LW Mag LW Magazine
Related Articles
The sights and sounds of 20 roaring dirt bikes blasting off the start gate, thousands of screaming fans, pyrotechnics and pure adrenaline filled racing might be over but the experience will live on. Supercross Africa transformed Loftus Versfeld Stadium into supercross heaven seeing SA’s top riders take on some of the world’s best on Saturday Night (1st November).
The night kicked off with rider introductions and an awesome rock version guitar solo of the South African national anthem. The first race of the evening followed shortly after where the masses got their first taste of supercross inside a stadium. The first 4 riders out of heats 1 and 2 would go straight through to the final. In the 2 semi final rounds the first 5 riders out of each round would go through to the final. 2 more riders would qualify for the 20 rider final in the Last Chance Qualifier.
Heat 1 saw USA’s Cody Gilmore run away from the field with a convincing win. UK’s Jack Brunell finished in 2nd. South Africa’s Michael Kok put in a ride of a lifetime passing riders toward the end of the heat to finish in 3rd place. France’s Thomas Ramette took the last qualifying position in 4th.
Heat 2 was filled with the big name riders. USA’s Josh Hill was flying and lead the race from start to finish. South Africa’s David Goosen took advantage of his decent start and remained composed to take the 2nd. France’s Mickael Musquin finished in 3rd with SA’s Kerim Fitz-Gerald putting in a good ride to finish in 4th. USA’s Darryn Durham and Jake Weimer had some bad luck and finished in 6th and 13th respectively sending them to the Semi Final rounds.
In Semi Final 1 Darryn Durham came back and took the win securing his spot in the final. South Africa’s Neville Bradshaw who returned from Europe to race this race looked in good form and came in 2nd. The final 3 qualifying positions were taken by UK’s Adam Chatfield in 3rd, Netherlands Jeffrey Meurs in 4th and SA’s Caleb Tennant in 5th. SA’s Darryl Fitz-Gerald had cracking start to get the holeshot but couldn’t hold onto the position and finished in 12th sending him to the LCQ.
Semi Final 2 saw SA’s Shannon Terreblanche get out front ahead of USA’s Jake Weimer but a crash later in the race put him out of contention. Weimer went on to take a convincing win to secure his qualification for the final. Zimbabwe’s Jayden Ashwell put in a stellar performance to take 2nd place. SA’s Michael Docherty finished in 3rd and also posted the fastest lap of the race. SA’s Wyatt Avis and Lloyd Vercueil took the final 2 qualifying positions.
As always the LCQ was a mayhem filled race with the full gate battling for the final 2 qualifying positions for the main event. Darryl Fitz-Gerald put in another blistering start but Shannon Terreblanche and Matthew Malan managed to avoid the crashes and got away from the pack to finish in 1st and 2nd.
The Main Event had fans on their edge of their seats waiting to see how the final would unfold. The 5 second board went up, bikes revved to the max and the gate dropped. Josh Hill got his Pro Circuit Monster Energy Kawasaki out front early and controlled the race from there taking home the $20 000 1st place prize purse. A battle for positions took place behind him but when the chequered flag came out it was Cody Gilmore who finished in 2nd and took home $10 000. Michael Docherty, representing the home nation, put South Africa on the podium with his 3rd place finish and $5 000. Jake Weimer played catch up throughout the 20 lap final and finished in 4th. Mickael Masquin finished in 5th. Darryn Durham had more bad luck and DNF’d due to bike problems.
Between races the masses were treated to FMX shows featuring Australian Blake “Bilko” Williams and SA’s Nick De Wit, Alastair Sayer and Jarred van Vuuren. The Monster Energy Girls paraded around the arena using a t-shirt cannon to shoot shirts into the crowd. A very cool and fun 50cc race also took to the track seeing the junior riders take the opportunity to ride the small bikes on the big track.
A few small things that could have made the experience a bit better would have been better sound to hear what the commentators were saying, and rider names with positions shown on the big screens. Other than that Supercross Africa was a spectacular event. The track was awesome, the racing was awesome, the riders were awesome and the fans were awesome! It was great to see that South African rider can run up top with the world’s best. A huge shout-out goes to Monster Energy all involved for making this event possible. Things can only get bigger and better from here and we cannot wait for the next one.
Supercross Africa Final Results
1st Josh Hill (USA)– Best Lap 40.943
2nd Cody Gilmore (USA) – Best Lap 41.977
3rd Michael Docherty (SA) – Best Lap 41.325
4th Jake Weimer (USA) – Best Lap 41.748
5th Mickael Masquin (FRA) – Best Lap 41.804
6th Jack Brunell (UK) – Best Lap 41.635
7th Adam Chatfield (UK) – Best Lap 42.991
8th Neville Bradshaw (SA/UK) – Best Lap 42.433
9th Kerim Fitz-Gerald (SA) – Best Lap 41.932
10th Matthew Malan (SA) – Best Lap 43.091
11th Michael Kok (SA) – Best Lap 41.640
12th Jeffrey Meurs (NLD) – Best Lap 43.656
13th Shannon Terreblanche (SA) – Best Lap 44.070
14th David Goosen (SA) – Best Lap 42.782
15th Caleb Tennant (SA) – Best Lap 44.350
16th Jayden Ashwell (ZIM) – Best Lap 42.475
17th Wyatt Avis DNF (SA) – Best Lap 43.714
18th Lloyd Vercueil DNF (SA) – Best Lap 42.999
19th Darryn Durham DNF (USA) – Best Lap 42.874
20th Thomas Ramette DNF (FRA)
Photos by Eric Palmer, Grant Mclachlan and Rich Sutherland
Photo Gallery:
