Johannesburg - 2016 Moto3 world champion Brad Binder is the South African Motorsportsman of the Year.
Binder was the top honouree at a gala evening hosted by sponsors Bridgstone SA and the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists on Wednesday evening, in recognition of his dominant performance on the Red Bull KTM 250 throughout most of the season, while Zwartkops Raceway owner Peter du Toit was presented with the 2016 Colin Watling Award for outstanding contributions behind the scenes.
Six new awards in various categories were presented for the first time:
Joey Evans, paralysed in a race crash in 2007 and still partially disabled, realised a supposedly impossible dream and won the respect of even the hardened Dakar Rally professionals by finishing the world’s toughest motorsport challenge at the first attempt on his KTM 450 - and for that he was honoured as the Off Track Rider of the Year.
Leeroy Poulter, who won both the SA Rally and Cross Country titles in 2016, was awarded Off Track Driver of the Year.
Binder was also named Circuit Rider of the Year, while European Audi Sport TT Cup racer Sheldon van der Linde, who won four races - more than any of his series rivals - took Circuit Driver of the Year.
Rotax World Mini Max karting champion Jayden Els - just 12 years old - was honoured as the Junior Driver of the Year, while Junior Rider of the Year went to Capetonian Brandon Staffen, 15, who notched up wins in the international KTM 390 Cup series both in South Africa and the UK.