Western Province Downhill Round 1 - Vuurberg, South Africa

Everybody was excited by the prospect of a new addition to the list of DH courses for this years WPDH series and Vuurberg did not disappoint. Contrasting the previous Western Province race (African National Champs), in which we were surrounded by bone dry bushes, dust and no where to hide from the sun, Vuuberg provided us with lush vegetation and epic mountain ranges for round one of the series.






Even though the track is quite short at just over a kilometer, it combines a good amount of steep sections, rock gardens, drops and tight corners. Shuttling up is a bumpy ride but with an average trip of 8 minutes, it enables plenty of runs per rider during a practice session. As can be expected of any track over busy practice session, some corners broke apart and a couple of ruts formed, but overall everything stayed more than rideable.





With Andrew Neethling and Johann Potgieter not attending the race, it could only be a mechanical issue that stood between Stefan Garlicki and the top spot. This was not the case though as Garlicki put in the quickest time of the day, beating second placed Theo Erlangsen by more than 4 seconds. Adriaan Smit rounded off the podium, some 5.5 seconds behind Erlangsen.





Top 10 overall:
1. Stefan Garlicki - 01.55.541
2. Theo Erlangsen - 01.59.624
3. Adriaan Smit - 02.05.460
4. Duran Van Eeden - 02.05.824
5. Dane Olsen - 02.06.006
6. Darryn Stow - 02.07.319
7. Adi Van Der Merwe - 02.07.709
8. Roman Kumpers - 02.11.916
9. Chris Nixon - 02.12.030
10. Devon Katzen - 02.14.073


A very big thank you goes to Sebastian Klaasen, owner of Vuurberg, for providing us his land to race on. Also to Grevile Ruddock at Great-Time for the spot on timing, the marshals and medics, the shuttle drivers and Avis for providing us the 4x4's.


See you at round 2!