Ross Branches off to Spain
Botswana’s international motorcycle rally sensation, Ross Branch is expected to race in the World Rally Raid championship round in Andalucía, Spain from 18th October.
This will be the second Rally-Raid round, the Hero Motorsport rider competes in this year after snatching an impressive 8th place overall at the recently ended round at the Rally Du Muroc held in the Sahara Desert between Morocco and Western Sahara.
After enduring a mixed results plagued by mechanical gremlins and falling mishaps including yet another Dakar Rally non finish last year, Branch is making a promising comeback on the saddle of his Hero 450cc. The rider, who is now an experienced Dakar rally rider, will be expected to return to Jeddah Saudi Arabia where he’ll hope to finish the event after enduring a nasty injury from a fall off his Yamaha last year.
After concluding a rather unsuccessful stay at Monster Energy Yamaha, Branch made a surprise move to the Indian owned Hero Motorsports, where he seems more comfortable and relaxed given his first race with the new team. When racing for Monster Energy Yamaha last year, Branch could only muster position 25th at the Rally Du Muroc.
Fast forward to 2022 and Branch managed to win both the prologue and first stage of the Moroccan event. He would go on to finish in the top 5 in the next four stages of the event. An engine change saw the rider serving a 15min time penalty, which could have seen him finish the Rally De Muroc on 3rd spot if it were not for the misfortunate incident.
“The main goal was to get a strong rally finish as we had a lot of DNFs of late and also get more experience on the new bike with the new team,” said Branch’s spokesperson, Aimee Lee Branch. This is Ross’ second rally with Hero Motorsports team. “We managed a stage win and three top 5 stage finishes but the main goal was to get a strong rally finish.“
Meanwhile, a more experienced and seasoned Branch will be expected to give the mighty 9000km Dakar Rally one more try with his new team in January in the Mysterious deserts of Saudi Arabia.