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Why do all good things have to come to an end?
When you just started a great weekend of fun, riding your bike, getting to know people and making new friends you have to say goodbye, pack up your dirty riding gear and leave into whatever direction you came from. Four days of the KTM Festival at Sun City have left their impression with riders and their families, all taking home a backpack full of memories and hunger to come back for next year’s event.
The idea behind the KTM Festival was to give something back to the loyal KTM customers, to bring like-minded people together to share not just their passion for riding motorbikes but also to bring the families along, relax and have fun together while sharing stories of their last crash with new mates they just had met.
Thursday night was the “get together, get to know each other” welcome evening at the Shebeen where everyone could enjoy a nice dinner sitting around an open fire. Everyone enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere, having just escaped from the usual rat race. Not just riders and families from South Africa made their way to Sun City but also a couple from Mozambique, David and Heather as welll as Mike, Michelle and little Daniel from Windhoek who didn’t want to miss this very special event, not to forget Steven from Cape Town who rode all the way to Sun City and back on his 990 Adventure.
The next morning riders met at the Motocross track which was the base of the KTM Festival for the entire weekend. Alfie Cox accompanied by multiple World Enduro Champion Giovanni Sala who came all the way from Italy for the KTM Festival took the Adventure riders for a ride on a stunning 260km loop which was enjoyed by everybody.
The Enduro riders were split into two groups, one led by local KTM legend Darryl Curtis and the other one by Brother KTM rider and reigning South African Offroad Champion Riaan van Niekerk. Chris Birch from New Zealand, who won the legendary Roof of Africa in 2008 and 2009 as well as the Red Bull Romaniacs Xtreme Enduro race just a few months ago, joined the Enduro riders for the outride.
Kiwi Birch came over to South Africa two weeks before the KTM Festival and entered the Richmond National Enduro, just to see what the National’s in South Africa are all about. The talented rider won the race and is looking forward to coming back to South Africa later in the year, to take part in the Roof of Africa for the third time. The two Enduro groups were also joined by Brother KTM riders Altus de Wet and Scott Scheepers.
While the Adventure riders had lunch somewhere along their 260km outride, the Enduro riders came back to the Motorcross track for lunch where they met their families and refreshed themselves, before they went out again for their afternoon ride. Some of the riders were too tired from the morning ride or just wanted to spend some time with their families, so they decided to rather relax at the hotel pool or go to the Valley of Waves.
The Motocross track was busy throughout the day. Local National riders like Estefan and Marnus du Plessis entertained the crowd with their riding skills. The two riders brought their friend Samuel “Sampie” Erasmus along. Sampie suffered a T4 spinal injury a few years ago and is permanently confined to a wheelchair
After his injury he was determined to ride his bike again, so his friends helped him to build a cage around his bike and fitted all the necessary equipment such as a recluse clutch to make it possible for him to ride. Since then Sampie is back on the Motocross track where he can just be himself, admired for his riding skills.
Sampie recently came back from racing in the United States, where he won a gold medal in the Extremity Games Limb-Difference event.
After a long day’s riding everyone was looking forward to an early night, to get some rest in order to be ready for the next day. Saturday foresaw another outride in the morning and after lunch and a refreshing Red Bull Brian Capper excited everyone by showing his skills doing an “extreme riding” show with his trials bike.
Wheelies, stoppies and the lot just look so easy when Capper does it. After Capper’s show the fun afternoon started. The barrel race was the first fun challenge to entertain the crowd. Four riders lined up next to each other had to do two laps around the barrels and the fastest riders out of each group had to race against each other in the final
There was also a Junior barrel race which was won by young Tobias Noelkensmeier on his KTM 50 SX. Tobias had to race against 85’s and impressed everyone with his skills.
Next was a sand race where riders had to lap each other. The pro riders showed off their exceptional riding skills, but at the end it was KTM technician Lood Bouwer who won the sand race. Last challenge was “bike soccer” where four teams were picked, all of them headed by one of the Pro’s. Italy (team Sala), New Zealand (team Birch), South African and the Dutch team had to score goals and at the end it was Team New Zealand that took the win (after some cheating since Alfie Cox was on team NZ, helping to score goals).
A great day ended at the Boma at the Sun City resort with some live music, a delicious Braai and a well deserved beer or two. There are rumours that the Saturday party only ended after 4am the next morning.
“Well done to KTM for hosting an amazing event. One seldom has a chance to ride with national riders apart from flybys in a race.
The KTM “family was more than welcoming and went to great lengths to keep us want-to-be racers happy. It was not really about the bikes, but actually about people and how great they are.”, said Albert Pos who attended the Festival
The KTM Festival at Sun City was definitely a weekend to be remembered. It was filled with a lot of fun and laughter. International and local pro riders like Giovanni Sala and Chris Birch enjoyed spending time with the South African KTM customers, they helped the little ones to pick up their bikes when they dropped them and gave the grown ups tips on how to improve their riding.
