The past weekend marked the penultimate and final round of the Traditional National Enduro Championship and Heinrich Aust had his body and bike firing on all cylinders!
After an unfortunate crash in round 2 of the championship, the young Husqvarna rider was left playing catch up in his pursuit of the E1 National Championship title. Aust started in P10 on Saturday morning and fought through the hot and dry conditions to lead the pack across the line after 5 brutal laps of racing giving him first place overall for the day as well as class honours on board his FE250.
“Saturday was a demanding day on my body with the heat and relentless rocks at the Heidelberg event but I was really happy to get the job done and go into the final round with a fighting chance at the championship”, commented Aust after Saturday’s round 3.
Travis Teasdale had been nursing a nagging shoulder injury which caused a DNF at round 2 and came into the final round of racing on the back foot. Teasdale also started towards the middle of the starting order and had to make moves on the first lap in order to get into a comfortable position to be able to race forward. The lack of riding of the past few weeks took its toll on his hands toward the end of day 1 but a 3rd place in the E2 class was nothing to shy away from.
“My hands were completely destroyed after Saturday, there was no rest on the route and it was relentless out there in the hot conditions. I wasn’t sure how I was going to recover overnight but I did everything I could” Teasdale said after the penultimate round.
Day 2 brought the final of the championship and everything to play for with 4 riders having the opportunity to win the overall championship. Heinrich Aust started out front and showed a clean pair of heels the whole day taking top step in the E1 class, crowning him the 2023 National E1 Enduro Champion. A series of events unfolded during the day, Aust causing chaos amongst the pits and service crew but when all was said and done, Aust had done enough to be crowned the Overall champion by the narrowest of margins.
An ecstatic Aust commented, “I’ve been hunting for this championship for a few years and it’s a big relief to have it now and I can look ahead to the rest of my career and what’s to come”
Travis Teasdale knew he had his back up against the wall but was determined to prove his worth and came out swinging making up tremendous time during the course of laps 1 and 2 but disaster struck right at the beginning of lap 3 with a broken chain which resulted in a massive loss in time and left Teasdale fighting from behind once again. In the end, Teasdale brought his TE300 across the line in second place in the E1 class giving him a solid 3rd overall for the year.
Teasdale commented, “It was a tough two days for me and I struggled with my hands but I pushed through I had such a good time out on my bike and on the track. Stoked with my result even though there were a couple of bumps in the road, we can just work on getting better from here”
Team manager, Grant Frerichs showed visual excitement saying, “Heinrich really deserved everything he has accomplished this year…He is a hard worker and never gives up and it showed this year when he fought through all his injuries at round 2 which ultimately kept his championship alive and we are really lucky to have an athlete like him on our brand.”
