the end of the second day. Someone who lost a lot of places
though, was Kenny Gilbert (KTM) who started the race in third place. The chain came off and wrapped itself in the front sprocket and
swing-arm. He lost hours waiting for a Good Samaritan with the right tools to be able to fix it and was 2h 15min behind the leaders.
75 riders in the Gold Class (full distance) completed the 200 kilometre distance.
After a Roof of Africa race, competitors normally compare notes about the mountain passes and a few of these are now traditionally part
of this event. This year was no different and competitors had to go down Mad Cow Pass, up Black Neck Pass and down Zuma's Revenge and Spaghetti,
but it sounds like after Friday their climb up Spider Man Pass will be the talking point for a while.
The Silver Class was won by Faan van Deventer (Yamaha) who had a comfortable lead ahead over second-placed Riaan Ackerman (KTM), but
Ackerman will have his work cut out for him as he is leading third-placed Laurence Truter (KTM) by a mere 21 seconds.
The young female competitor, Toni Jardine (Yamaha) also completed the racing distance in the Silver Class.
Garth Prost (Brother KTM) was the leading Bronze Class rider and was ahead of Tshkolo Mojaki (Bidvest Yamaha) who started the day in the
front with Terence Shacklady (Yamaha) third.
Saturday's racing section will again start at 06h00 in the Ha Molangoane area near Roma and competitors in the Gold Class will have to
complete 202km while riders in the Silver Class will have to do a slightly longer 152km and Bronze Class competitors 82km. The finish point
for Gold Class riders is at the top of Bushman's Pass and spectators will have to make use of a shuttle service as no parking will be
allowed at the top of the pass.