Last weekend’s Lesotho Sun Roof of Africa Rally finished dramatically when race leader Elmer Symons crashed his motorcycle just 30km from the finish post.
Symons had set an awesome lead from day one, and was over 20 minutes in front of second-placed fellow KwaZulu-Natalian Jade Gutzeit when he hit a rock and was thrown off his bike. He rolled for about 30m before coming to a stop. He was airlifted to hospital, badly concussed, but apparently with nothing broken.
Gutzeit went on to take a well-deserved win on his Tyrolit Cheetah Tech SA Racing KTM. He was followed in by a relentless Darryl Curtis (AGA LG 300 KTM), who later said he had tried his best to catch Gutzeit, “but he just outrode me – he rode incredibly well”.
For Gutzeit, it was a double victory: the win clinched the Open Class national championships for him as well. Third across the finish line was KTM rider Clayton Enslin (Enzo Chiocci KTM Racing), followed by Lourens Mahoney (AGA LG SA Racing KTM). KZN featured again in fifth position, with Midlands lad Geoffrey Wolhuter on his Sandton Miller Moore Honda.
Fast and furious riding was the order of the day, and a total absence of rain in the Mountain Kingdom saw thick dust trailing behind competitors. In the four-wheeled category, the quads also set a scorching pace. Taking the chequered flag after a hard day’s racing was Jacques Struiwig (Southern Yamaha Raptor), followed home by Shaun Gunther and then Clayton du Plessis, both on Speed Quad Bombardiers.
Fourth man in was Dallie Terblanche (Ekerold Yamaha Raptor), followed by French rider Christophe Kuhnl (Bombardier).
Friday turned into a wasted exercise for the quads: because of a marshall not making it to his marshall point on time, many of the competitors had wrongslotted. Officials later decided to cancel that day’s racing for the four-wheelers and revert to the morning’s start positions for Saturday’s racing section. Much energy and fuel had been wasted on a long day’s route that was totally discounted.
The 36th Lesotho Sun Roof of Africa Rally started on Thursday with the traditional round-the-houses racing section through the streets of Maseru, followed by a short time trial to determine start positions for Friday’s 500km stretch. More than 300 competitors started the event, which the leading competitors described as tough, but ”awesome’. The route took in both the lowlands of the Maluti Mountains as well as treacherous mountain passes and fast straight sections.