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The young South African motocross and off-road motorcycle rider from Cato Ridge in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Bradley Cox (14), has added more international racing experience to his Curriculum Vitae and returned from Europe with a bag full of good results.
Cox, who won his first South African National motocross championship title in 2005 and another in 2010, recently competed in two rounds of the ADAC MX Masters Cup in Germany in the class for 85cc motorcycle competitors. He posted the sixth fastest qualifying time from 80 competitors for the first event and was third fastest between 70 competitors for the second event.
YOUNG TALENT
The young competitors tackled the hard-pack Aichwald track of 1.755km for the first of two heats each lasting 20 minutes plus two laps. Cox managed a second place after the first heat and finished ninth after the second to secure him the fourth place for the day.
A week later they moved to the sandier Tensfeld track that is 1.7km long where he was seventh after the first race. A crash halfway through the heat resulted in him injuring his head and shoulder as his KTM landed on top of him, but he still managed to finish 25th from the 41 competitors to ensure a 13th place overall for the day.
Cox returned to South Africa to compete in the BELL Junior National in Hluhluwe, a round of the 2012 South African Junior National Off-road championship. He competes in the Senior 85cc Class in this championship and has won all the races so far in this season and has a comfortable lead with one race remaining.
He then formed part of a South African team which competed in the ninth edition of the FIM Junior MX World championship that took place on the 1.6km long track of Gorna Rositza at Sevlievo in Bulgaria.
Cox said: “This track was also hard-pack and had hills steeper than in off-road racing.”
“When we were walking the track to familiarise ourselves with the course, you had to hold on to the rails to get to the top of the hills.”
DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENT
He competed in the 85cc Class for young riders between the age of 11 and 14.
“I had a terrible qualifying and got stuck behind a slower rider and the dust was a problem with Bulgaria experiencing a heat wave where the mercury was close on 40 degrees for the week prior to the race and during the event,” he said.
This meant he could not choose his gate on the starting grid (middle of the grid is always the better place to start) and had to start from the outside.
“I was running in sixth place. The heat was insane and with three laps to go, fatigue kicked in and I tensed up and did not flow with the bike.”
His combined points from moto one and two meant he finished seventh overall in the 85cc Class – the highest placed South African – a great result for a South African rider competing against the world’s best riders where one to two seconds separated the first 10 competitors.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Team SA finished fifth overall with other KZN riders, Cayle Dormehl (KTM) finishing 17th in the 65cc Class while Nicholas Adams was eighth overall in the 125cc Class. Bradley Fenton also competed in the 125cc Class, but crashed and broke his fingers in moto 2 and had to retire.
Bradley Cox, son of multiple former off-road and enduro champion, Alfie, hopes to complete a perfect motocross season in South Africa. He has won every race so far in the Motorsport SA National MX championship where he competes in the Pro Mini 85cc Class. There are two races left in the championship and one round, the Barkbuster Junior National at Greytown in KZN, in the national off-road championship.
Cox, who won his first South African National motocross championship title in 2005 and another in 2010, recently competed in two rounds of the ADAC MX Masters Cup in Germany in the class for 85cc motorcycle competitors. He posted the sixth fastest qualifying time from 80 competitors for the first event and was third fastest between 70 competitors for the second event.
YOUNG TALENT
The young competitors tackled the hard-pack Aichwald track of 1.755km for the first of two heats each lasting 20 minutes plus two laps. Cox managed a second place after the first heat and finished ninth after the second to secure him the fourth place for the day.
A week later they moved to the sandier Tensfeld track that is 1.7km long where he was seventh after the first race. A crash halfway through the heat resulted in him injuring his head and shoulder as his KTM landed on top of him, but he still managed to finish 25th from the 41 competitors to ensure a 13th place overall for the day.
Cox returned to South Africa to compete in the BELL Junior National in Hluhluwe, a round of the 2012 South African Junior National Off-road championship. He competes in the Senior 85cc Class in this championship and has won all the races so far in this season and has a comfortable lead with one race remaining.
He then formed part of a South African team which competed in the ninth edition of the FIM Junior MX World championship that took place on the 1.6km long track of Gorna Rositza at Sevlievo in Bulgaria.
Cox said: “This track was also hard-pack and had hills steeper than in off-road racing.”
“When we were walking the track to familiarise ourselves with the course, you had to hold on to the rails to get to the top of the hills.”
DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENT
He competed in the 85cc Class for young riders between the age of 11 and 14.
“I had a terrible qualifying and got stuck behind a slower rider and the dust was a problem with Bulgaria experiencing a heat wave where the mercury was close on 40 degrees for the week prior to the race and during the event,” he said.
This meant he could not choose his gate on the starting grid (middle of the grid is always the better place to start) and had to start from the outside.
“I was running in sixth place. The heat was insane and with three laps to go, fatigue kicked in and I tensed up and did not flow with the bike.”
His combined points from moto one and two meant he finished seventh overall in the 85cc Class – the highest placed South African – a great result for a South African rider competing against the world’s best riders where one to two seconds separated the first 10 competitors.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Team SA finished fifth overall with other KZN riders, Cayle Dormehl (KTM) finishing 17th in the 65cc Class while Nicholas Adams was eighth overall in the 125cc Class. Bradley Fenton also competed in the 125cc Class, but crashed and broke his fingers in moto 2 and had to retire.
Bradley Cox, son of multiple former off-road and enduro champion, Alfie, hopes to complete a perfect motocross season in South Africa. He has won every race so far in the Motorsport SA National MX championship where he competes in the Pro Mini 85cc Class. There are two races left in the championship and one round, the Barkbuster Junior National at Greytown in KZN, in the national off-road championship.
