OTJIHASE – A large field of 59 riders flew out of the blocks during the 5th leg of the Namibian Enduro series at the challenging Otjihase racetrack east of Windhoek recently
The cold start in the morning could not be compared to the readiness of the riders to battle for the vital championship points. Action got underway at 09h30 with a great obstacle course at the start for spectators to get close to the action.
The terrain was a great mix of single track with various climbs and a few sketchy downhill sections. Riders needed to cover four laps of the 23km route while ensuring that they made all checkpoints to verify no course deviation.
Otjihase once again proved a tough nut to crack as riders went through a few curve balls with some riders not finishing the race and a few upsets in the championship results.
With two more events to go this year, some changes in the points will affect the championship and this was clear in the seniors where the series lead and second have now swapped places.
This is also the case in the Open class with Gunter Gladis now moving into second and Nickle Visser to third while Henner Rusch extended his lead to 32 points.
The full results read as follows:
In the Open class Henner Rusch took the win with Ruhan Gouws and Nickle Visser in second and third respectively. In the Senior or Class 5 battle, Jorn Greiter took the top step followed by Martin Kruger in second and Ronald Geiger in third.
In the Support Bikes, Oliver Rohrmuller snatched the victory by 14 seconds from Rian Kritzienger while third placed Jaco Husselman was two minutes back.
In the Beginners or Class 10 battle there were 18 entries with Phys Graig taking the win over Paul Oosthuizen in second and Andre Marais rounding out the podium.
In the Development or Class 11 race where the juniors run a shorter lap, seven riders took to the track but it was Dylan Hilfiker who again showed a clean pair of heels to take the top spot and now has a 33-point lead in the class championship.
A hard charging Andre Barnard just 3 minutes off the pace took second with Keanan Simpson rounding off the podium.
The Namibian Enduro Club returns to the same terrain for the 6th round of the championship on the 22nd of next month on farm Otjihase, with some changes to be made to the current route. For more info please visit www.namibianenduro.com or like the Facebook page.