But in the end it was not about the big names, it was about the people who came to Sun City for the KTM Festival that enjoyed themselves and met new friends, taking home lots of memories.
When you just started a great weekend of fun, riding your bike, getting to know people and making new friends you have to say goodbye, pack up your dirty riding gear and leave into whatever direction you came from. Four days of the KTM Festival at Sun City have left their impression with riders and their families, all taking home a backpack full of memories and hunger to come back for next year’s event.
The idea behind the KTM Festival was to give something back to the loyal KTM customers, to bring like-minded people together to share not just their passion for riding motorbikes but also to bring the families along, relax and have fun together while sharing stories of their last crash with new mates they just had met.
Thursday night was the “get together, get to know each other” welcome evening at the Shebeen where everyone could enjoy a nice dinner sitting around an open fire. Everyone enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere, having just escaped from the usual rat race. Not just riders and families from South Africa made their way to Sun City but also a couple from Mozambique, David and Heather as welll as Mike, Michelle and little Daniel from Windhoek who didn’t want to miss this very special event, not to forget Steven from Cape Town who rode all the way to Sun City and back on his 990 Adventure.
The next morning riders met at the Motocross track which was the base of the KTM Festival for the entire weekend. Alfie Cox accompanied by multiple World Enduro Champion Giovanni Sala who came all the way from Italy for the KTM Festival took the Adventure riders for a ride on a stunning 260km loop which was enjoyed by everybody.
LONG-DISTANCE FRIENDS: Steven Thomas (blue shirt), who rode his 990 Adventure all the way from Cape Town, with Gio Sala and Alfie Cox.
The Enduro riders were split into two groups, one led by local KTM legend Darryl Curtis and the other one by Brother KTM rider and reigning South African Offroad Champion Riaan van Niekerk. Chris Birch from New Zealand, who won the legendary Roof of Africa in 2008 and 2009 as well as the Red Bull Romaniacs Xtreme Enduro race just a few months ago, joined the Enduro riders for the outride.
Kiwi Birch came over to South Africa two weeks before the KTM Festival and entered the Richmond National Enduro, just to see what the National’s in South Africa are all about. The talented rider won the race and is looking forward to coming back to South Africa later in the year, to take part in the Roof of Africa for the third time. The two Enduro groups were also joined by Brother KTM riders Altus de Wet and Scott Scheepers.
While the Adventure riders had lunch somewhere along their 260km outride, the Enduro riders came back to the Motorcross track for lunch where they met their families and refreshed themselves, before they went out again for their afternoon ride. Some of the riders were too tired from the morning ride or just wanted to spend some time with their families, so they decided to rather relax at the hotel pool or go to the Valley of Waves.
The Motocross track was busy throughout the day. Local National riders like Estefan and Marnus du Plessis entertained the crowd with their riding skills. The two riders brought their friend Samuel “Sampie” Erasmus along. Sampie suffered a T4 spinal injury a few years ago and is permanently confined to a wheelchair
ALL BIG MATES: Gary Franks, Greg Moloney, Matt Smith.
Sampie recently came back from racing in the United States, where he won a gold medal in the Extremity Games Limb-Difference event.
After a long day’s riding everyone was looking forward to an early night, to get some rest in order to be ready for the next day. Saturday foresaw another outride in the morning and after lunch and a refreshing Red Bull Brian Capper excited everyone by showing his skills doing an “extreme riding” show with his trials bike.
Wheelies, stoppies and the lot just look so easy when Capper does it. After Capper’s show the fun afternoon started. The barrel race was the first fun challenge to entertain the crowd. Four riders lined up next to each other had to do two laps around the barrels and the fastest riders out of each group had to race against each other in the final
THIS IS: Gio Sala and Natalie Stevens.
Next was a sand race where riders had to lap each other. The pro riders showed off their exceptional riding skills, but at the end it was KTM technician Lood Bouwer who won the sand race. Last challenge was “bike soccer” where four teams were picked, all of them headed by one of the Pro’s. Italy (team Sala), New Zealand (team Birch), South African and the Dutch team had to score goals and at the end it was Team New Zealand that took the win (after some cheating since Alfie Cox was on team NZ, helping to score goals).
A great day ended at the Boma at the Sun City resort with some live music, a delicious Braai and a well deserved beer or two. There are rumours that the Saturday party only ended after 4am the next morning.
“Well done to KTM for hosting an amazing event. One seldom has a chance to ride with national riders apart from flybys in a race.
The KTM “family was more than welcoming and went to great lengths to keep us want-to-be racers happy. It was not really about the bikes, but actually about people and how great they are.”, said Albert Pos who attended the Festival
LITTLE BIG GUY: Tobias who won the Junior barrel race.
But in the end it was not about the big names, it was about the people who came to Sun City for the KTM Festival that enjoyed themselves and met new friends, taking home lots of memories.
