Enduro World. The Senior and Rookies.

[JourneyMan]

A real enjoyable day to attend. One must put this on the calender to do. Good fun, good laughing and good riding.

Respect to all doing the race! :thumleft:

Arrived at the tent in time for Shark's kit out session and fuel up.

Shark with Groenie and Plothond doing fueling duty.

The tent and surrounds.

Two nice bikes and a KTM.  :biggrin:

Shark to to go.

View from the top of the hill.

Plothond and HHHusky's rides.

NIEKIE was also there.

Start of the first race.

And first casualty. Apparently after the fall, the guy's leg got stuck between the tyre and bike with bike still running at revs. Boot chowed up and he carried of by the medical team. He was in serious pain. Hope his leg is OK.

 

[JourneyMan]

Shark's turn. Number 668.

Then move off for some refreshments and back to get action pics.

The tyres.

The concrete logs.

A few WD's.

More

Shark looking good!

 

[Renier]

looks bloody awsome..
a pity i missed out on this, had to be around the hous.. bloody stanby duty for me this weekend.

shark_za and plothond.. hope u guys arent too sore today.
hope u had fun!!

i see groenie and his signature "zamalek"move in the background..

 

[JourneyMan]

Some more action pics. The spirit was very good between the competitors. At one of the concrete logs, a rider stalled on the log and one behind passed him but with a clash of bikes inbetween. The very next log the roles were reversed! Both riders laughing at the situation! :biggrin:

If you struggle with the obstacle, fall in front off it, man handle the bike over the obstacle and get going again! It was funny! He just "threw" the bike over the log! :imaposer:

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We then moved further up the course. Funacide and Popipants decided they are going to brave the hill while me and Groenie unfortunately had to decline since we had to go back for a possible re-fuel for Shark. :biggrin:

At the Start/Finish line again.

 

[JourneyMan]

Shark finishing up.

Well done! 8)

With Shark's race finished, it was time to relax a bit.

The BUFF also decided to grace us with his presence.  :biggrin:

Shark telling Plothond and HHHusky that is is not too bad. :biggrin:

A tired bike.

Shark got many offers of free t-shirt. Poor man. :biggrin:

Prep time for Plottie. He was very focused but also nervous. Same for HHHusky. A first race for both.  8)

Pooratech King! :biggrin:

The Support Team at work.

Plothnd/HHHusky was supposed to start around 12H00. At 13H00 I had to go and they have not started yet. I'm sure there was photo's taken by the others.

A real great day out and  my first for such an event. Definately going to attend next year as well.

 

[LeonDude]

Nice pics JM.

 

[Plothond]

The excitment built up over the last 3 weeks or so.
When the repair on the 300 became a necessity last Sunday it only but added another factor to my stress for the week
The rear heim joint was buggered and the front fork seals were leaking and so started a repair job that stretched from Cape to Gauteng
My special thanks to the following people:
Hilton Hayward for dispatching the springs from Cape Town without even asking for a payment first
DieterF for the logistics in the Cape and get the parcel to the couriers
AdventureMX for all the running around - and he did a helluva lot of it - sourced all the parts needed, aluminium welding on the sidestand and tons of advice
Runner - you are the man !! - threw all other work aside and rebuilt my shocks on Thursday afternoon
Oetie for the WD shirts
Ryperd for collecting them
AdventureMX for his Gazebo
The support crew who visited (please PM me if I forget someone) Funacide, Poppipants, Journeyman, Welsh, Grim, Niekie, Knopkop, Sillystunt, Sillyb, Ryperd, Jockey, Slick, Tocadisco, Groenie, Ma-plotter and plot gang, Mel, Ufudo and MrsU & Harvey Mushmin.

My bike just had to be right and I worked most evenings on it and until 1:30 am on Sat

The Wilddogs who rode: (in order of Class and finish) SharkZa, HHHusky, Plothond and Splash

Results:
Senior class - SharkZa 35th out of 48 - excellent IMO
Novice B - HHHusky 20th out of 40, and myself 22nd out of 40
Novice C - Splash 11th out of (approx) 18 to 20


SharkZa kitting up and ready to ride (sorry about the dark pic)

The Pro's ready to start:
I'll tell you one thing - if you have anger management issues, this is not the place to be. Aggression is a mild word here.
When that flag drops - it's hell for leather and only one thing matters and that's the hole-shot - NO MATTER WHAT !!!  :biggrin:
These boys can ride

The time keepers supplied a bit of eye candy as well  

The first 2 corners - lots of spills

The pro's coming around for their sucessive laps

.....   and not so Pro  :biggrin:

SharkZa showing us Novices how it should be done

Getting ready - psychological mindgames    8)

.... That unfortunately is where my camera became the last item on the agenda

I must just add that I know there are a few classic pics on their way
The one that definately comes to mind is where I did an endo down a waterfall and the bike landed on top of me

It ripped the GPS off my arm and my back and  right wrist are still very tender right now

Viva EWXC viva

Mr Franks - THANKYOU - You have a winner of a series on your hands - keep it up

Till we ride again .................  

