28 May 2023

The 19-year-old sensational rider, Kosmas Mamaloukos, is eyeing a podium finish at this year’s Kalahari Toyota 1 000km Desert Race to be held in Jwaneng from June 23-25.

After an emphatic victory at the first round of the Botswana Motorsport national championship on the outskirts of Gabane on Saturday, the youthful rider carried much hope for a respectable position at the closely contested motorsport flagship event.

“I came first overall, which was a good platform to start with, going forward. 

I have been preparing well since the season started and my main event is the desert race,” Mamaloukos said in a post-ride interview. He said he was working hard to fix his mistakes so that when the desert race blasts back into life in Jwaneng he should be more than ready.

It would be his third appearance in the TDR as he did not finish in his first appearance due to a technical error and in his last appearance crashed out before reaching the designated point.

“I am looking forward to completing my race, a position will be a bonus. I have not seen the entry list, but I am expecting tough opposition,” he said.

On Saturday, Mamaloukos clocked 2:36:45, two minutes and 33 seconds ahead of runner up, John Kelly, who was closely followed by Vincent Crosbie and Kitso Molebo in the OR 1 class.

The first round race, code named 2Rivers 200, was divided into five loops of a 40 kilometre stretch.

It was an interesting spectacle of steep river crossings, sandy and muddy terrains along the Metsimotlhaba River sections, all adding excitement to the already tricky route. Mamaloukos has now joined the elite ranks of the 450cc OR 1 class, an undoubtedly star studded class that includes other interesting entries in Dakar Rally entrant, Ross Branch, Crosbie and Kelly, among others.

He graduated from the 250cc class and has done well winning the recent Khawa Dune Challenge and performed exceptionally well at the Gauteng X-cross Country Club (GXCC) event in Johannesburg, South Africa.Before the Jwaneng-bound desert race, Mamaloukos, alias Dudie, is expected to take part in the third round of the GXCC on the first weekend of June.

In other results of the Saturday competition, Victor Du Toit came first in the OR3 class. Roshan Noble won the senior quads class while Seth Meyer came first in the OR7 class. Ends