This past weekend was by far the ‘biggest’ race of my young career. Lining up on a GP track, on a GP weekend was absolutely amazing and an experience I will never forget.

The weekend didn’t start as well as I would have liked with rear brake issues ending my free practice session after only completing 3 laps, but I knew that we would have it sorted in time to race.

Timed practice went really well and I was able to post 10th fastest time, but just 1.7 sec off first and I knew I still had a bit to give and could compete in the races.

Moto 1: My start was pretty bad putting me around 13th, by the time we went through after the first lap I had worked my way up to 8th. Lap after lap I pushed, made passes and could see the gap to the leading group shrink. In lap 7 I setup a pass on the leading pair and managed to pass both in a single corner. With the lead I put my head down and put in some hard laps to build a gap and take the race win.

Moto 2: My start was slightly better and I found myself in 8th place. Once again I managed to pick off riders in the opening laps until I caught the second place rider in lap 3. We had a good battle but eventually made my way through and tried to put in a push to catch the leader. With the gap not shrinking fast enough and a few mistakes creeping in, I decided to settle into second and secure the overall and title.

Going into this race I knew I had the pace to compete provided I hit all my marks, executed the plan my coach and I had laid out and stayed on the bike, but the reality of winning this event is going to take a while to sink in.

European 85cc Champion 2018

I have now also been exposed to the behind the scenes routines for the riders winning these events, photo shoots, press conferences with my MXGP idols. This weekend will be something I will be able to look back on forever.

Huge thanks to my sponsors in Germany and back home:

KOSAK, KTM, Motorex, SN Hydraulik, Troy Lee Designs, Bridgestone, Mefo Mousse, Xtrig, ORS Suspension, Matura, Goldfren, Twinair, Pepp Underwear, Herschel Supply Co, Esjot Sprockets, KTM South Africa, Red Bull South Africa, Werthaus Wohnbau