After all the last minute organizing and anticipation, the 7 Namibian riders returned home with well earned success and holding their heads high. It was an enormous experience for our riders facing possibly their toughest race conditions yet. The track conditions, although absolutely of the highest standards, were not what our riders are used to. Riding borrowed bikes with only a short time to get used to them, did not make it any easier.

The whole of the Saturday morning’s practise sessions were cancelled because the track was considered to muddy after the previous night’s rain. Once the track dried out, it became a hard pack track and awesome to compete on. The track was exceptionally wide with long sweeping turns, good berms and enormous jumps.

In the 50cc Class, both Michael Barlow and Matthew Nederlof had a tough time getting used to this track. Michael, the youngest member of team and also the one with the no international experience, proved that he will be a major force in Namibian motocross in the future. He had absolutely fantastic starts in all of his three heats and was even leading the field for a while during the first heat, and this for a rider that is only used to competing against a very few riders. He improved with every heat and was able to finished the day off well in overall 6th place with two 7th and a 6th place.

For Matthew the day was one with a few disappointments. First the bike would not perform but the problem was resolved by changing engines. In the first heat he was lying 3rd when a mud patch caught him out and he went down. Then, in the second heat the rear wheel completely seized preventing him from finishing the heat and leaving him absolutely distraught. Some Namibian teamwork ensured that with just minutes to spare, he was able to participate in the third heat finishing 5th. He however still finished in 8th overall with two hard fought 5th places.

Our riders in the 65cc Class (Eric Garbers, Pauli Loots and Tristan Muller) showed a lot of promise and determination and finished 2rd overall as a team.

Eric had a fantastic day, showing his potential which was unfortunately marred by a flat tyre in the third heat. After a bad start in the 1st heat, he settled down and got to know the track. The second heat, he pulled it all together and showed all some awesome riding, finished in 2nd place. In third heat, while in 3rd place, disaster struck and his rear tyre went flat. He was however still able to hold on to 8th position and finished the day in 5th overall with two 8th and one 2nd place.

Pauli had a consistent day as well which was plagued by clutch problems. He also struggled a bit in the first heat with an 11th position, but soon found his rhythm and pulled it together. Riding a different make of bike than he is used to and with no real practise time available to him, placing himself in the top half of the field finished the day with a further two 7th places, earning him a 4th place overall.

Tristan, having only started racing again at the beginning of this year after a few years off, continued with his ever improving race speed and had himself a very successful outing in Kenya. As with most the Namibian riders, his first heat could have been better finishing the heat in 9th place, but once he got to know the track, worked himself onto the podium in a well deserved 3rd place for the 2nd heat. He finished the 3rd heat in a good 5th place which earned him a fantastic 5th overall for the day.

Our three 65cc riders showed their might and earned Namibia a 3rd place in the overall country standings for this class.

Unfortunately, due to the shortage of motorcycles that were available in Kenya that could be borrowed for the event, Namibia could only enter Mark Sternagel in the 85cc Junior Class. Mark however made up for that with his riding ensuring that he would keep Namibia in the limelight. His first heat went reasonably well, finishing in 5th, but what he showed everyone in the second and third heat, must have angered him that the first heat was maybe not as good as it could have been. He had two absolutely fantastic heats finishing both in 2nd position earning himself a podium 3rd place for the overall and only 3 points behind second place.

Again, a shortage in available bikes, forced the Namibian team to only enter Jaco Loots for the 85cc Senior Class. Having to share a bike with Mark Sternagel and their heats being straight after each other, must have been strenuous on his nerves. The entire field would line up for the start and Jaco would be waiting for the bike to be fuelled and pushed to the gate. He however did not let that deter him, as he was flying once the gate dropped. He soon found his pace and moved up the field and comfortable slotted into third place in the first heat. He finished the first heat in 3rd, and just to show that that was not luck, topped it up with another fantastic 3rd for the second heat and a 4th for the last heat, earning him a 3rd place for the day.

The results were better than expected especially with a field of 109 entries. Namibia walked away with 6 individual heat podium places, two overall class podiums and one overall country position.

The team had an experience of a life time and would like to thank every sponsor that has made it possible for them to compete at the highest level. Numerous comments were made by competitors and spectators about the fantastic spirit, team work and general appearance of the team.