Riders relish home ground advantage at �Mantshwabisi�
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday June 24, 2016 17:00
A team of ten riders led by Ross Branch, Vincent Conlon and Motsumi Lekone who are vying for the Motorsport South Africa (MSA) national championships title, would look to use home ground to their advantage. “The time for preparations is over, this is the time to compete. We have around 10 guys who are using the MSA licence. We are ready to do our level best at the competition,” Lekone said.
Mantshwabisi, as the event is commonly known, will host the Donaldson Cross Country Championship third and fourth rounds. “It is costly to go and compete in South Africa, this is an advantage for us in the sense that we will be doing a double in one weekend. It is a good opportunity to score points,” he said.
Lekone missed the 2015 event after his licence was cancelled a day before the race after the association learnt that he did not meet some of the requirements. “This time around my paperwork is fine, my focus like all riders is to do well on the track. I don’t think I will encounter the complications I had last year,” Lekone said.
The team has been boosted by South African- based Vincent Crosbie. Crosbie will be the first Motswana to compete at the Dakar Rally in 2017 after gaining automatic qualification early this year. He would look to use the event as part of his preparations for the biggest motorsport event in the world.
The event is divided into three categories; the bikes, vehicles and quad bikes. Over 34 vehicles and 80 bikes have registered to participate in the weekend race.
In the vehicles’ section, Team Toyota’s Anthony Taylor would look to win the championship for the third consecutive time. He faces stiff competition from his Toyota team-mate Leeroy Poulter who leads the championship. The former MSA Motor Sportsman of the year who finished second in last year’s event would look to maintain the grip at the top of the table. Team Toyota will face competition from Ford, Nissan while last year’s debutants BMW X3 will seek to impress.
After the second loop of the bikes and quads event was cancelled due to fuel shortage on the last day of last year’s event, Botswana Motor Sport (BMS) has partnered with Puma Energy. The petroleum giants will provide 30, 000 litres of ULP 95 and 10, 000 litres of diesel at subsidised prices thus becoming the official fuel supplier at the Toyota 1000km Desert race.
The event has for the past three years been included as one of the feeder races to the Dakar Rally and is one of the four events in the world to gain that status thus becoming the biggest off road race in Africa. The time trials for the vehicles will commence today.