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According to a Press statement, recently released by the Bogwheelers Club who run motocross in this country, Ashwell (16) has been invited to the United States where he will spend the whole of this year at a training facility in California.
Whilst in California, Ashwell will also have a chance to compete in amateur competitions there in an effort to qualify for the Loretta Lynn amateur national championships in Tennessee at the end of the year. This will hopefully allow him to progress even further in time to ultimately compete in the AMA Supercross, something he has dreamt of for many years.
Big “Bigs” Chitima, one of the committee members of the Bogwheelers Club, yesterday confirmed that Ashwell will soon be leaving the country to train and compete in the United States.
“Jayden will be leaving Zimbabwe at the end of this month for the United States where he is going for a riding school and to participate in some of that country’s top motocross races . . . He will be racing against some top international riders there. In fact, Jayden has actually scored a first because I think, at that age (16), he is the first motocross rider from Zimbabwe to be invited to train and compete in the United States, and this is really good for him and the sport of motocross in general in Zimbabwe. Jayden is a very talented rider and he works hard too in training . . . I think he will make it there in the United States,” Chitima said.
Ashwell has been competing in motocross since the age of six. He is currently the national champion in two classes of motocross in South Africa after winning both the MX1 and MX2 divisions in 2012. His proposed trip to the United States does come at substantial cost and he is fortunate to have some very generous sponsors namely Leopack, Fuchs Oil/Colovane and RAM Petroleum who have provided a platform for him to show his incredible talent this far in his career.
Going forward, this cost is going to be significantly more than it has been to date and his handlers are appealing to local motocross followers and other well-wishers to support a charity golf day in an effort to help get what is the best talent Zimbabwe has had for many years across to the United States to attempt to further his career in motorsport. The charity golf day has been set for February 22 at Borrowdale Brooke and participants are invited to enter fourball teams.
The cost is US$200 per fourball and this will include a dinner in the evening. Companies are also invited to market themselves by way of banners etc. on greens and Tee boxes. There will be prizes for longest drive and nearest the pin as well as prizes for the first five places. The format will be communicated to the participants closer to the day.
Meanwhile, Gary Grainger was, at the weekend, retained as the chairman of the Bogwheelers Club. Grainger took over the hot seat at the beginning of last year from Jim Perry and he will once again be assisted in running the Bogwheelers Club by former superbikes rider Shaun Whyte.
Chitima, Kuda Mhene, Lee Chigumba, Junior Manuel and Brian Cocker were also elected as the new committee members of the Bogwheelers Club during their annual meeting which was held on Saturday at Sables Motorsport Club in Harare.
Belinda “Bindi” Grainger and Jo Cocker are the club’s two secretaries while Laura Evans is the treasurer.
Most of these members have their children who are involved in motocross. Gary Grainger, whose son Tristan is one of the most promising motocross riders in this country, said yesterday that they will be in office for a one-year term. Gary Grainger said this year will see the Bogwheelers Club staging six national championship events and a similar number of club competitions, and most of these events will be staged at the home of motocross in Zimbabwe – Donnybrook in Harare.
“We are also hoping to run three Supercross (night racing) events this year and this is all part of our continued efforts of making the sport of motocross more popular in this country,” Gary Grainger said.
The Bogwheelers Club chairman also said they were expecting to have more senior riders in these events this year.
“Our junior ranks are very strong at the moment and we are now working on getting more participants in the seniors section and we hope we’ll have a full spectrum of motocross again this year,” Gary Grainger said.
The Ruwa-based chicken farmer has been behind the revival of motocross in this country over the past couple of years and he oversaw the successful staging of the Zimbabwe Summer Series event in 2011 and 2012.
The Summer Series is the country’s premier motocross event which is held over four days at the end of each season in December.
Apart from local participants, the Summer Series attracts other top motocross riders from fellow African countries such as South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Zambia as well as international competitors from the United Kingdom and United States.
The Summer Series consists of two days of motocross and two nights of Supercross (night racing), and in December last year, a record crowd of more than 5 000 people thronged Donnybrook to watch one of the two Supercross events of this exciting competition.
Gary Grainger said they will stage the Summer Series again in December this year and were hoping to invite more top international motocross riders for this event which he said will be “much, much bigger and better than the last two events we’ve hosted in 2011 and last year”.
Online Reporter