The penultimate round of the 2018 TRP Distributors SA Motocross National Championship took place at Phakisa MX in Welkom. The upgraded track proved to be a favourite amongst the riders resulting in great bar-to-bar racing.
In the MX1 Class, David Goosen had his goals firmly set on trying to move ahead of his second placed team mate, Tristan Purdon, and closer the Championship leader, Caleb Tennant. In Heat 1 Goosen took the lead into turn leaving Tennant, Maddy Malan and Kerim Fitz-Gerald battling for the rest of the podium places. With just a few laps to go, Malan’s rear shock blew, and a hard charging Tristan Purdon crashed, remounting and eventually finishing 5th. Goosen hung on to win the first moto ahead of Fitz-Gerald and Tennant.
Race 2 and a double victory for Goosen as he lead the race from start to finish. He had to fight off Caleb Tennant and Maddy Malan who were just ahead of Royce Griffin. Griffin fought hard but eventually buckled under the pressure to finish behind Anthony Raynard, Jayden Ashwell and Fitz-Gerald.
Tennant leaves the Phakisa track still with the Red plate and with it the championship lead heading into the final round.
MX2 saw a complete turn around of luck for David Goosen, who was sitting second in the championship, had a nightmare finishing 7th and 16th in the two races. Caleb Tennant went on to win Moto 1 but a crash in Race 2 saw him secure 3rd overall and retain the lead in the championship. The crash opened up the door for Tristan Purdon to step up for the win in heat two and take the overall, with Anthony Raynard taking 2nd for the day.
MX3 has been a two horse race and once again the top two battled for the honours. As in previous round where the lead changed hands from Ian Topliss to Dewald van der Berg. This time out in favour of Topliss with his two wins.
The Ladies were once again in fine form. Leah Heygate got the initial drop on the field but this came to an abrupt halt when she crashed out of the first heat. She managed to remount her bike and bravely finished the race incredibly in 2nd. Medics attended to her and suggested she not ride again. This left Kayla Raaff on her own to win both heats. Jenna Bohling taking the 2nd spot in race two and Bo-Dene Scott to get her first race podium and 3rd overall too.
Shared victories in the 125cc High School class, with Dalton Venter and Cameron Durow each taking one a piece. But this was not enough to drop Justin Sangster off his championship lead and red plate.
Pro Mini looked almost wrapped up with another two wins by Jono Mlimi. He was hounded by his stable mate, Nate Mc Lellan but this was short lived and Nate was left to battle for a share of 2nd and 3rd in both heats with Blake Young.
In the 85cc Juniors, Wesley McGavin went 2-1 to take the overall for the day. Emmanuel Bako finished in 2nd and Troy Muraour, despite not on the finish podium officially having only finished 4th behind Luke Grundy, was gifted with the much sort after red plate.
Another double for Lucca Mynhardt in the 65cc. Two bad starts from younger Andrea Mynhardt left him in 2nd overall in 50cc. Giving both Damien Venter and Blade Tiley chances to win their first heats in the nationals.
2018 SA Motocross Nationals Phakisa MX Results
MX1
1st David Goosen
2nd Caleb Tennant
3rd Kerim Fitz-Gerald
MX2
1st Tristan Purdon
2nd Anthony Raynard
3rd Caleb Tennant
MX3
1st Ian Topliss
2nd Dewald van der Berg
3rd Brett Bircher
Ladies
1st Kayla Raaff
2nd Jenna Bohling
3rd Bo-Dene Scott
High School
1st Cameron Durow
2nd Dalton Venter
3rd Justin Sangster
Pro Mini
1st Jonathan Mlimi
2nd Blake Young
3rd Nate Mc Lellan
85cc Juniors
1st Wesley McGavin
2nd Emmanuel Bako
3rd Luke Grundy
65cc
1st Lucca Mynhardt
2nd Emmanuel Bako
3rd Neil van der Vyver
50cc
1st Blade Tilley
2nd Andrea Mynhardt
3rd Damien Venter
Photos by Eric Palmer.
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