Durban Point Waterfront and uShaka Marine World, 11-12 December is where it was at – the Hewlett Packard Urban Rage MTB Assault Race, presented by Jeep Apparel.

Philip Buys (Garmin Adidas) and Candice Neethling (DCM chrome) were outstanding in securing their third successive victories giving them a clean domination of the event since its’ inception three years ago. The Super Cats final was a gripping display of the fastest five women and ten men who had qualified during the individual Alley Cat heats during the day. With a mere six seconds separating the top five men and R15000 cash for first place there was no margin for error. A dropped chain may have cost Buys his victory but the Garmin Adidas rider kept his cool and crossed the line with just one second separating him from Luke Roberts (BMC Wsquared) and Bryce Munro who put the time keepers to the test with split second timing giving second place to Roberts. Tyrone White (Coach Russ Racing) dug deep to claim fourth position ahead of the experienced Craig Paul (Team Jeep).
Neethling executed a precision game plan, qualifying third and saving her energy for the crucial final round – her time of nine minutes 38 seconds gave her a nine second victory over the formidable Hungarian Eszter Erdeyli Cluer (Jeep Multigirl) while Amy-Jane Mundy put in a stirling effort for third place just one second back.

The Enduro events were introduced for the first time this year, making for two days of riding opportunity on the purpose built course. Entrants had the option of a two hour individual or four hour team of two or four Enduro. For some, it was the chance to get in multiple practice laps ahead of Sunday’s super fast laps, for others it was a testing endurance session – especially for the two man teams over four hours. Greig Knox took the win ion the individual endure ahead of Buys with Pietermaritzburg’s Murray Starr doing well to claim third place. Melanie Greyling was the first women. Competition proved fierce in the Teams of 2 with Team Jeep/Thule edging ahead to take the title on 19 laps. Team Jeep rode consistently to claim the Team of 4 title.

The Monster Urban Jump ‘Expression Session’ proved a proper crowd thriller as twelve brave daredevils took the plunge off the ramp and into the canal. Sam Bull proved the ultimate stunt man, winning the title and taking home an Xbox 360 from EA Sports for his gutsy jumps.

 

 

RESULTS: Super Cat Final - Men: P Buys 8.16, L Roberts 8.17, B Munro 8.17, T White 8.19, C Paul 8.22, C Stolz 8.27, A Hatherley 8.31, B Davids 8.34, R Redman 8.38, R Ellis 8.40. Women: C Neethling 9.38, E Cluer 9.47, AJ Mundy 9.48, T Taylor 10.37, M Jonsson 11.17

Cool Cats (Teams of 2): Men: Team Snifler (P Beltan/K Dorkin), Jeep Thule (M Goetsch/D Leiman), Team Jeep (R Ellis/E van der Spuy). Women: Jeep BMX 3. Mixed: :) , Wsquared Cycling Shop, Team Wsquared.
ENDURO – Individual: G Knox 19 laps, P Buys 19 laps, M Starr 17 laps. Women: M Greyling 8 laps. (Teams of 2): Men: Jeep Thule (M Goetsch/D Leiman), Team Snifler (P Beltan/K Dorkin), DuraCycles FutureLife (J Porteous/J Downham). Women: Pink Poenskies – 22 laps Teams of 4: Team Jeep – 36 laps, Manic Mavericks – 34 laps, Jeep 41 – 32 laps.