Story and Photo: Deon v.d Linde
A small Kagiso Township kid with a big dream.
As a youngster Siya wanted one of those electric plastic cars, luckily, he did not get what he wanted. Instead he got a little quad bike and without knowing it that was actually what he needed to kindle the start of his dream. Growing up without a father to teach him to ride or to swing a spanner, he decided to teach himself how to ride and fix his bikes. With the support of his mother Thembi Tshabalala he moved from his quad bike and got on to a 125cc pit bike and then a Big Boy 250cc. His start into competitive riding was stunting. He and his friends rode around Kagiso doing stunts and making video clips. That got him noticed by the Extreme Drift League of South Africa, he even got to perform on the same grounds as the legendary Ken Block.
Siya said being a young kid from the township he had no idea where to go, who to speak to or even having no idea how to go about inquiring how to get into racing. Posting some of his stunt videos on social media got the attention of a man called Roland Neo Modibedi. Roland tracked Siya down and arranged a meeting with him and his mother. Siya was asked, “do you want to stay on the streets or do you want to race?” – “I want to race?” Siya replied.
Working for HONDA back then Roland introduced Siya to Neil Harran who runs SAMRA. The Rock Raceway was where Siya got on one of the Academy’s HONDA NSF100 bikes and took to the track under Neil’s supervision. Neil was impressed and saw potential in the youngster. As a new academy rider, he quickly improved and rose through the ranks, bigger bikes were loaned to him from 150cc to 200 then eventually up to a 300cc.
Siya started campaigns and fundraisers as much as possible. This was not as successful as he hoped. Tshabalala was offered a couple of wild card races internationally but every time there was sadly just not enough support to get him there.
Not giving up hope nor stop fighting he kept his head up and pushed forward. He managed to find a sponsor here and there but was just not enough to get him where he needed to go. More and more people started noticing the up and coming rider and more people started getting involved. Siya even managed to get a Monster Energy sponsor all by himself.
A new glimmer of hope showed him that his dream might yet become a reality, especially when more sponsors followed in Monster Energy’s footsteps like Makasela Air, Sepotokele Funeral Home, Precise Investments, AMP South Africa, Motorsport South Africa, Rainbow Biker Foundation and eventually and most importantly a motorcycle sponsor in the form of Yamaha South Africa
Siya started a career at Yamaha S.A in the Technical Department as an apprentice technician and worked hard to complete his last year as an appy and only has the final exam to complete to become a qualified Technician. Managing Director, Robin van Rensburg saw more than just an employee of the company but he saw the racer in Siya. Seeing the potential in Siya as a racer, Robin gave the #19 rider his big break by sponsoring him a 2017 YAMAHA R1 of his own. AMP S.A also recently gave him a brand new SHOEI Helmet.
With a bike of his own now, it is now up to young Tshabalala to take the bull by the horns and push hard and make Yamaha and South Africa proud.
Congratulations Siya and look forward to seeing what you can do with your future.
