MRW Issue 1

We do live in a beautiful country, and
we sometimes take that for granted,
well at least I know I do. Yes, there are
so many problems we as South Africans
have to deal with, but just like
anything we love, you have to take
the good with the bad. This is our
home and will always be, no matter
where we end up in life. On a recent
trip down to George I got to experience
a little more of this beautiful
home I live in.
In my 38 years of living in SA I
had only been to George once before,
many moons ago whilst driving
through to Knysna, myself and my
gorgeous wife Amy, stopped at a little
restaurant for a rest and to grab a
bite to eat. That is as far as my George
experience had got, until now.
I got a call from Mr. Jos Mattheysen,
owner of Ducati SA and the massive
World of Motorcycles dealership out
in Centurion, asking if I would like to
accompany him and some Ducati customers
down to George for a week of
riding not only the new Ducati Streetfighter
V4, which has just arrived in
SA, but also sample the wonderful
world that is Ducati Scrambler.
How could I say no, even though
I was stressed and bombarded with
work to do before the launch of Moto
Rider World, I saw it as a chance to
quickly reset the batteries whilst taking
in some of the glory that is our
beautiful land.
Jos had bragged to me on many
occasions about just how majestic
that part of SA is. “it’s two-wheeled
motorcycle heaven” is how he actually
described it. He went on for hours
about how stunning it is down there
and could not believe I had never experienced
the famous Outeniqua
Pass before. I could
hardly pronounce it, never
mind heard of or experienced
it before. So, our bags were
packed and along with my
trusty crew, Gerrit and Daniella
from Beam Productions,
we were off and our journey
to George had begun.
Before we left, I had
thought why not take another
‘Super Naked’ bike down
to test, one that I had tested
a few weeks prior, but unfairly
around a track, where it
was very much out-of-sorts.
So, a simple phone call to
Kawasaki SA who bent over
backwards to assist me, and
I soon had a 3rd member in
the van with me, the mighty,
supercharged animal that is
the Kawasaki ZH2.
No doubt that the long,
open, ravishing roads that I
had been promised would
suite the powerful green
mamba down to a tee and it
would be more of a fair fight
against the new Streetfighter
V4, which had pretty much
wiped the floor with the ZH2
at the track test we did.
After a long, relaxing 12
hour drive we arrived in
George and were greeted
by some very happy people
and great weather. After
being shown to our guest
house, the lovely Lord Caledon
Guest House, we headed
off to Jos’s place in Fancourt.
After a quick welcome drink,
we were quickly instructed
to kit up as we were heading
straight for this so-called glorious
Outeniqua Pass.
With the ZH2 still nice and
cozy in the van, I was handed
the key to one of the three
new Ducati Streetfighters
that were present in the garage.
Two were the high-spec
S models while the one I was
handed was the base model,
so basically just no electronic