Buffs RR of the 2019 Tankwa XC Rally

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Buff

Grey Hound
Joined
Aug 14, 2008
Messages
7,591
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153
Location
Western Cape
Bike
KTM 690 Adventure
After assisting with sweeping duties at the 2018 Tankwa XC I had promised myself that in 2019 I’d be back in the starting lineup. This race was just too special to watch from the sidelines. Having put aside my Offroad racing for the past 2 years due to the budget constraints of putting two young girls through private schooling, it meant that the saving had to start happening immediately. I also had the “not so trivial matter” of a stripped KLX450R lying around in boxes that needed to be rebuilt and prepped for the race.
More on that build here… https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=226792.0

True to form, no matter how good your prep is for these events, there will always be some last minute drama that will test your resolve. This year it proved to be my GPS unit. MSA regs state the GPS has to have an alternative power source from the bike in addition to its normal battery power. A friend was kind enough to wire me up a charge cable for my bike but for some remote reason it refused to work correctly and while Dux was assisting me on the afternoon prior to our departure, my Etrex10 decided to fry itself  :-[ So that evening at 9pm, instead of being home and packing my bakkie, I was back at Richard’s house having a new cable made up and begging for a loan GPS to use for the event. Bear in mind Richy was racing as well and also needed to pack all his stuff. Fun times  ::)

Thursday morning at 8am we left Brackenfell for Rooiputs. A fully packed Hilux with one male and 4 females (what was I thinking) and a trailer sporting a race prepped Kawasaki KLX450R and a Beta 300RR as backup should the Kwakker decide to take a rest day… oh and a loan Etrex10.

We arrived at the same time as YammieSuper10 (his son & wife was racing and he was assisting in his race buggy) and to find our old Droomers Yamaha team mates all packed out already so we joined up to camp with them for the weekend. Pitching tents in 34 degree weather was hard work and we had to take regular breaks for cold beers  :p
The pits looked a whole lot better than what they did in 2016 and you could see the effort that had been made to level and clean up the camp site. There were also a lot more riders and crew than in previous years and they would continue to stream in during the course of the day and into the night. Bikes were dusted off and final checks made and wheeled off for scrutineering to make sure they were up to the task at hand. Paperwork was checked, race numbers issued, medical kits checked and tracking and timing units added on the bikes. It all suddenly became very real. The race vibe was already electric  :ricky:

The rest of the afternoon and into the evening was spent catching up with the Tankwa regulars and meeting new faces. It was so good to see so many WD's in the pits. I even got to meet the now famous [member=16826]Kobus Myburgh[/member] who was the inspiration behind me tearing down the KLX in the first place  :thumleft: I bumped into Taye Perry and her Dad Hein. It was good to see them back again and Taye is looking well prepped for Dakar. She's still has a huge financial mountain to climb so please support her fund raisers where you can, she honestly deserves a solid shot at Dakar, I believe she's got the potential to ride for Redbull one day.

Bringing the wife and kids with this year was a mission in packing but it sure paid off having the extra hands around to help with basic prep work like filling camelbacks and packing race food and collecting chow etc. This allowed me a lot of unexpected free time and things happened without the usual panicked rush. I even managed to get into bed before 10pm  :eek:

Pic 1 - Compulsory stop at Nieuwoudville Butchery for biltong and droewors for the weekend:

Pic 2 - The KLX450 sporting it's fresh sticker kit

Pic 3 - Pitting with my old Yamaha team... the green rose among the blue thorns  ;) I see there's a red rose there as well  ;D

 

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