MOSSEL BAY MOTORING NEWS & VIDEO - The annual Concours D'Elegance, hosted at the Garden Route Casino as part of the Buffalo Rally, this year attracted a higher than usual number of entrants.
The popular Show and Shine event, convened by Mandy Koorsen and Ian Sinclair of the Nomads, formed part of the numerous free events accessible to the general public.
Hundreds of Buffalo Rally participants as well as Mossel Bay locals visited the event and marvelled at the unequalled entrants in this year's competition.
Contestants vied for top spots in three categories. By 09:00 on Saturday 13 April, the entries closed and by 10:00 the participants departed the Hartenbos ATKV, led in a procession to the casino by Sinclair.
By mid-morning the event was a beehive of activity. Contestants had a few hours to prepare their showpieces for the judges, who this year included an external expert.
Contestants had to have their motorcycles ready for judging by 14:00, yet had to wait in anticipation until the final prize-giving on Saturday evening to know whether they sufficiently impressed the judges for a top spot, or not.
This year the tireless efforts of Koorsen and Sinclair resulted in more contestants than before entering for the three categories. Trikes and vintage, standard and custom bikes were each judged according to external cleanliness, engine and mechanical components, trim, and roadworthiness by judges Mike Meiring, Kevin van Blerk and Bobby McGee.
Deon van Tonder's Honda Goldwing GL1800 Trike took top honours in the Open Class after many hours of spit and polish and a few cans of Mr Min.Photo: Tersia Marais
"To ensure absolute impartiality, we insisted on an independent judge to join the two judges from the Nomads Motorcycle Club.
"This year, we included a judge who is not a regular road biker," primary organiser Koorsen said.
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Interest in the event was evident by the hundreds of people, both locals and visiting bikers, who keenly appreciated and photographed the bikes on display even before the judges had their chance to adjudicate them.
Watch a video below:
The owners of the bikes were on hand and keenly interacted and answered the many questions they received with patience and a good measure of humour.
Promptly at 14:00, participants had to hand over their bikes to the judges for inspection, much of which was nerve-wracking as scant mercy was shown. Minute details and every aspect of the cleanliness and roadworthiness of the bikes were adjudicated.
Bikers had to specify whether their bike was driven or carted to the rally.
First time competitors in the Concours D'Elegance - members of the Sons of Thunder Motorcycle Club of Cape Town - hard at work during the Show and Shine part of the competition.
Results
In the Standard Class, the first place was awarded to Bike 15, the BMW R9T 2017 of Peter Chandler.
Second place went to Stephen Jacobs' Kawasaki GTR1400 2008.
In the Custom Class, first prize was awarded to Boerki Prinsloo with his Suzuki GSX1100EF 1984. Peter Pelser took second place with his Suzuki GSX1100EF 1984.
In the Open Class, Deon van Tonder's Honda Goldwing GL1800 Trike took top honours with Steven Bentley's Yamaha XS750 1976 in second place.
Overall winner
Bike 15, the BMW R9T 201 belonging to Peter Chandler, scored top honours in this year's competition.
In the Custom Class, first prize was awarded to Boerki Prinsloo.
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