The Porterville leg of the Cross Country National Championship which took place in the Western Cape this weekend turned out to be a weekend rather be forgotten. The trouble-riddled event saw what can only be described as a disastrous turn of events and was a tough day for the team.
Grant Frerichs from KTM South Africa said: “The guys showed real character fighting all the way to the end no matter what, we really had some serious gremlins to deal with but we managed to pull through and score valuable championship points.” He added that the team are now looking towards the last round in a few weeks’ time and will make sure they are all ready and come out swinging.
Matthew Wilson salvaged some hope and did enough to go into the final round with an eight-point lead. “I felt very confident coming into round 5 of the National Cross Country series, my day started off very good for myself qualifying P3 overall and P1 in class. I had a great first lap but disappointingly my day went downhill from there when I got sick during the 2nd lap and couldn’t seem to shake it off, the track got super rough making it a long day in the saddle.”
He went on to say ”All in all I finished 4th on the day in my class, heading into the final round with an 8-point lead hungry to be back where myself and the team are supposed to be… on top! ”
Scott Heygate commented: “Round 5 in the bag started off well qualifying P4 overall and first in OR 2 which set me up for a good start. In the main race, a few early mistakes cost me slightly but I regathered in lap two and had to conserve fuel as the track was longer than anticipated, and on lap 3 I moved into the lead and led for a bit and had an awesome battle with Brett Swanepoel.” He will go into the final round in P2 overall and class and will be looking for a strong finish to the season at the last round.
Fuel frustrations ruined the day for Kerim Fitz-Gerald but still remained positive saying: “My day started off well and went downhill from there running into problem after problem, that said all things considered I am glad I am healthy and will be ready for the last round.”
Brad Cox had to abandon his hopes of a podium due to a race-ending crash which forced him to get evaluated for a concussion injury as a precaution. “I felt really good on my bike in terms of comfort and I had good pace throughout the time trial until a small error resulted in a massive crash and I hit my head pretty hard, I had to make the mature decision to sit out the main race because I will never play with a head injury and my championship is already over after my bad luck earlier in the year, that said I look forward to some redemption at the final round.”
