Dakar Rally aspirant a doubt for SA series
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday July 10, 2020 12:28
Last week, the South African Cross-country Championship Series (SACCS) announced that the championship that was halted in March due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) would return next month.
SACCS said, in a statement, the tentative dates are August 14 and 15 with the Bronkhorstspruit 400, near Pretoria, marking the restart of action.
However, Armstrong could miss the event that forms part of his preparations for the Dakar Rally due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
“With current border closures and everything, we are not sure. It is too early to tell, but [we] will keep you posted once we have something positive. He (Brady) is home here in Gaborone, since the time schools closed due to the lockdown in South Africa months back. He has been home, and is currently schooling online with his SA school, as it’s his Matric (senior secondary school final) year,” Brady’s father, Gregg Armstrong told Mmegi Sport.
He did not rule out Brady’s chances of riding at the biggest off-road race in the world.
The 18-year-old missed the SACCS season opener in February but kicked off his preparation in March at the Gauteng Xcross Country Club (GXCC) Championship Round Two held at Fortville, South Africa.
The race was the first for the youngster on the OR1 class. Brady was this year invited as PART of the HT Rally Raid team for the Dakar Rally. He joined the Netherlands-based HT Rally Raid Husqvarna motorcycle team, as an observer for the spectacle held in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the SACCS has cut their championship to just four rounds from seven. After the Bronkhorstspruit 400, only two rounds would remain and they expected to be in September and October.
Locally, the Botswana Motor Sport (BMS) championship could not kick off on June 27 as initially scheduled. The BMS is yet to announce new dates for its return with riders remaining in limbo.