African champion’s ‘Turbo’ roars to SA champ title
Local resident Tyler ‘Turbo’ Posthumus recently travelled to KZN to compete at the CSA South African Championships as well as the Union Cyclist International (UCI) African Continental Championships for BMX.
Competing in the seven-year-old Boys Expert Class, young Posthumus swept the board and won every race he competed in, taking the gold in the South African National Championships and the coveted South African Number One Title 2016.
This means that Posthumus will proudly display the number SA 1 P on his number board on his race bike for the 2017 season. The letter ‘P’ as part of the ranking number stands for the first letter of his surname.
The CSA SA national championships took place on October 1 at the World Class Giba Gorge BMX Track.
Despite a spectacular-looking fall in training in the days leading up to the event, the speedster was not deterred and simply dominated the opposition in the Saturday event.
After the celebrations were over in the evening, Posthumus re-focused and readied himself for the UCI African Continental Championships at the same venue the next day.
This event is open to all riders from anywhere in Africa and is an official UCI International event.
Again, Tyler ‘Turbo’ dominated the event in a fearless performance, taking first place in all his races and being crowned the UCI African Continental Champion for 2016.
Asked what motivated him and made him ride so fast, the Grade 1 Laerskool Concordia pupil said: “I train every week and race almost every Sunday. I also love riding my KTM motocross bike and race motocross sometimes as well.
“My dad also bought me a new Crupi BMX frame the week before the champs and that made me very fast.”
BMX racing is alive and well in South Africa with events almost every Sunday in Gauteng.
An official Olympic sport since 2008 with South Africa having a rider at each games since, there is much to motivate such a dedicated young rider as Posthumus for the future. – @SabeloBoksburg
