The Brother Leader Tread KTM team headed down to the final round of the cross-country national championship this weekend. The team was faced with challenging weather conditions but managed to bring home fantastic results across the board along with a South African championship in the form of Matthew Wilson in the OR3 class.
Bradley Cox brought home his number 1 KTM 450XCF second in class commenting: “A small mistake for me in the time trial hindered my initial progress in the main race trying to make passes in the dust but I managed to make steady progress and I am happy with my second place in the OR1 class. I had a challenging year with some downs but I hold my head high after 2 overall wins in 2022 and I am looking forward to 2023 already.”
Kerim Fitz-Gerald had a tough day with challenges from the get-go on a difficult track in difficult conditions but looks forward to some redemption in 2023. His season finished off with a 3rd in class and a very respectable 3rd in the OR2 championship.
Scott Heygate fought through a torn ACL and managed to nurse himself home second in class wrapping up his championship in 2nd place. Scott commented, “I had an extremely long day on the bike carrying my knee injury wasn’t easy on the tight twisty track. I am extremely happy with my second overall in the championship and look forward to getting my knee fixed and coming back next season to fight for wins once again.”
The man of the day was Matthew Wilson who piloted his KTM 250 XC-F to championship honours in the OR3 class. Matthew rode a steady race and did what he needed to do in order to wrap up his first South African championship. “The rain made the race extremely difficult and I didn’t want to make mistakes and throw away a whole years’ worth of work so I just did what I needed to do and made sure I got home safely. My bike didn’t skip a beat and I am so thankful to the whole team for giving me everything I needed to get the job done this year.”
Grant Frerichs, group team manager closed in saying: “The KTM team all performed well today with podium finishes across the board. All of the riders remained injury free and we fought through very difficult weather conditions. Kevin Tyrer, our technician, has done a phenomenal job this year with perfectly tuned bikes round after round and the team owes a lot of our success to him.”
