Bogwheelers Club host national champs

the Bogwheelers national club championships meet.
The event will be used by the Bogwheelers Club, who run the motorcycling sport of motocross in this country, as a dress rehearsal for next month’s 2011 FIM Africa Championships.

Zimbabwe will this year play host to the FIM Africa Motocross Championships at Donnybrook on August 28 and this major continental event is expected to attract all the top African riders from more than seven countries which include Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and possibly Egypt and Morocco.
This is going to be the first major international motorcycling event to be staged in Zimbabwe since the turn of the millennium and will be hosted by the Bogwheelers Club of Harare.

And as part of their preparations for this major international event, the Bogwheelers Club will tomorrow stage the national club championships at Donnybrook, starting at 9am.
Thousands of local motorsport enthusiasts are expected to throng Donnybrook in the morning to watch this event which, apart from attracting most of the country’s top motocross competitors, will feature the riders who were selected for the Zimbabwe team for next month’s FIM Africa Championships.

The Zimbabwe team for the FIM Africa Motocross Championships will be led by the sport’s local hotshot Ashley Thixton and his young brother Cameron.
The team also includes other talented riders such as Tyler and Tafadzwa Maraire of Zvishavane, Kurt Greatorex, Regan Wasmuth, Tristan Grainger, Reagan and Cole Bond, Brad Perry, Hannes Swan, Damian de Sousa and Hamish Perry.

All these young riders will get the opportunity to “warm themselves up” during the national club championships at Donnybrook tomorrow before competing in next month’s FIM Africa Motocross Championships.
The Mawarire brothers – Tyler and Tafadzwa – have already confirmed their participation in the national club championships through their father Mike Mawarire (Snr).
“I’m bringing all my three kids – Tyler, Tafadzwa and Mike (Jnr) – to Donnybrook on Sunday. It’s a big national event which we can’t afford to miss,” Mawarire (Snr) said earlier this week.

In tomorrow’s event, Tyler will be competing in the 50cc Class while Tafadzwa and Mike (Jnr) will both take part in the 85cc Class.
Two other promising young riders – Ricky (7) and Megan Whyte – will also be in action tomorrow.
Ricky will be taking part in the 50cc B Class while his sister Megan will be fighting for the top honours in the quad section of the competition.

They will be joined by seven-year-old Tanyaradzwa Adel Muzinda, a Grade Two pupil at Eaglesvale Primary School, who will be competing in the PeeWee Class for the Under-10s.
In fact, young Tanya Muzinda, who trains with Big “BJ” Chitima (Jnr) under one of the country’s top motor rally drivers Big “Bigs” Chitima, will be the only black female rider at tomorrow’s event and it will be

interesting to see how she will perform against some of the other promising young PeeWee Class riders.
Gary Grainger, one of the country’s top motocross officials, said yesterday that competitors will compete in a number of classes in tomorrow’s event.

The classes include those for the PeeWees, 50cc A Class, 50cc B Class, 65cc Class, 85cc Class, 125cc Class, MXI, MXII, veterans and novices.
“It’s going to be an all-day event, starting from around 9am and there will be three races for each class. We are expecting a full house of about 60 to 70 male and female riders.

“This event will also give the riders who were recently selected to represent Zimbabwe at the FIM Africa Motocross Championships the chance to sharpen-up before competing in next month’s big continental event,” Grainger said.

He said a number of riders, who will represent Zimbabwe at next month’s round five of the 2011 South African National Motocross Championships, will also be competing in tomorrow’s event at Donnybrook.
The fifth round of the 2011 South African Motocross Championships will be held on August 6 in East London and Zimbabwe will be represented by a number of riders who include young Tristan Grainger, Regan Wasmuth and Regan Bond.

And Gary Grainger said all these young riders will be in action at Donnybrook tomorrow as they prepare for both the FIM Africa Motocross Championships and round five of the South African National Championships.

“The most important thing is that our riders are getting more and more active as we move towards the hosting of the FIM Africa Championships and I think they will be more than ready to take on some of the continent’s best motocross riders by the time we get to this big event,” Gary Grainger said.

Entry fee for tomorrow’s event will be US$5 per car while charges for next month’s FIM Africa Motocross Championships have been pegged at US$5 per person.
There will be full bar and catering at both events.

Zimbabwe team for the 2011 FIM Africa Motocross Championships
50cc Class: Tristan Grainger, Tyler Mawarire, Davis Evans, Cory Versveld, Regan Bond.
65cc Class: Regan Wasmuth, James Dean Harrison, Aiden Van Breda, Adrian Burl, Damiain White.

MX LITES: Cameron Thixton, Farnie Van Der Linde, Tafadzwa Mawarire, Willie Swan, Bradley Perry.
125cc Class: Francois Swan, Damian de Sousa, Ricky Jardim, Cole Bond.
MXII: Kurt Greatorex, Jayden Ashwell, Ashley Thixton, Kyle Lowden Stoole, Hamish Perry.

MX1: Hannes Swan, Tyrone Carr, Adrian Oliver, Broc Thomas, Shawn Mitchell.
Women’s Team: Chanelle Greatorex, Victoria van Breda, Tony Hawgood.