RXV on Podium in Ceres Enduro
by Steven Matthews
by Steven Matthews
Saturday 26 June was the date of the latest Regional Enduro. It was held on a farm just outside Ceres. The weather on the day was great and rain a few days before ensured there was very little dust.
The loop was of varying terrain, from super fast gravel roads which are more suitable to off-road races than enduros, to really steep hills with very little traction, hectic rocky sections and deep mud-holes.
The first steep hill was carnage by the time I got there. Bikes and bodies strewn all over on the way up, and bikes lining up at the bottom waiting for a gap. As soon as the guy in front of me moved, giving me space to get past and ride up the hill, I gave it gas and started the climb. It was going well until near the top , some dingbat who had wiped out into the brush on the side of the track, pushed his bike straight in front of me. My front wheel climbed his front wheel and bounced to the left. I had to get off and bring the wheel around to face the right direction. Its not easy to pull away once having come to a standstill on a steep hill with very little traction, but I got back on my Aprilia and managed to get going again. As I was nearing the top there was someone who had wiped, trying to pull away. He wasn't so lucky and flipped his bike. I thought he was going to land right on top of me but fortunately he and his bike fell to the left as I passed on the right. The mud-holes also created some bottlenecks as bikes got stuck and splattered mud everywhere.
I had a great race with no problems and only one silly wipe-out which landed me in a ditch. This lost me some time as I had to manhandle the bike back onto the track. Although the flat, fast open sections are not my cup of tea, it was really cool flying past other bikes making it seem like they were looking for parking. I got to a top speed of 133km/h. I did three laps in 2 hours 33, a total of 81km. My fastest lap was 49 mins. This put me 2nd in my class for the day.
