After an 18-year absence, MXGP is finally set to return to South Africa for the 2026 season. From the fans who once travelled thousands of kilometres to watch their heroes race in Europe, to the riders who grew up dreaming of lining up at a home Grand Prix, the anticipation will build as we get closer to the event.
To explore what this means, we caught up with three prominent South African talents connected to the world stage – Calvin Vlaanderen, Camden McLellan and Tristan Purdon. From childhood memories of Sun City to the excitement of racing in front of family and friends at Terra Topia, they share their thoughts on the event, the potential boost for local motocross, and why this long-awaited GP could inspire the next generation.
How it feels to see South Africa back on the MXGP calendar after 18 years…
Vlaanderen: It’s awesome to see South Africa back on the MXGP calendar. It’s honestly a dream coming true for me.
McLellan: It’s a pretty surreal feeling. I think my family as well as myself are super excited to have a GP back home. For all my friends and family to be able to come and watch me. I think they’re just as excited as I am and I can’t wait to hopefully have a great home GP, race in front of all my friends, give the South African fans something that they haven’t experienced in a long time. I think we’re a country that likes and supports motorsports but we haven’t had the privilege of a major championship coming home for a very very long time so I think it’s going to be pretty spectacular for all the South Africans and my friends and family especially.
Purdon: This is pretty cool for South African motocross. We’ve had some big events lately like King of the Whip and WSX, and now this. Hopefully it brings new people into the sport and attracts more sponsors, because as you know, it’s getting harder every year to find support. Hopefully this helps the sport grow.
Memories from past South African GP’s…
Vlaanderen: I was just a small 8 year old kid watching my heroes in Sun City back in 2004. Now being able to race the GP myself more than 20 years later is going to be incredible.
McLellan: The last time I was four years old when we had a GP in South Africa and I was there. I obviously don’t remember much because I was pretty young and it was a long time ago but my dad always talks about it a lot.
Purdon: I was at Sun City in 2006, and from that day I was waiting to race GP’s. I remember the podium and trying to get Stefan Everts’ goggles (laughs).
On South African fans being able to experience a home GP instead of travelling to Europe…
Vlaanderen: I’m very excited. It’s obviously quite far from the rest of the GP’s so it limits the South African fans to come and watch. Occasionally there are some South African fans which is awesome to see but being in South Africa will definitely be good for the home fans.
McLellan: I think almost every GP there are one or two people with the South African flag and like Finland, a little family came to me afterwards, Indonesia the previous years, I’ve even seen some South Africans there so I think I have a pretty good South African following worldwide. South Africans that have moved abroad get to come and see the GPs. I can’t imagine how it’s going to be when, the GP is here in South Africa 40 minutes from a major city in Johannesburg. I think it’s going to be pretty spectacular and I’m hoping that the event organises and everyone puts together a great event, a memorable one and from what I understand it’s a long-term contract so hopefully for the next couple of years we can have a good South African GP.
On the chance to actually race a home GP…
Vlaanderen: I only get to go home for a few weeks every year in the off-season. My home is still quite a distance to where the GP will be held so I’m not even sure if I will have the time to go home. But for sure many friends and family will fly up to Joburg to watch and support.
McLellan: It’s not very often that I get to go home. I’ve been home this year but before that it had been quite a while so every time I get to go home it’s pretty special for me. As soon as I land in the airport everything just feels, looks and sounds familiar. I love the South African people, they’re very friendly and you can kind of get a taste of that as soon as you enter the airport so it’s always special to come home. I think this will be even more special now that when I come home in July there’s even an extra kind of special feeling to it.
Purdon: I’m definitely going to try to make this happen and race the GP. I’ll be doing most of my pre-season training at the track and getting every advantage I can (laughs).
On the Terra Topia track that will host the GP…
Vlaanderen: I’ve never rode there before to be honest. I think in my time it used to be called Dirt Bronco, maybe that’s even a different track. Anyway, it will be a complete new track for me but I am very much looking forward to it.
McLellan: The GP is going to be at Terra Topia, a track that’s been around actually for a very, very long time now. It has changed locations since the early days of me riding it and also recently changed ownership and in fact the owners that are running it now are the ones that have organised this – funded and put all of this together to bring the GP here. They’ve also recently made track changes to kind of start heading towards the GP kind of rules, width and all of that kind of stuff to make it a GP scale track. From what I understand they’re going to add a couple more extensions when the GP comes so from the videos I’ve seen it looks pretty cool and I’ve also got some feedback from the friends that have ridden it – they say it’s not too bad and definitely an upgrade from the previous layout so I’m excited to see what they can do when the GP does eventually get there. I have no doubt I think the track will be cool and the atmosphere as well.
Purdon: Terra Topia is a pretty cool track, and with the new revamp it’s looking really good. I’m looking forward to spinning some laps there. It holds a special place for me because I won my first MX1 race there and my first MX1 championship, so it’s been good to me.
On how far away they are from the track…
Vlaanderen: It’s about a 16 hours’ drive (laughs), South Africa is huge. I’m from Cape Town which is completely south of the country (the beautiful side of South Africa laughs). They will have to catch a flight which is 2.5 hours.
McLellan: Where I grew up I think is around 40-45 minutes from Terra Topia and then now where we stay, where my family stays is also about 35-40 minutes from the track so relatively close I would say just outside of Johannesburg. This is a real home GP for me I would say.
Purdon: My family is about an eight-hour drive from the track. But in the last few years before I left for the UK, I was staying about 20 minutes away.
On young South African’s wildcarding a GP event…
Vlaanderen: Of course! The best way to learn and get experience is to line up and race. I’ll be cheering for the other Saffa’s.
McLellan: No doubt we have a lot of talent and a lot of good young riders in South Africa but we aren’t really exposed to the GP level tracks and the amount of riders on the gate. Everything is just really different so I think this creates a great opportunity for the younger guys coming up that have recently moved to the 250cc’s to enter the event. They can get a taste and a feel of what it’s like racing in a world championship. I think it’ll put into perspective for the parents and for the kids racing how much different, bigger and better the level is than what you see on TV. I think it can look a lot easier and a lot more simple on TV but I think when we come and race here with the factory bikes and the factory setups I think it’s going to be an eye-opener for a lot of South Africans. I hope it will be a good thing and I hope it will eventually elevate the sport back to where it was in the early 2000s and 90s when we were producing good riders and were on the same kind of calibre as European standards of racing. I hope some wildcards enter and I hope if it’s a long-term deal that every year it gets bigger and better and more eyes on it so that it can grow the sport as well.
Purdon: Young South African’s need to experience the event and just have a good time, and not get too down on themselves if the results aren’t what they wanted. It’s a different level racing against those guys, so my advice is to enjoy it and have fun.
