THE MICHELIN SPONSORED SAGMJ MOTOR SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR FOR 2017 IS KELVIN VAN DER LINDE

The South African Guild of Motoring Journalists’ 2017 Motor Sportsman of the Year, sponsored by Michelin, is 21-year-old Kelvin van der Linde of Johannesburg.

This is awarded to him for his many achievements racing an Audi R8 with great success in Australia, America, and Europe, where he was part of the team that won the 24-hour race at Nürburgring. This is the third time that van der Linde has been awarded this trophy for his racing achievements.

Other South African motor sportsmen who were nominated were Matthew Scholtz, who won the American super stock 1000 championship and was inducted into the AMA (American Motorcyclists Association) Hall of Fame.

Sheridan Morais, former South African Superbike champion who won the Super Sport Class in the World Superbike Championship in Germany was also nominated for his two-wheeled achievements.

Kelvin’s younger brother, Sheldon van der Linde (18) who finished 3rd overall in the ADAE championship in Germany piloting an Audi RS. Sheldon also won in the 24-hour Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta in the United States.

Wilhelm Baart who won his class at the Jaguar Simola Hill Climb in 2017 in his 1000hp Nissan GT-R, breaking the 40 second barrier for the event in a time of 39.892 seconds.

Ryan Hunt who has raced Moto-X for nearly four decades, winning 12 South African titles. He also competed with great success in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. He has been awarded Springbok colours and has a Motorsport South Africa lifetime achievement award for representing our country in international events.

Richard Leeke who became the youngest driver to ever win a national rally. Richard won the Volkswagen Rally at only 21 years. He missed out on winning the overall championship by a small margin during the last event of 2017.

COLIN WATLING AWARD
The 18th presentation of the Colin Watling award for non-competitors in motorsport was taken by Des Easom and his team at the Western Province Motor Club at Killarney in Cape Town. They successfully organised the final round of the World Rally-X Championship. This was the first time in 25 years that South Africa hosted a motoring-related world championship event of this scale. Their successes have seen them signed up for the next five years.

Other nominees were Ian Shrosbree and his team for successfully organising the Jaguar Simola Hill Climb in Knysna that has taken place for the last 9 years.

Gavin Williams who supplied pre-1989 Historic Moto-X machines and helped the South African team with organisation and logistics at the Vets Moto-X Championship in England where South Africa secured 4th position against 52 other countries.

Glyn Hall and the entire Hallspeed motorsport team. This includes everyone from the team that ensures the SA built Toyota Hiluxes remain competitive, to the tough drivers that compete in both the South African Cross-Country Championship and the gruelling Dakar Rally in South America.

Waldo van der Waal and Hannes Visser from Plan C Productions, who is there to provide extensive media coverage on television, print and online mediums. This includes everything from local rallies and Cross-Country events to the Dakar Rally. Previous winners of these prestigious awards are:

MOTOR SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR (MSOY)
1992 Greg Albertyn
1993 Greg Albertyn
1994 Jan Habig and Douglas Judd
1995 Jaki Scheckter
1996 Wayne Taylor
1997 Etienne van der Linde
1998 Alfie Cox
1999 Thomas Scheckter
2000 Grant Langston
2001 Schalk Burger and Piet Swanepoel
2002 Tschops Sipuka
2003 Alan van der Merwe
2004 Cornel de Villiers
2005 Alfie Cox
2006 Giniel de Villiers
2007 Serge Damseaux
2008 Tyla Rattray
2009 Giniel de Villiers
2010 Ralph Pitchford
2011 Leeroy Poulter
2012 Giniel de Villiers
2013 Kelvin van der Linde
2014 Kelvin van der Linde
2015 Leeroy Poulter
2016 Brad Binder

COLIN WATLING AWARD
1999 Glynn Hall
2000 Rory Byrne
2001 Peter Du Toit
2002 Sarel van der Merwe
2003 Dave McGregor
2004 Alistair Gibson
2005 David Clapham
2006 Danie van Jaarsveld
2007 Glyn Hall
2008 Roger McCleery
2009 Peter du Toit
2010 Adrian Pheiffer
2011 Kyalami Marshals’ Association
2012 Glyn Hall
2013 Beaulah Schoeman
2014 Toby Venter
2015 Desmond Gutzeit
2016 Peter du Toit