Tafa is 2023 off-road queen
Kabelo Boranabi | Monday January 29, 2024 15:09
On Saturday night, the 18-year-old walked away with the Best Women Overall Award in the Off-road title. She is also became the runner-up in the motocross discipline at the 2023 BMS Awards ceremony held in Gaborone.
In addition, Tafa finished as the best rider in the Off-Road OR6 ladies class while she was second in the MX Ladies.
The teenager bagged two winners’ accolades and received two more for the second place finishes, which meant she walked away with four awards on the night. It was a much improved performance by the biking sensation from 2023 as she debuted and finished second in the 1000km Toyota Desert Race (TDR). She had two wins and three runners up finishes in six BMS national off-road championship rounds as she forfeited a single race. “I am really proud of my performance. I did participate in one of the toughest races, which is the Desert Race.
So, I can say that I did good. I got the awards that I worked so hard for and I am looking to do better this year. I feel proud of myself and I feel confident of what I can do, winning and competing with the boys,” said Tafa. She is of the view that competition will get tougher in the women's section in 2024. Local motorsport has been male dominated but has recently seen a positive increase in the number of women riders. “We are not few actually. Yes, it is a male dominated sport but we have a number of upcoming girls in the sport. It is just a matter of time before they start competing.
We have a number of girls that ride for fun and it is making me proud. Even this year, they are coming up and you will see many lady riders in Botswana,” said Tafa. It was a 'teenage affair' at the awards as 16-year-old Euan Harmse won the Best Off-Road Biker. Harmse is the OR6 High School class winner. She managed to fend off competition from OR1 class champion and former Dakar Rally competitor, John Kelly. Exciting biking prospect, Liam Pretorius is the Junior Male Off-Road Biker of the year. Jordan Maloba emerged as the best junior biker in motocross while Kosmas Mamaloukos took the senior’s title. Jennifer Maloba also walked away with best female in motocross.
Full list of award recipients
Motocross Championship MX 50cc Alexander Elittson MX 65cc Liam Pretorius
MX 85cc Jordan Maloba
MX1 Kosmas Mamaloukos
MX2 Tabona Tafa
MX Ladies Jennifer Maloba
MX125 Seth Meyer
Overall Winner (Men) Kosmas Mamaloukos
Overall Winner (Women) Jennifer Maloba
Off-Road Championship
Junior 50cc Zibo Moabi
Junior 65cc Liam Pretorius
Junior 85cc Jordan Maloba
OR1 John Kelly
OR2 Anton Hendricks
OR3 Bame Molemele
OR4 Charles Motswetla
OR6 Ladies Tadiwa Tafa
OR7 High School Euan Harmse Quad Bikes Q1 High School Lincolin Nielson
Q2 Seniors Mohammed Bilal Shariff
Q3 Masters Kgosi Tsogang
Q4 Ladies Tapiwa Khwarae
Overall Winner (Men) Euan Harmse
Overall Winner (Women) Tadiwa Tafa
Cars
Class A Mouhammed Moultson and Moin Ahmad
Class B Good Mohammed and Joel Shalako
Class D Altaf Maher and Ahmed Jada
Class E Donny Harmse
Class G (SXS) Dan Moskovic and Eric Visser
Class P Khalil Hussain and Andre Geldenhuys