OKAHANDJA – Team Kia Elite rider Michael Pretorius continued his recent run of good form when he clinched the top spot in the men’s division at the Okahandja Somerfees MTB race last weekend.
Pretorius recently made headlines when he won the Daan Viljoen MTB Challenge west of the capital well ahead of the rest of the field.
However, at the Okahandja Somerfees MTB race the 18-year old rider was made to work a lot harder covering the grueling distance of 65-kilometres. But, he managed to pull away from the field alongside Pierre Knoetze and Philip Steyn.
As the race progresse, it became clear that the winner was going to be decided among the leading trio. And it was Pretorius who had the final edge to cross the finish line in a time of 02:28:45.05, with Knoetze cadrift in 2nd on 02:28:47.43 while Steyn had to settle for 3rd place in a time of 0:28:58.53.
Fourth place went to Heinrich Kohne in his debut race for Team KIA Namibia Elite team. In other action, Ulande Viljoen was the fastest woman over 65 km – clocking 03:08:52.54, 2-minutes ahead of 2nd placed Wanette Hannekom with Svetlana Bauer tailing in 3rd place.
Pretorius, Kohne, fellow Kia Namibia rider, Martin Freyer, and Jan-Hendrik Verdoes as well as Marnus Verdoes will form part of the 2-day KIA Namibia corporate team for the upcoming KIA Radiowave 24 Hour MTB Challenge on November 22.
Pretorius and Freyer will use the event as part of their preparation for their two-man team in the Desert Dash in December, later this year.