62 http://www.popularmechanics.co.za _ AUGUST 2017
THIS YEAR, A SOUTH AFRICAN TEAM
AIMS TO TAKE OVERALL HONOURS
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE PREMIER
CLASS AT FARLEIGH CASTLE,
THE HOLY GRAIL OF VMX- BY ANTHONY DOMAN
There’s a clue in the hair, which is
streaked with grey and the stubble
that’s pretty much all white. The
wrinkles. And now and then, in the
wince that’s the response to a stab-
bing pain erupting from a creaky
joint. But always, always, there’s the
desire that burns like a white-hot
flame: beat the other guy.
If growing old is not for sissies,
motocross is a whole other level
of unsissy.
***Y
ou’re getting older and it’s getting harder,” says Gavin
Williams. He’s been riding since the age of seven. Always
motocross, enduros, trials; not super-elite or anything. At
age 53, Williams says he races more or less at a modest Clubmans
level. “I’ve accumulated some bumps and bruises. I’ve broken a
leg, I’ve broken a shoulder.” In between he ran a lot, completed
several ultra triathlons, and played golf. An orbital walker is help-
ing build up strength after the leg break.
It’s a Saturday morning and we’re squeezing our way between
rows and rows of shrouded shapes parked on one of those you-can-
eat-off-it floors. “Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess right now,” says
Williams. Mess? To me, things look particularly neat and orderly.
More or less in fact the way they would look if you had to keep,
say, a couple of hundred racing motocross bikes in showroom con-
dition. But they don’t just look the part: all of these bikes can run,
and run in anger. Williams’s private collection, tucked away in a
nondescript Cape Town industrial estate, will once again provide
the steeds for this year’s assault on the annual Vets Motocross des
Nations. The bikes have to be pre-1989 models and the riders...
well, they tend to be of a similar vintage.
For the past four years, Williams has been providing the nation-
al Veteran Motocross team with its pre-89 GP MX machines from
his collection, along with backup support. It helps that Williams is
the founding shareholder of Global ASP Limited a specialist tech-
nology company involved in data centre hosting of mission critical
financial applications to institutional clients.
“Last year we went up quite seriously,” says Williams, who will
also act as team manager. “We were competing against some of
the big factory names overseas and ended fourth. This year... this
year, we’ve got our sights set on an overall win.”
The bikes that will travel from South Africa are pedigreed Hondas- three CR 500s and CR 250 – and the riders are multiple cham-
pions in their own right.
“