| www.motorsport.co.za | 10 September 2010 |
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The Stanford Junior National, the opening round of the 2010 World of Accessories (WOA) SA National Junior National Off-road Championships for motorcycle and quad competitors, will take place in the Stanford area in the Western Cape on 6 February and has drawn just under 200 entries which makes it one of the national events with the biggest amount of entries in the history of the series.Organised for the second consecutive year by the Western Cape Junior Off-road Club (WCJOC), a club that specialises in off-road events for riders younger than 17 years, this event has been very popular and competitors travel from as far as Botswana, Tzaneen in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal to start their championship onslaught on a high note. This race will also form the first round of the Western Cape regional championships. The two senior classes in the championship – the Open Bike Class as well as the Open Quad Class from competitors between the ages of 14 and 17 – again prove to be the most popular with about 34 entrants in each class. And although the bike champion has moved to the senior championship, there are still a handful of well-known faces in this class as well as lots of new talent who are dark horses while the class will also welcome riders who have moved up in the championship. The likes of Scott Bouverie (Criterion Yamaha), Tyron Miller (Miller Moore Honda), Estiaan Steenkamp (Shimwells Yamaha) and Yamaha racers, Meiring Vermeulen and Frans Cronje will not only be challenged by some of the same riders who competed against them last year, but also by newcomers. No-one will dare predict a winner for the opening event. The Senior Motorcycle Class is a new class for this year for riders between the ages of 12 and 15 years on bikes with engines no bigger than 150cc (4-stroke). No less than 22 riders have entered in this class and while many a familiar name appears on the start list, there are quite a number of new entrants that might upset the “predictable” applecart. The 85cc Class has also attracted a healthy amount of entries (21), including a lady (Megan Kemp) while the numbers in the entry-level class, the 65cc Class, have been supported by entries in the regional championship. In the quad category, the Junior Stock Class as well as the Ladies Class, where Juanri Meintjies (Team Nako Suzuki) will defend her title, will need more support in the future, but the amount of entries in all the other classes are very healthy. More than 30 riders have entered in the Open Quad Class for racers between the ages of 14 and 17 years where the maximum engine capacity for race quads is 450cc 4-stroke. This class is the feeder class for the senior championship and going by the talent and enthusiasm of these youngsters, the senior riders will have to be on the lookout for them in future. Giacomo Antiga (Team Can-Am) will defend his 2009 title and will be up against the 2009 Junior Open Class champ and local Cape racer, Julian Greef-Hoffman (Yamaha) as well as the runner-up in this class, JJ Steyn (F&D Racing Yamaha) and the 2008 junior winner, Michael Wagner (Factory Racing KTM). It will, however, be unwise to put money on a winner as various new names will make their appearance for the first time while the experience from the “old-timers” can not be underestimated. The competition in the Junior Open (10 to 15 years) and Junior Modified Classes (12 to 15 years) will also be fierce as riders in both these classes (as well as the Junior Stock Class) will compete for the overall title at the end of the season and the battle will be on between the hybrid-quads (Junior Modified) and the manufacturers (Junior Open Class). The battle between local Cape racers who will compete on their doorstep as well as “foreign” competitors and some unknown newcomers will be interesting in this class that drew 19 young and fearless racers. The Stanford Junior National will start at 09h00 on Saturday (6 February) at the Boscheuwel Farm outside Stanford when the junior motorcycle and quad racers will tackle separate loops which they will have to complete various times in the allowed two hours. At 12h00 it will be the turn of the riders in the senior classes who will be competing on these loops for three hours. |
