Bako sizzles in South Africa

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
THE Tera Toppia motocross track in Johannesburg, South Africa, is slowly becoming a happy hunting ground for one of Zimbabwe’s top junior riders Emmanuel Bako.

On April 9, Bako was at Terra Topia, taking part in round two of the 2016 Gauteng Club Championship series in which he wagged his tail vigorously and blew the opposition away in the 65cc Class where he took the first step on the podium after winning all the three heats and amassing the maximum 75 points.

And this last Saturday, the nine-year-old Mai Grace Mugabe Junior School’s Grade Four pupil was back at Terra Topia for the second round of the 2016 MSA (Northern Region) Regional Championship series which attracted most of South Africa’s top junior and senior riders. On Saturday, Bako took part in the 65cc Class which had a strong field of 15 riders and the young, talented Zimbabwean biker made his presence felt in this category, finishing fourth overall despite crashing in the first heat.

The first three places in the 65cc Class went to Hayden Tulley of South Africa, Swaziland’s Blake Young and Dylan Kirk of South Africa.

In fact, Tulley won all the three heats to pick up the maximum 75 points, nine ahead of second-placed Young while Kirk garnered 60 points to settle for third place with Bako coming fourth with 55 points.

And Bako, one of the rising stars in Zimbabwean motocross, was satisfied with his overall performance during this one-day race meeting on Saturday.

“It was a good race indeed and coming fourth overall was not bad at all considering that all the top riders who are competing in the 65cc Class in this year’s South African National Championship series were there except for (my fellow Zimbabwean) Daiyaan Manuel.

“Two of Swaziland’s fastest riders, who included Blake Young, were also there and I managed to finish third in the third and last heat ahead of Blake which was really, really good for me although I wanted to replicate what I did during the Gauteng Club Championship last weekend but unfortunately that was not to be. “I could have done better overally but I crashed in the first heat, regained (my footing) and came fourth at the end of business today (Saturday). This is the best ever track that I’ve raced on and it has some good jumps.

“I was very comfortable on my brand new KTM 65 bike and it gave me an edge over the other 11 riders who took part in the 65cc Class,” Bako told The Herald from Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon.

The young Zimbabwean rider is slowly becoming a household name in the South African motocross circles and last year he surprised all and sundry there by taking second place in the Pro 50cc Class behind local lad James Thompson at the end of the tough seven-round South African National Championship series.