Found at: http://www.rallystar.co.za/article/articleprint/1427/-1/200/
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EXCELLENT START FOR TEAM SHIMWELLS YAMAHA IN SWAZILAND
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Watch out KTM, Honda and Suzuki Yamaha is on the move! And Team Shimwells Yamaha made its first mark at the recent Petricon Swazi 400 off-road race, first round of the National Off-road Championship for Motorcycles, when Brian Capper was the 3rd rider home and also grabbed the 3rd place in the Open Class on his Nashua Mobile Racing/Shimwells Yamaha YZ450 4-stroke.
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Leon Botha
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Capper, who started in the 5th position after finishing the time-trail just 1 min 27 sec behind the leading rider, had a good race without too many incidents except getting lost because naughty youngsters changed the route markers. But he made up for some time waisted, shrugged off Clayton Enslin (KMT) with whom he had an interesting dice and was the 3rd rider home. His total time (6 h 44 min 01 sec) was only 4 min 03 sec slower than the winner (Jade Gutzeit) not too bad keeping in mind that Capper only tried his hand a few times to off-road racing seeing that he is actually a precision rider who takes his show all over the country.
The 2002 National Off-road Motorcycle Champion, Gray Dick, also picked up his first points of the season when he finished 4th in the Open Class and 8th overall. After starting the race in the 36th position, Dick made up lots of places racing in thick dust with not a sign of wind to make things easier for the defending champion. But, although he would have liked to score more points towards the championship, Dick is not too worried yet after he started the 2002 season with some bad luck, he fought back to win the overall championship!
Newcomer to the team, but not to off-road racing, Gavin Louw, also had a good race to score his first points for Team Shimwells Yamaha when he finished 5th in the 125cc Class. To finish such a hard race and to race with the leading riders in the class, is even more remarkable for this talented deaf rider.
In one of the biggest and most competitive classes, the 200cc Class, Tjaart Coetzee brought his YZ 250 4-stroke Yamaha home in the 3rd position. Being the only Yamaha between the top seven riders in this class, Shimwells Yamaha has proven that it can compete with its closest rival, KTM, in the 200cc Class. Racing with Shimwells Yamaha support, Mike Whitehouse (Nashua Mobile Racing) finished seven places behind Coetzee in the 10th place. The young Zac Botha did not start the race after he fell during time-trail and hurt his back.
There were even more good results for Team Shimwells Yamaha Bernard Johnstone brought his YZ250 2-stroke Yamaha home in the 6th position in the 250cc Class and finished in an excellent 13th place overall. And in the Senior Championship the defending champion, Johnny Lochner, started the year on a positive note when he crossed the finish line in the 3rd place and bagged some important points towards this championship for riders over 38 years of age.
Unfortunately the off-road racing rookie, Willie Human, could not finish the race, but he learnt a lot seeing that this was his first time out.
Altogether it was a good event for Team Shimwells Yamaha Racing together with its partner, Nashua Mobile Racing, and they are looking forward to the grueling Kalahari 1000 Desert Challenge that will be taking place in the Vryburg area from the 1st to 3rd May 2003.