Jägermeister Team South Africa wins “Full Throttle” AMU Motocross Championship
By Bernd Kroemer

As in previous years, it was the Jägermeister Team from South Africa that ran away with most of the trophies, spoilsport was only Namibia’s Björn Bierbrauer  in the MX2 class that hindered the total triumph of the team from south of the Orange river. Unfortunately Namibia had not signed riders in the 50cc Class as well as in the 85cc Class, but in those Classes Namibia participated in, they always finished 2nd in the nations-rating. Excellent result. The WMCC (Windhoek Moto Cross Club) can be proud of the achievement. All delegates of the various African federations, commended Namibia for an excellent event. So the mammoth workload performed by the usual handful of activists within the WMCC paid tribute. It truly was a showpiece of how to do it, with professional commentators from South Africa, live-coverage by NBC-TV, and lots of spectators around the track.

In the M2Racing 50cc Class Namibia did not participate in, and soon it was clear it became an all South African affair with talent Keegan Hickson winning on maximum number of points.

Results:
1. Keegan Hickson, South Africa, 75 Punkte
2. Ethan Boschi, South Africa, 64
3. Seth van den Abeele, South Africa, 61
4. Jonathan Russel, South Africa, 57
5. Ricardo Raaf, South Africa, 55

In the nations-rating “African Trophy of Nations” South Africa won with 94 points ahead of Zambia (57) and Zimbabwe (45).

In the Safari Den MX65 Class Namibia competed with three riders. In the first heat disaster struck when Namibian Matthew Nederlof stalled his engine at the start. The junior rider put on a charge to get back through to 4th position by the chequered flag, the spectators actually screamed him to the front in the true sense of the word. The 2nd Heat was not much better, Matthew got “squeezed” by two Zambian riders and again found himself at the tail of the group. Again he started a hot pursuit, with the enormous help of the spectators and again finished in excellent fourth. With more then thousand enthusiastic spectators focusing on the starting line for moto 3, Matthew got a good jump out the gate and ran into turn one in the top 10. Racing hard on the opening laps the Namibian quickly clawed himself up into the six position. An unfortunate crash did not help either, but Matthews fought back and crossed the finish line in fourth once more. Together with his team-mates Michael Barlow in 10th and Jay-Em Tredoux in 14th spot, Namibia finished overall second.

Results:
1. Bevin Potgieter, South Africa, 72 Points
2. Dirco van der Westhuizen, South Africa, 69
3. Dylan Mostert, South Africa, 60
4. Matthew Nederlof, Namibia, 57
5. Tyron Beverly, South Africa, 54

In the nations-rating South Africa  won with 97 points ahead of Namibia (64) and Zimbabwe (64)
The Bike & Quad Clinic 85cc Class took also place without Namibian participants. Here it was South African talent Nicolas Adams who marched away with the trophy, however this trophy was not delivered on a silver platter, his countryman Zane Farquharson was a hard nut to crack. South African Reed Sinnicks also had his fair share of limelight when he finished in second in the 2nd heat.

Results:
1. Nicolas Adams, South Africa, 69 Punkte
2. Zane Farquharson, South Africa, 68
3. Reed Sinnicks, South Africa, 61
4. Brandon Brydges, South Africa, 57
5. Bradley Lionnet, Zambia, 57

In the nations-rating South Africa  won again with 97 points ahead of  Zambia (72) and Zimbabwe (31).

With a full contingent of 5 riders the I Dream Africa Namibia Team competed in the Electrolight MX Lites Class (Fourstroke Bikes up to 150cc). Again this category became another South African affair. Nevertheless Namibia’s poster boy Mark Sternagel finished in an excellent 5th spot despite a motorcycle not on par with the competitors. After a crash Mark was hammering his ‘blue machine’ around the corners. Running slightly wide on the loose dirt the Namibian emerged in 12th position and was on the gas. Turning out fast laps ‘Marki’ was eager to push for a top 10 position and it showed as he fought for position lap after lap, in the end finishing in 8th. In heat two it looked much better, 6th position for Sternagel. The last heat saw a better start for Sternagel as he drifted his bike out the first corner in 5th position. Riding a solid race from start to finish Sternagel crossed the line in 4th position, awarding him 5th overall for the day. But the “Full Throttle AMU” is a team event and with the help of team-mates Tristan Muller in 8th, Pauli Loots in 10th, Eric Garbers in 11th and Joshua Teixeira in 17th position, this was enough points collected to finish 2nd overall in the nations-rating.

