Welties rider charges to second place at Pre-National Event
He earned himself a podium call-up for second overall but more importantly, drew the confidence of having made significant strides towards closing the speed difference with the national championship leader.
No great discoveries have ever been made by ships tied up in the harbour; to explore your horizons, you have to up anchor and strike out.
This metaphor is perfectly applicable to Weltevreden Park’s young motocross sensation Christian Berrington-Smith as he seeks to advance his motocross racing career.
Already established as a definite top-five rider in the South African 85cc Pro Motocross firmament, the 12-year-old’s ambitions do not end there.
He wants to move closer to the top, mixing it with the class leaders, and also elbow his way towards international-level participation.
One does not achieve these ambitions by sitting at home, computer gaming; you have to seek out your opposition, meeting the challenge head-on. So it came to pass that Christian and his father Wayne hitched up the trailer and trundled off to Bloemfontein for the pre-national event.
With a national championship event at the same venue in two weeks’ time, this provided an ideal opportunity for scoping out the track and the opposition.
Two of the four riders ahead of Christian in the national championship standings had also made the trip, those being championship leader Trey Cox and good buddy Jake van Schoor.
The Agape Christian School learner served early notice of intent, qualifying second behind Trey. Notably, his lap time was much closer to Trey than had been the case at the previous national championship event.
A less-than-optimal start slotted Christian in fourth place behind Trey, Jake and Alon Orland.
He rode a measured and calculated race, and in the last lap pulled out the scimitar and got the better of Alon with a manoeuvre over the scary Seventh Heaven jump, where he scrubbed and got to ground quicker.
He closed the gap on Jake, and made a clean block pass on the inside to secure second place.
Christian properly duffed the start in race two, rounding the first corner in fourth last position but soon found himself in fourth position again behind Trey, Jake and long-time friend Damien Venter.
He kept the pressure on the boil, and again bided his time before passing Damien and then Jake to claim second spot again.
He earned himself a podium call-up for second overall but more importantly, drew the confidence of having made significant strides towards closing the speed difference with the national championship leader.
The event was the first of a triple play of racing outings for Christian. He will travel to Sasolburg in the following weekend in defence of his Northern Regions championship lead, and then it’s off to Bloemfontein again for the third round of the national championship series.
