Mhlambanyatsi, Swaziland - It's game on for the SA Off-Road and Motorcycle championships after new winners emerged at the ultra-tough Swazi Cowboyz 400, Round 2 of the series, at the weekend.
Two of the biggest and most competitive classes - OR3 in the motorcycle category and Q1 in the quad categoryv - were each won by a Swanepoel (no relation, however) with Yamaha rider Brett Swanepoel taking his second OR3 win of the season while Stefan 'Swanie' Swanepoel stormed to victory in Q1 to claim his first win since his return to the National series after a break of a few years.
Brett Swanepoel took control early on by winning the time trail to determine starting positiions and steamed ahead in the race proper to take the OR3 win from KTM's Jarryd Coetzee, with local Swaziland rider, Jonathan van Wyk (Coetzee's team-mate) third, to the delight of his home crowd.
Darren MacLeod (Yamaha) finished fourth with Botswana rider Dartagnan Lobjoit (Yamaha) fifth.
There was also an early-season victory for Michael Pentecost (Yamaha) who won the OR1 (Open) Class. KTM team-mates Louwrens Mahoney and Ross Branch each recovered from crashing during the time-trial and finished close on Pentecost's heels in second and third respectively.
CLOSE FINISH
Nicholas Pienaar (Husqvarna) took OR2 line honours by just 12 seconds - after six and a half hours of racing - from Jaycee Nienaber, with Nienaber's Yamaha team-mate Roan third.
Taye Perry (KTM) took her first win of the season in the Ladies Class with Botswana youngster Natasha Rugani (Yamaha) finishing a creditable second in her National Off-Road debut.
Defending Senior Class champion Bollie van Rooyen took his second win of the season, with Wayne Farmer and Kobus Jonck second and third respectively for an all-KTM podium. All three also competed in the previous Swaziland in 2006, as did former Senior Class champion, Guy Henley (Yamaha), who finished fifth behind Justin Broughton (Kawasaki), who put his first points for the season on the board.
The Master Class was won by suspension specialist, Hilton Hayward (Yamaha) who hadn't competed in a National off-road event for many years, with Martin Poole (Yamaha) second and motocross star Geoff Den (Suzuki) third, for his first National off-road podium.
QUADS
Stefan Swanepoel and defending champion Brian Baragwanath (Yamaha) got into a race-long battle for Q1 honours until a succession of puctures and, finally, a mechanical gremlin on the last of the six loops, pushed Baragwanath down to third bnehind time-trial winner André Park (Yamaha).
Only one more Q1 rider, Jaco Moller (Yamaha), made it to the finish - and he had to be towed in by younger sister Wilmari, who still won the Ladies Quad Class ahead of Karen Geldenhuys (Can-Am) with another schoolgirl, Jade Schutte (Yamaha), third after the Can-Am of class leader Liezel Barnard broke down just after the halfway mark.
Just one Senior Class rider, Stuart Freeman (Yamaha) managed to finish - and that was after a huge scare when he crashed down a steep hill - while Tony dos Santos (Suzuki) took Master Class honours ahead of Karen Geldenhuys' husband and team-mate, Org, with Milton Thesen (Yamaha) third. George Michaelides (Yamaha) was the last Master to finish after defending champion George Twigge (Yamaha) went out with a mechanical issue.