Two in a row for Sternagel at coast

Adolf Kaure - The Swakopmund Motocross event last weekend also served as the seventh and final leg of the 2019 Namibian National Championship.The renowned competitor Mark Sternagel (24) was crowned the King of the Dirt for the second year in a row. He finished the eight-lap race in a time of 14 minutes 56.12 seconds.Chris Cilliers (15:52.75) finished second and Wanjo Kollmitz (16: 45.48) was third.“It feels awesome to win this race. I have trained and work hard to be able to walk away with the win. I am happy that I was able to do just that,” said Sternagel, who added that he remained completely focused from the start.“I tried to get the holeshot from the start and after that I just put my head down and focused on my own race. I managed to put in the laps without paying attention on what any other riders were doing,” said Sternagel after the race.For the next racing season he would like to improve on his fitness, while he has learned a lot from the international riders that came to participate at the event.The coastal event, in its third annual instalment, comprised of various classes for men, women and children. It accommodated bikes with engines sizes which ranged from 50cc to 125cc.The challenge also offered various categories for bikers at 50cc, 65cc, 85cc, rookies class, clubman, lady MX (motocross), quad ladies, quad men, veteran, MX2, MX1, as well as the coveted overall King of the Dirt title. According to the organiser, Mike Nederlof, the event was a success.“It was awesome. We had 76 entries, but it was especially nice that we had so many foreign visitors who came to race here. “Many of them were from South Africa. We also had a young rider from the Democratic Republic of Congo who came to race here. There were riders from the Netherlands and we also had one competitor from Germany. It is very nice to have competition from overseas based riders,” he said.According to Nederlof, Namibian motocross is not yet on par with other leading countries, but the local sport has seen a drastic improvement and is drawing a growing number of youngsters.“We are not on the same level as the Europeans or the South Africans, but we definitely have a few talented riders that are showing potential to get there. They lived up to expectations this weekend. They are getting super-fast. I think that it was really good to see our juniors in action,” he said.More specialised coaching would contribute to improve the sport, he added.“We don't really have top quality coaching available here, but we still presented three coaching clinics before this event. We will have another coaching clinic by an international coach as a follow-up. “We also received a commitment from two South African coaches who will try to assist in getting our riders to a better standard.”The overall results per category were as follows:MX1: 1 Mark Sternagel (75 points), 2 Wanjo Kollmitz (64), 3 Phillip Mentrup (62).MX2: 1 Rob van de Veerdonk (75 points), 2 Liam Gilchrist (64), 3 Ethan Hoffmann (62).MX125: 1 Liam Gilchrist (92 points), 2 Ethan Hoffmann (69), 3 Geena Sadlowski (52).Ladies MX: 1 Natasha Rugani (75 points), 2 Jadene De Lima (62), 3 Cheyenne De Lima (62).50cc: 1 Juan de Vos (75 points), Jaimee-Lee Wassung (64), 3 Dylan Coetzer (60).65cc: 1 Jordan van Wyk (75 points), 2 Ryan Robins (66), 3 Juan de Vos (60).85cc: 1 Tristan Durow (75 points), 2 Mark Lowrings (61), 3 Anton Myburgh (60).Veterans: 1 Rudi Brand (72 points), 2 Mike Swanepoel (64), 3 Olaf Pack (56).Rookies: 1 Anton Myburgh (67 points), 2 Gerhard Myburgh (67), 3 Francois Cronje (64).Clubman's class: 1 Phillip Mentrup (72 points), 2 Jean-Pierre Gous (54), 3 Tristan Durow (53).Quads for men: 1 JL Opperman (72 points), 2 Darren Barnard (69), 3 Michael Gary Rowland (60).Quads for ladies: 1 Maike Bochert (75 points), 2 Jolly Fourie (66), 3 Shannon Rowland (60).

Two in a row for Sternagel at coast

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Republikein 2026-02-06

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Two in a row for Sternagel at coast

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