 

[JourneyMan]

Congrats on the results! :thumleft:

 

[letsgofishing]

Well done guys!  :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[HHHusky]

What a day! Plottie & Shark organized the WD pit area, and it was great to have shady spot and some helpful hands loading and offloading bikes – a big thanks to them. First off was the pro’s and seniors, and Shark was brave enough to mix it up with the big boys. Time for Shark to get kitted up, with Plottie, Groenie and Funacide lending a hand

Here Shark studying the course layout, with Splash giving helpful advice – that’s left, left, right, left, right – uh, right?

Then some first-corner mayhem, with several riders going down – super slippery off-camber turn, but these guys are fearless (or stupid . . . )

Once on the course it was mainly single-track, with limited opportunities to pass – gnarly traffic jams

And here is Shark styling it into the woods

And here is one of the pros (methinks Darryl) roosting it through the forest sections - these guys are so fast and smooth

The endurocross section was great fun to watch – except that there was this nagging realization that pretty soon I was going to be the one providing the entertainment. Commitment and good timing is required to get over those concrete “logs”

This dude was so tired, so he took a little rest on the log.

Shark did well to finish two laps, which means he was only lapped a few times by the front-runners  – they finished six laps!

Then it was time to go get kitted, and the long wait started – I was so nervous, and sitting around for 45 minutes at the start was so stressful. The route had a bit of everything, grassy climbs and descent, some forest sections, lots of rocky wooped tracks, some mean rocky climbs and descents, some tricky muddy river crossings, but generally all doable and great fun - but never a moment to rest. But then there was the waterfall section on Elm Street. This section consists of many 1m rocky drop-off’s, insane stuff, and I did the sensible thing and walked the bike down. I hope somebody has a picture of this section, it really is insane stuff. Plottie did the brave thing and rode down part of this section, but I heard a rumor that his bike got a bit impatient with him and decided to pass – keep an eye out for the pijures. Finally I made it to the endurocross section

And here I safely negotiate the log (after so nearly vaarking up at the first concrete log)

I was so relieved to have survived, but I was also so pooped I didn’t even try for a second lap – next time. Thanks to all the WD’s who lent a helping hand, and a super big thumbs up to my pit crew :thumleft:

See you at the next EWXC race!

 

[shark_za]

Thanks for everyone who came out and watched, those that rode know how tough this was.
Well done to finish your first ever race.

Plottie covered the thanks, I would also like to say the same.
Awesome support for me when I finished my first lap, "the crowd went wild"

Some pics of Chainsaw Massace out on the course. A little rocky hillclimb that was lot rougher before I took these pics.
The Pro's flattened it out for the rest.
I waited for a clean run both times and cruised up, no hassles.
But if you get there and its a mess you should rather wait or you could enter a world of pain.

The course was well marked and very intense, it was one big obstacle and there was no time for rest.

The most hectic bit was this waterfall we rode down, it was steep with a big drop off, first time Stephen King was there and said huzzit and something that sounded like "no brakes and go"
I listened and just held it upright all the way, only reason I stayed on was my ass had puckered to the seat, it was a wild ride!
Next time I walked it down !

 

[sillystunt]

great pix and well done.
hopefully the next one isnt to far away, are all the enduros in gauteng ?
brought back a lot of memories for myself and sillyb,i just want to race now!
it was a terrific way to spend a saturday, congrats on  your placings,it only gets better now.

 

[shark_za]

This is part of a series run by Enduroworld club. 5 races this year.
They are all in or around Gauteng.  Parys for example, there was one in Van Reenens, the furtherest.

 

[HHHusky]

Some video footage, courtesy of Tuck'nRoll from e-dirt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTk7_N7RQS4

Now you know why they called it Chainsaw Massacre :laughing4:

 

[Bakkie]

Awesome pics

Thanks for sharing and well done SharkZa, HHHusky, Splash and Plothond  :thumleft:

 

[michnus]

We did the same kind of course on the Day Night race, good fun with this man made obstacles and much better for spectators than normal enduro's.

Thanks for sharing, well done to all of you.  :thumleft:

 

[Plothond]

Some guys make it look so easy

HHHusky doing us proud

The lead up to (2nd time around  ;D ) the famous pic

 

[Oetie]

Well done guys.

I took note on the shirts being on the light and "dull" side. We will get them much brighter!!

 

[JJred]

Very excellant pics and seriously well done guys !!!!!

Big thumbs up to the wilddogs, both as spectators and competitors  :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[ROOI]

Great going u guys looks awesome  :ricky: