Caledon Race

By Steven Matthews

“RXV! RXV! RXV!” I was so chuffed racing on my RXV, it was as though I had my own cheerleading squad chanting in my head. It was the first race of the season, an Off-road race held in Caledon, on a sweltering hot day, well into the thirties. From the minute I parked my car the RXV attracted attention and didn't stop. I think everyone there had a look at it at some stage during the day. Many took photo's of it and everyone who commented said how stunning it was.

After riders briefing, the 120 odd riders lined up in our starting order in rows of 2. We were started in 15 second intervals. As I made my way forward to the start line, I checked out the dude on the Kwaka next to me and had a little chuckle to myself when I saw how serious he looked, because I knew he was going to try get the holeshot but that he had no chance, unless I stalled or something. Our turn came and he was in a full-on MX race start pose, revving and rearing to go. The flag dropped and we both pulled away simultaneously. I opened the throttle and instantly dropped him, taking the holeshot. Of course I did, I was on my Aprilia RXV, and there were plenty of spectators around wondering what my Italian Stallion was capable of.

Within the first 100m there were 2 short but near vertical climbs. The first in grass and pretty easy, the second on loose ground, and there were bikes flipping, causing a bottle neck. I saw my opportunity and took a gap and rode the RXV up and away no problem. The next few km's were tight and twisty with some logs and rocks to contend with. I gave it horns. Then the track opened up onto farm roads, hard pack gravel, and I really got to open the throttle, reaching my fastest speed of 120 km/h up a hill on a straight stretch of about 300 to 400m.

Things were going great and then all of a sudden, while slowing down for a 90 degree turn-off of the seriously cambered road, the bike began to slide. I thought “here we go” and then just when I figured I had managed to recover it, the back wheel overtook the front and I low-sided, sliding along, and then came to a standstill, facing where I had just come from. Uninjured I was up quickly only to notice the radiator guard lying on the ground. My heart sank as I thought “eish, I've damaged the bike and my race is gonna be over”. Fortunately however, it had only unclipped so I popped it back into place, smacked my hand guard down, hopped on, pushed the happy button and away I went. Yeeha! all cool and racing again, albeit at a definitely slower pace for a while, and every time I got to an off-camber section, slowed down to a snails pace.

From this point the track got more technical, with some serious up and down hills. One had to be careful not to let the bike run away with you on the down hills. The ups had some jagged rocks and step-ups to make things interesting, but the Aprilia just lapped them up. What I found so cool was its ability to wheely smoothly and controllably on demand, just by a blip of the throttle, making the big rocks and step-ups on the hills easy to conquer.

Towards the end of the 18km loop there was a monster of an uphill. A real giant killer, and there were bikes and riders strewn all over when I arrived. Some were waiting at the bottom wondering how they were going to get up, others lying under their bikes, next to their bikes and on top of them too. Some were walking down the hill to fetch their bikes, others riding down to get a
better run up after wiping out on the way up. It was carnage! A quick look for a gap amongst the scattered bikes and I was on my way up. A third of the way up I stalled as my back wheel started climbing a big rock. Knowing it would just spin when I pulled away, I hopped off the bike, started it and walked it over the rock, climbed back on and cruised up the hill, dodging okes fallen or falling all over.

On my three laps after that The RXV just went straight up, no hesitation, the biggest problem was avoiding bikes and riders still all over the place. After 2 hours and 18 minutes, having done 4 laps, I got the checkered flag and a 4th position in my class, which is social class, the second biggest class of the day with about 27 riders. This earned me a finishers medal and a trophy, not to mention an ear to ear smile. The RXV never skipped a beat and whenever I stalled it, it fired up at the touch of the happy button before even coming to a stand still. “RXV! RXV! RXV!”