Chris' Stuff: Terreblance makes his mark in debut MX1 season - Imagine, if you will, being in charge of a lawnmower that displaces 450cc and generates close on 50 horsepower

TERREBLANCHE MAKES HIS MARK IN DEBUT MX1 SEASON

Imagine, if you will, being in charge of a lawnmower. Not any old lawnmower, mind. The machine at your disposal displaces 450cc and generates close on 50 horsepower, enough to rip your arms clean out of their sockets. Now imagine having to get in control of this beast. Not on any old terrain, mind. Your backyard is rutty and bumpy and every few yards or so you have to physically haul the thing over 3 foot high molehills. On a steep slope. Now imagine that you have to do this for 40 minutes long, with no rest, no ice tea, no beer, nothing. And to make it even more interesting, all around you are 29 other crazy souls who don't really like you being there and are doing their best to make things even more difficult for you by, for instance, punting you into the scenery.

If you can begin to imagine all this, you have scratched the surface of what it takes to race motocross in the MX1 class. Not any old races, mind. Imagine all this at the very pinnacle of participation, the world championships. Not a couple of lads from down the street going for a fun ride. We're talking about the best in the world here. Period. All of this is what Shannon Terreblanche let himself in for when he made the decision to move to the MX1 class at the beginning of the 2009 season. Many people looked at the South African askance, tapping their foreheads with a pointed index finger. Craaazzy. There is no other word for it. Or is there?

You have to hand it to Shanter. Coming into the 2009 season, he was in the last year of teenagerdom, yet he had already amassed a wealth of international racing experience. Where others may have given up due to the hardships, he soldiered on. Where others may have returned home from foreign shores far, far away, he stuck it out. Uwe Rommel, a German sponsor with a heart of gold and an unbridled passion for motocross, saw all this, and made the arrangements for Shannon to find his place in the Sturm Kawasaki racing tea.

Shannon's season started when winter still had its teeth dug deep into the European heartland. Though it may have been cold outside, Shannon was on fire inside at his first supercross race for the team in 2009 at Goes, Holland. He was burning up with fever, and although he gave all of himself on the track, it was no wonder that his first race weekend of 2009 is one best consigned to the "forget it rather quickly" shelf. A week later, the fever had subsided to tolerable levels, and the South African rode to his first victory for his new team at the supercross of Zwolle.

The preparation for the world championship season continued unabated, with international races in Belgium and Holland on the calendar. Shannon was steadily getting used to the bike, and at the second round of the Dutch Championships at Halle, he proved that the racing firm of Terreblanche and Co. was getting well on track, when he came within a smidgen of a podium finish in the final race of a very competitive event. He was steadily finding his feet on the bigger machine, so it seemed.

The sharp end of the sword is the world championship series, however, and all preparations were aimed at one thing - getting to a competitive level in the GP series. If someone ever were to referred to Shannon as a stick in the mud, however, the first GP at Faenza would have been the place. The heavens over Italy opened up all the sluice gates and turned the track into a slippery, gloopy, nearly impassable mess. Shannon got stuck on one of the steep hills early in the race, and with a ton of mud stuck to the bike, there was no way that his race was going any further. In Sevlievo, Bulgaria, he set matters right by scoring his first world championship points in the premier class, and now he was on the board.

A thumb injury kept Shannon out of the points in the first ever Turkish GP, but in Portugal he bounced back and scored five points, proving to himself and his supporters that he could now start to delve into the points scoring zone. In Spain he went one better, scoring points in both heats. From then on, he kept the points counter clicking at every GP for the remainder of the season, building up a base of consistency whilst improving steadily on his skills and outright speed.

Over the years Shannon has built up a love affair with the Baltic region. He has been invited to race in international races in Latvia and Estonia on numerous occasions, and has developed a sizeable fan base in the region. It was appropriate then, that he produced his best GP result to date at the Latvian GP, finishing 15th in the first race. He went one better the week thereafter in Sweden, a result that may or may not have been brought on by a memorable evening of being feted by his Latvian fans. Be that is it may, the naysayers were having to eat their words. Although he was still not quite in top 10 territory, Shannon was by now definitely a recognized MX1 world championship rider, able to ride into the points in almost every outing.

The likeable South African put the hammer down with the most force in front of his biggest group of fans however. In Lommel, Belgium, within crawling distance of his Belgian base, he took hold of the gut wrenching, energy sapping, soul destroying deep sand whoops, and with two solid results, scored his first ever overall top 10 result in a motocross GP. Riding to a top 10 result in a world championship event is not a performance given to everyone, and even less so in a notorious hell-hole such as Lommel. Uwe Rommel was beaming from ear to ear and could for all the world have floated back to his home near Stuttgart on a cushion of air.

When all the dust had settled, Shannon finished the season in 22nd spot in the world standings. To the casual observer this may not seem like much, but we would suggest that the cynics go and watch just a single motocross race, even at local level, to appreciate the true extent of this fine achievement. It was clear that South Africa, who had already gifted the motocross racing world three world champions and a host of international stars, had yet again produced a world level rider.

Apart from his ceaseless toil in the world championship series, Shannon also represented his team in the world class ADAC Masters series in Germany. Although his campaign started rather inauspiciously with 0 points in the first round, he quickly found his feet in this competitive series, and before long, he was a regular visitor in the top 10 zone. He ended the season with a flourish, and at the final event in Höchstädt, he was well in the mix, finishing fifth overall, in amongst some pretty illustrious company. This helped hoist him to ninth in the final standings, whilst establishing a growing fan base for him in Germany.

Shannon is not by a long shot the only person in the household that made his mark in the motocross world championship arena either. His girlfriend Marianna Veenstra finished eighth in the women's motocross world championships, despite a heavy crash in Sweden that would have rivalled those of any of the lads. We guess that the dinner talk between the two of them will in all likelihood not revolve the latest knitting patterns, therefore.

Shannon is in the midst of the winter Supercross season in Germany, and after the final event in Munich, he will return home to South Africa for some well deserved r&r before heading back to Europe in preparation of his 2010 campaign. He will spend a sunny and warm Christmas with his friends and family, and with the substantial media interest that he has generated over the course of his international career to date, he will doubtless be a sought-after Shanter Clause at all the Christmas parties back home.