Friday’s route foresaw a technical 200km course and it was previous year’s winner Chris Birch (Comsol Alfie Cox KTM) that took the lead, finishing Friday’s route in 6 hours 18 minutes, closely followed by the talented Graham Jarvis. Gutzeit had fallen back to third place, followed by Torlage. Ben Hemingway (ccGallery Fever X KTM), a known name within the extreme enduro scene, had surprised everyone with his Roof debut and made his way up to 5th place overall, followed by two times Roof of Africa winner Darryl Curtis (Brother Broadlink KTM) and German Andreas Lettenbichler (Husqvarna). Brother Broadlink KTM’s Altus de Wet and Riaan van Niekerk finished day two in 8th and 9th position overall, with KTM stable mate Michael Skinner (New Zealand) rounding off the top ten.
A disappointed Paul Bolton (Britain), who finished the 2010 Roof of Africa in fourth place, had to retire from the race after a big crash, breaking a rib and ending his race with a terrible concussion.
Saturday had to determine the race and a sunny day awaited riders and supporters alike. Birch, Jarvis and Gutzeit went into the last race day with a lead of approximately 25 minutes; however some navigation mistakes saw the rest of the field catching up and the race was exciting until the end. The pressure was on and Jarvis had pulled a gap between him and Birch when they approached the 20 minute de control on the top of Bushman’s pass at 2263m above sea level, the last stop where competitors had to recharge their batteries before the last 50km section that was about to separate the men from the boys.
It was Graham Jarvis on his Husaberg TE 300 that crossed the chequered flag in first place after a total riding time of 15 hours 24 minutes. He managed to pull a gap of an impressive 22 minutes on the previous year’s winner and second placed Chris Birch (KTM).
36 year old Jarvis, from Sturry in Canterbury (Great Britain), won his first Trial race at the age of 10 and worked his way up to World Championship level where from 1996 on he was a regular contender for top results. He claimed his first World Championship round win in 2001 and won the infamous Scott Trial no less than 9 times. As the sport of extreme enduro became more and more popular some years ago, Graham decided to give it a go and found the support of a well set-up team in Italy, the “Flite Extreme Husaberg Racing Team”. As Graham quickly established himself as one of the top riders in extreme enduro his list of achievements is quite impressive. He has won The Tough One (UK) this year, Hell’s Gate in Italy and the Red Bull Romaniacs, amongst some other extreme enduro races, and can now add the prestigious Roof of Africa title to his list.
“I really enjoyed racing in Lesotho, the Roof of Africa was a great event. It is a different format of extreme enduro which I can now tick off my list. I will probably have to come back next year to defend my title” said Jarvis.
Unknown to some, the Husaberg brand originated in Sweden and was developed by an enthusiastic Thomas Gustavsson who had racing in his heart and who developed a powerful 4 stroke engine. Husaberg quickly made a name for themselves, not just on a regional and national scale, but also at European and World Championship level. "Racing Blood" is the key to the nature of Husaberg; virtually everything that makes Husaberg unique may be explained through that. An essential point is that racing blood can't be switched on or off. It either exists or it is missing. Although the bikes are assembled at the mother company KTM in Austria, the uniqueness of a Husaberg still hasn't changed. What has changed by shifting the place of assembly is the access to ISO approved quality control and modern series production systems. Despite this, the racing blood of Husaberg still runs in the racing development department in Sweden.
It was however the KTM brand that again dominated the 44th Roof of Africa race. Out of the 238 competitors that entered the race, 175 chose the Austrian high quality machines as their weapon of choice and it came as no surprise that KTM was once again awarded the manufacturer’s title.
The South African KTM squad was on top form with a motivated Darryl Curtis (Brother Broadlink KTM) in fifth place, Brian Capper (Full Throttle KTM) in 7th and Altus de Wet (Brother Broadlink KTM) in 8th place. Multiple South African Offroad and Enduro Champion Riaan van Niekerk finished the 2011 Roof of Africa in 11th place, followed by Wynand Badenhorst (Nomadik Tents KTM) and the “desert king” Gray Dick who finished in 14th place on his Brother Broadlink KTM 300 XC-W.
The racing season has now come to an end and competitors are looking forward to some rest over the festive season before they get back into their training routine and in top form for 2012.
RESULTS 2011 ROOF OF AFRICA (Top 15)
|
Pos
|
Rider
|
Nat
|
Team
|
Bike
|
|
1
|
Graham Jarvis
|
GBR
|
Flite Extreme Husaberg Racing Team
|
Husaberg TE 300
|
|
2
|
Chris Birch
|
NZL
|
Comsol Aflie Cox KTM
|
KTM 300 XC-W
|
|
3
|
Jade Gutzeit
|
RSA
|
Yamaha
|
Yamaha
|
|
4
|
Marc Torlage
|
RSA
|
Yamaha
|
Yamaha
|
|
5
|
Darryl Curtis
|
RSA
|
Brother Broadlink KTM
|
KTM 300 XC-W
|
|
6
|
Ben Hemingway
|
GBR
|
Fever x/cc Gallery KTM
|
KTM 300 XC-W
|
|
7
|
Brian Capper
|
RSA
|
Full Throttle Red Bull KTM
|
KTM 300 XC-W
|
|
8
|
Altus de Wet
|
RSA
|
Brother Broadlink KTM
|
KTM 250 XC-W
|
|
9
|
Andreas Lettenbichler
|
GER
|
Husqvarna
|
Husqvarna
|
|
10
|
Mitchell Nield
|
NZL
|
Gas Gas
|
Gas Gas
|
|
11
|
Riaan van Niekerk
|
RSA
|
Brother Broadlink KTM
|
KTM 300 XC-W
|
|
12
|
Wynand Badenhorst
|
RSA
|
Nomadik Tents KTM
|
KTM 250 XC-W
|
|
13
|
Michael Skinner
|
NZL
|
Liquorland Racing KTM
|
KTM 300 XC-W
|
|
14
|
Gray Dick
|
RSA
|
Brother Broadlink KTM
|
KTM 300 XC-W
|
|
15
|
Karl Power
|
NZL
|
Yamaha
|
Yamaha
|