Results:
1. Calvin Vlaanderen, South Africa, 75
2. Justin Mittens, South Africa, 64
3. Brandon Fleming, South Africa, 61
4. Ricardo Jardim, Zimbabwe, 54
5. Mark Sternagel, Namibia, 51

In the nations rating South Africa won with 94 points ahead of Namibia (68)  and Zimbabwe (60).

Now lets look at the profis in the Trip Travel MX2 Class. A full contingent of 5 riders was supposed to do the trick. The hero however came from Botswana, Ross Branch, well known on Namibian soil, riding for South Africa! Ross only had to swallow defeat in the second heat, when he was involved in the first corner crash and had to plough his way through the field of competitors, in the end finishing second behind countryman Michael Kok. Bierbrauer fought enthusiastic in the first two heats finishing in excellent 4th. In the last heat Bierbrauer set a blazing pace as he fought back hard, re-passing Matthew Gildenhuys (South Africa) and closing onto the back wheel of Anthony Raynard (South Africa) to cross the line in 3rd position! The spectators were frantic. At last a Namibian on the rostrum! But there were more Namibians found in the Top-10, riders like Frank Klosta in 7th and Alexander Howard in 9th. Henry O’Kennedy finished in 12th ahead of Ruhan Gous in 13th giving the Namibians again an overall second in the nations rating.

Results:
1. Ross Branch, South Africa, 72 points
2. Anthony Raynard, South Africa, 62
3. Björn Bierbrauer, Namibia, 58
4. Michael Kok, South Africa, 50
5. Matthew Gildenhuys, South Africa, 50

Once more South Africa won the nations rating with 92  points ahead of Namibia (65) and Zimbabwe (65).

Another highlight was the premier class, the Novel Motor Company MX1 Class. Namibia’s Tommy Gous knew that his competitors are ranked amongst the best in the world, but he was prepared to show his mettle. And he did the impossible, he showed he was there for business as he rocketed out the gate in the first race to do some handlebar banging with the best. Tommy  rode a great race with an aggressive style earning him 3rd position. Then fate struck Tommy tumbled and crashed unhindered finishing this heat in 6th position behind team-mate Jaco Loots. Another 6th place in the second heat and a good 5th place in the last heat proved that Tommy was not only hurt physically but this crash also hurt his ego. Nevertheless Tommy was best Namibian in this category. Darryl Fitzgerald from South Africa began with two heat-wins, but in the last heat he encountered some mechanical problems which cost him dearly. Namibian Jaco Loots finished in eighth. “Oldy” Jose Teixeira finished in an excellent 10th spot. 14th for Tony Viljoen while member of the Team Ronnie Adams only finished in 19th because he suffered a severe crash where his ligaments snapped and he had to withdraw.

Results:
1. Brad Purchase, South Africa, 69
2. Marc Baxter, South Africa, 59
3. Brandon Wheeler, South Africa, 57
4. Craig Kruger, South Africa, 57
5. Tommy Gous, Namibia, 52

The nations-rating won South Africa with 87 points ahead of Namibia (68) und Zambia (57).

Overall results:
1. Jägermeister Team South Africa, 561 points
2. Erindi Ranch Zambia Team, 312
3. Red Square Zimbabwe Team, 301
4. I Dream Africa Namibia Team, 265
5. Crown Built it Uganda Team, 30
6. Royal Tours Kenya Team, 28

The prize-giving took place in the big tent, sponsored by I Dream Africa on the WMCC’s own premises in Olympia which was followed by a party. A big thank you must go to all the sponsors and all helpers who made this major event possible.