OTJIHASE - Bluechip Spraypainting sponsored the latest round of the national Enduro race, held on Farm Otjihase, south of Windhoek, last weekend.
The track underwent numerous changes from the previous at the same venue and these particular changes were met with universal approval from the riders with the track demonstrating a good mix of flowing single track and technical uphills.
In the Open Class, Henner Rusch won his 6th consecutive championship with one round to spare, showing once again his superior speed on the day as he managed to win the race with an advantage of just over 10 minutes over 2nd placed Rainer Sentefol, the latter’s first visit to the podium this year.
Coming home in 3rd place was Gunther Gladis with the result guaranteeing him overall 2nd spot in the championship. He has now built a 22 point gap over Heiko Stranghoner, who finished 4th in last weekend’s race - leaving Sigi Pack to pick up the pieces for 5th place.
The Master Class was again a tightly contested affair, with the top three riders separated by a mere nine minutes. Jorn Greiter finally won on the day with Werner Wiese and Ronald Geiger in 2nd and 3rd in that order.
Championship leader Martin Kruger, ended 4th with this result meaning the trident of Kruger, Wiese and Greiter will enter the last round of the championship with only 2 points separating the trio and if any one of them wants to win the championship, they will need to win the final race.
The Support Bikes proved a tighter contest with the top 4 riders separated by only 4 minutes, before Quinton van Rooyen claimed top honours for his first victory of the year.
The former fittest man in Africa used his fitness to good effect as he outclassed Oliver Rohrmuller and Riaan Kritzinger. Fourth place went to Jaco Husselman with the returning Dirk Hohmaier rounding off the top 5. With his 2nd place finish, Rohrmuller also wrapped up the championship in this class with 1 round to spare. He now has an unassailable lead, but the race for 2nd and 3rd is still on with Kritzinger, Husselman and last year’s champion Jurgen Gladis all still in contention for podium finishes.
In the Beginner Bikes category, it was back to winning ways for JL Opperman, having not finished the previous race due to mechanical failure. Second place was taken by Andre Marais with Adam Johnston finishing 3rd. Rounding out the top 5 was John Simpson and Chris Snyman in that sequence.
Opperman now stands on the cusp of his first championship victory in the class and only needs to finish the last race of the season to secure the elusive title.
In the Development Class, it was a first win of the season for Keanan Simpson, who finished a mere 42 seconds ahead of championship leader Dylan Hilfiker.
The second place finish was however enough to secure the title for Hilfiker in this particular Class with 3rd place going to Caleb Russ while Andre Barnard and Charles Koster had to be satisfied with 4th and 5th spots, respectively.
The final race of the season will be held in the Kupferberg region just outside Windhoek on 20 October 2018. For more info please like our Facebook page or visit www.namibianenduro.com.