There is a group of people in the world that love one specific bike, so much, so there is an entire off-road race dedicated to the motorcycle and SA won it!
New Zealand (20 February 2020) – The International GS Trophy is a challenging motorbike adventure that takes enthusiasts across the globe to compete in gruelling challenges. This year the challenge took place in New Zealand where South Africa won it!
More than twenty teams from all over the world met from the 9th to the 16th February 2020. Riding the BMW F 850 GS, the teams were able to tackle challenges across New Zealand’s diverse landscape.
The competition is held every two years, and South Africa has now held the title for three consecutive challenges. Team SA won 2016, 2018 and the 2020 title. The 2016 win took place in Thailand, and the 2018 win took place in Mongolia.
The challenge win is based on a point system, and the team with the highest points win. South Africa took the trophy with a win of 394 points, beating runners up France by 12 points.
In an interview with the Ultimate Motorcycling Magazine, Brandon Grimsted, the pilot for Team South Africa confirmed they were nervous when the day started but are thrilled by how it ended!
“With just a five points gap coming into this morning it was a scary start to the day, we were nervous, shaking even and over-thinking everything!
“So in the jerrycan test we had a few problems but we got back up and carried on. For the final parcour this was one of the scariest events I’ve ever taken part in. But it was awesome, we set a fast time with super clean riding, we felt we’d done all that we could. And it was enough! We’re super-happy to take the win and we know for the GS community at home this is cause for celebration. Our third win, it’s wonderful.
“Equally we had a very fun week, we thoroughly enjoyed it and honestly it was some of the best off-road riding I’ve done. As a team, we were already close, but the week of being in each other’s company all the hours of every day has bonded us for life! And the friends we’ve made along the way, from all these different nations – well, it makes the experience complete.” – Brandon Grimsted, Team South Africa pilot
The win is yet another South African highlight of 2020, and we couldn’t be prouder! Well done Team South Africa!