The Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race (TDR 1000) in Botswana is a gruelling and ruthless event. But it rewarded the winners in the fourth round of the 2017 SA Cross Country Championship for Motorcycles and Quads that took place over the last of three days of racing with another victory and lots of valuable points towards the various championships.
The TDR forms the third and fourth rounds of the SACC Moto series with the third day in Botswana usually having the highest rate of attrition ? not surprising when you consider that by this stage the riders and their machines have already completed more than 450 kilometres with 420 kilometres still to go.
This year, all the winners of the various national class championships at round three (Saturday, 24 June), went on to take another round of victories at the fourth round (Sunday, 25 June). There was another fairly easy victory for Van Rooyen, the multiple Senior Class champion, with Kobus Jonck (Bert Smith All Stars), who competed on national level for the first time this season, finishing second ahead of Hentie Hanekom (Husqvarna) who scored his second podium result this weekend, albeit by a narrow margin. A mere 13 seconds separated Hanekom from Bruce May (Bidvest Blu Cru Yamaha) after being in the saddle for just over six hours and 40 minutes. Wilhelm du Toit (Husqvarna), who is training for his participation in the 2018 Dakar Rally, was fifth with Bruce Viljoen (Doorzone Bikers Warehouse Husqvarna), second the previous day, having to settle for ninth place after a tough day in the desert.
The Master Class battle between Farmer and Pieter Holl (Bert Smith All Stars), who won the first two rounds earlier this season, continued and once again, only a few seconds (39 to be exact) separated them this time. Stefan?s dad, Faan van Deventer (Yamaha) again finished on the podium with Iain Pepper (Pepson Plastics Husqvarna) and Trevor Hills (Yamaha) changing places from the previous day with Pepper who took the fourth place and Hills rounding off the top five. Dayna Nienaber (Bert Smith All Stars) took another victory in the Ladies Class while Ryan van Es (KTM) won the Silver Class Interprovincial Challenge this time.
