Birch races from back to win national enduro leg
DEFENDING national enduro title holder, Chris Birch, on a KTM, made a welcome comeback to the 2012 series when he won the Liquorland KEI National Enduro, the third round of the enduro motorcycle championship that took place outside East London this weekend.
It was his first national victory this season, as well as the first time winning the race.
The Kiwi, who is now in his second year of living in South Africa, had to tackle the race from the back of the field, as he did not have any points on the scoreboard.
A crash and injuries prevented him from finishing the first two rounds of the series. He came back with a vengeance to post the fastest times, after the four special timed stages of the event.
Jade Gutzeit (Yamaha) finished second behind Birch in E1 (Open Class), as well as on the overall podium with Altus de Wet, (KTM), who won the previous event (provisionally), winning E2 (200cc class) for the second consecutive race and rounding off the overall podium.
Scholar, Wade Young (Yamaha) posted his best result since competing at senior level this season (he won last year’s Junior National Championship) to finish second in E2 (fourth overall), even though still suffering from an injury, while Kenneth Gilbert (Yamaha) was happy with his best result in the enduro series (third in E1 and fifth overall) this year. He moved back to South Africa and has been competing fulltime locally this year, after racing in the USA for the past five years.
Gilbert finished only two points (seconds) ahead of Marc Torlage (Yamaha), who rounded off the E2 podium after a frustrating race, where he crashed and admitted to trying too hard, resulting in him losing valuable time. He was also suffering from injuries from a crash at an event three weeks ago.
The rest of the top 10 consisted of Brother Broadlink KTM teammates, Louwrens Mahoney, who was fourth in E1 and seventh overall, and Riaan van Niekerk, who was fifth in E2 and 10th overall, after competing while somewhat unwell.
Brian Capper (KTM) was fifth E1 and eighth overall.
Scott Bouverie (Comsol BELL ACR KTM) finished fourth in E2 and ninth overall, after starting on a wrong section of the race and having to complete it twice without taking a break. He did so, however, in the prescribed amount of time.
Local East London riders, Mark Fox (Wildcoast KTM / UMSO Ribco) and Rory Gower (Designer Gold KTM) were 16th and 18th respectively, with Luke Williams (Husaberg – 19th) and Bronson Louw (Rhino Truck Sales KTM) rounding off the top 20. Junior National (Offroad) Championship competitor Andrew Wren (Xtreme Yamaha Support) won the Silver Class Challenge. Local East London rider, Devon Owen (KTM) was second, with Jaco Kruger (KTM) rounding off the podium. Three rounds remain.
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