NAD Pro’s Nico Bell was happy to secure a win on home soil in the opening Trailseeker Series event at Buffelsdrift, Gauteng, on Saturday.
With New Africa Developments (NAD) based in Pretoria, Bell said it was particularly pleasing to win in Gauteng.
“It is always good to compete in the Trailseeker races; they are very good for our sponsors,” he told In the Bunch.
“We definitely had a lot of motivation to do well in the race and it was really great winning on home soil.”
NAD Pro’s Nico Bell was happy to secure a win on home soil in the opening Trailseeker Series event at Buffelsdrift, Gauteng, on Saturday. Photo: Charmain van Zyl
On top of that, Bell won the 70km race in a sprint finish against teammate and joBerg2c-winning partner Gawie Combrinck. Silverback’s Shaun-Nick Bester completed the podium.
The pair dominated the seven-stage joBerg2c just over a week ago and Bell said that made the racing even closer on the day.
“Barend Burger attacked in the beginning [of the race] and then Gawie went with him. I somewhat just sat back and watched the rest of the guys.
“Shaun-Nick was with us. He crashed in the beginning but he got back quite fast. He, I and two other guys just gave a hard chase to catch up to Gawie and Barend.
“Gawie then went hard at the front and I think he built about a minute-and-a-half gap. I attacked Shaun-Nick when I saw him taking strain on one of the climbs.
“I managed to get away and I caught Barend on the next downhill section.”
He then eventually caught up to Combrinck with about 20km left.
“We stayed together for the remainder of the race until it came down to a sprint between him and me, Bell said.
“He went a bit earlier and I moved over to the right so he could not get past and we just sprinted to the line on the grass. I was very glad to take the win.”
Ideally, the competition could have been stronger, he said. “It was not the best competition but every time you go out you still have to make the racing, whether everyone is there or just a few riders.
“As a team we had a plan and we stayed with that plan. It worked out great, getting first and second.”
The route, he said, was very rocky with many loose corners. “I lost my front wheel on some of the corners, so I had to take my foot out to … get it upright again.
“There was a lot of dust as well. The back guys had to ride in a lot of dust, especially on the single tracks where we would break most of the time.
“It was a fun, free-flowing race though, and it was very enjoyable for everyone. There were about 3 000 people in attendance, so it was an awesome event.”
Bell will now focus on the sani2c Race, where he will most likely pair up with Matt Beers in NAD Pro’s A-team, depending on the team’s format.
