{"id":5330,"date":"2022-11-11T07:56:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T05:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/?p=5330"},"modified":"2023-06-26T08:28:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T08:28:36","slug":"roof-of-africa-day-one-sunshine-and-showers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/roof-of-africa-day-one-sunshine-and-showers\/","title":{"rendered":"Roof of Africa Day One \u2013 Sunshine and Showers"},"content":{"rendered":"

2022 Roof of Africa <\/span>Day One \u2013 Sunshine and Showers <\/span><\/p>\n

The first day of the 2022 edition of the Roof of Africa was bookended by summer downpours, but even the rain couldn\u2019t dampen the enthusiasm of Lesotho\u2019s Hard Enduro fans<\/span>. Nor could it affect the dedication and commitment of the over 400 competitors who found themselves at the start line in Maseru <\/span>on the<\/span> morning<\/span> of November 10<\/span>th<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Among the crowds was the newly elected Prime Minister of Lesotho, <\/span>the right honourable <\/span>Mr Sam Matekane. A self-confessed <\/span>petrolhead and ex-<\/span>Off Road<\/span> racing driver, he is a big fan of the Roof<\/span> of Africa<\/span>. Combined with the excellent turnout of local <\/span>fans<\/span>, <\/span>the future <\/span>certainly looks good for the <\/span>Mother<\/span> of Hard Enduro.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Early rainfall in the capital raised the prospect of wet, slippery tar, but the return of the popular Round the Houses opening segment proved too great a draw to resis<\/span>t<\/span> for a large and vocal crowd<\/span>. Besides which, the sun soon emerged, and riders of all four classes (Gold, Silver, <\/span>Bronze<\/span> and Iron) enjoyed beautiful conditions. The streets of Maseru echoed <\/span>once again <\/span>to the roar of Enduro bike<\/span>s<\/span> and excited cheering. <\/span><\/p>\n

The riders clearly relished this road-racing component of the Roof, with competition being especially tight in the Gold Class. Reigning champion Wade Young of (<\/span>Sherco<\/span> Racing Factory Team powered by <\/span>Motul<\/span>) once again showed his Roof credentials by pipping long-time rival and <\/span>2022 South Africa Enduro Champion Brett Swanepoel <\/span>(Husqvarna Racing) <\/span>to the post.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much as Round the Houses is an iconic <\/span>component<\/span> of the Roof, the <\/span>Mother<\/span> of Hard Enduro is of course all about the Maloti Mountains<\/span> and Bushman<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s Pass certainly delivers<\/span>. The combination of challenging terrain and \u201cfour seasons in one day\u201d weather \u2013 of which today was a classic example<\/span> \u2013 ha<\/span>s<\/span>earned the Roof its daunting reputation. <\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Roof was to have been the first time that Gold and Silver Class riders took on the new \u201cNtoa ea Thaba\u201d or \u201cMountain Battle\u201d, but the elements<\/span> clearly had other ideas. <\/span>Early afternoon hail and thunderstorms dictated a slight change of format<\/span>, with the organisers using the top 20 Gold Class practice times and instead <\/span>sending<\/span> riders<\/span> out for a single hot lap, the <\/span>oucomes<\/span> of which were used to determine the <\/span>results for the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>We were delighted to see such a strong turnout of local Roof fans for <\/span>D<\/span>ay <\/span>O<\/span>ne of this year\u2019s Mother of Hard Enduro,\u201d commented Charan Moore, <\/span>Roof Race Director and Founder of Live Lesotho. \u201cW<\/span>hile the weather certainly played a part today, we can look back on a thrilling and hard-fought day of racing <\/span>with old rivalries renewed and new challenges laid dow<\/span>n<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d <\/span>he added. <\/span><\/p>\n

Much like the weather, the Day One results caught many people off guard \u2013 and have set <\/span>up an intriguing day\u2019s racing for Friday. <\/span>The Roof can be a race of very fine margins and so it proved in the Gold Class, with <\/span>Micheal<\/span> Walkner<\/span> (Gas <\/span>Gas<\/span>Factory Racing) notching up the win by just two seconds from Mani <\/span>L<\/span>e<\/span>ttenbichle<\/span>r<\/span> (Red Bull Factory KTM Racing). Last year\u2019s runner-up<\/span>,<\/span> and <\/span>the highest-placed southern African rider<\/span> so far<\/span>, <\/span>Travis Teasdale (ASP Rope Mclarens Racing)<\/span>rounded out the podium. <\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s rain especially impacted the Silver Class, <\/span>with practice times from qualifying having to be used to determine who occupied the Day One podium. <\/span>Daniel Schr\u00f6der currently sits in first place, <\/span>followed by<\/span> Austin Stuart and <\/span>then <\/span>Luke Walker.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Bronze Class, <\/span>Brian Burrows (Coral Transport KTM) has built up an almost five-minute lead over Tate Str\u00f6h (Yamaha), with Stiaan Potgieter (Husqvarna) <\/span>in third <\/span>at this early juncture. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Iron Class Day One podium was a clean sweep for KTM riders, with off-road veteran Tom Classen followed by Jack Brotherton and then Pieter Kritzinger.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For more info and the full programme of events, including results as soon as they are available, visit the official website: https:\/\/roofofafrica.co.ls\/\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2022 Roof of Africa Day One \u2013 Sunshine and Showers The first day of the 2022 edition of the Roof of Africa was bookended by summer downpours, but even the rain couldn\u2019t dampen the enthusiasm of Lesotho\u2019s Hard Enduro fans. Nor could it affect the dedication and commitment of the over 400 competitors who found […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,23,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-blogs","category-featured"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/263580DB-B32C-4205-ACDB-1E3CD0A8B674.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduroworld.co.za\/2023\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}