The racing season finally got underway with the first round held at the Gallina track here in Windhoek. It was a nerve wrecking weekend as it was Matthew’s first race on his 65cc bike. The bike has been lowered to its maximum for him to be able to ride it properly and with the suspension’s travel being shortened, life became tough at the end of the day once the track became rough.

Nerves got the better of Matt in the first heat and he stalled the bike at the start. It took a while for him to get going and by then he was a good 30 seconds behind everyone else. He rode reasonably well for the remained of the heat. He did have a fall, but was still able to catch up to third position.

The second heat was much better than the first and Matthew was lying second after the start. He had a very good race with then third placed rider until he had another untimely tumble. The track was getting rough and the limited travel in his forks made it very difficult to keep the bike under control. He got up and being so small, was not able to get going quick enough to make a race for second. Time ran out and again he finished the heat in third.

In the third heat Matt got the holeshot but was only able to hold on to that until the second turn. He lost the bike in a berm and it took a very long time before helpers could get to him to help with re-starting the bike. The start gave him a lot of confidence and he rode his heart out for the remainder of the heat. He caught up to third place within no time and closed the gap on second place. Unfortunately, time caught up with him and he had to settle for third place and third overall for the day.

For this his first race in the 65cc class, we are pretty satisfied with the results and are sure, that the next events will be a lot closer. He definitely has the speed to compete for second place and a bit more time on the track will give him all the confidence he needs to move up in the rankings

We all missed Tommy this weekend, especially Matthew who is used to seeing him next to the track encouraging him.

Tommy would have had a great race this weekend as conditions would have suited him and a win the Open Class would have been a near certainty. However, he was down in Italy testing suspensions and we hope all went well.

As soon as we hear more of Tommy’s exploits, we will include them in our future race reports.

This past weekend was a great success for the Windhoek Moto Cross Club and the sport as a whole and we sincerely hope that this trend will continue for the rest of the 2007 season.