adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
YOUNG Zimbabwean motocross sensation Daiyaan Manuel produced another brilliant performance as he settled for a credible second-place finish in the 65cc Class during the third round of the 2016 South African National Championship series at BORC in Bloemfontein last weekend.
Coming up against some top South African junior riders during a very consistent race day, Manuel (10), a Grade Six pupil at St John’s Preparatory School in Harare, once again showed no ghost of inferiority complex as he shepherded his machine to second place behind South Africa’s Hayden Tully.
Third place in the 65cc Class went to another top South African junior rider Blake Young.
Manuel, the 2014 50cc Pro champion in South Africa, has now graduated to race in the more demanding 65cc Class and he looks to be a much improved rider after spending two weeks at a training camp in Germany in August last year.
His second-place finish in Bloemfontein on Saturday puts him in good stead for this year’s 65cc title after finishing fourth overall in the second round of the South African National Championship series at Zone 7 in Cape Town on April 2 where the first three places went to Tully, Blake and Dylan Kirk.
Manuel went into last weekend’s race meeting in Bloemfontein lying in second place behind Tully in the 65cc Class national standings with 86 points, 11 behind the leader and is strongly in the running for winning another title in South Africa after he was crowned the 50cc Pro champion two years ago.
Another top Zimbabwean junior rider Jordan Dewdney was also in action at BORC in Bloemfontein last Saturday but had a day to forget as he finished fifth overall in the 50cc Class.
Eight-year-old Dewdney finished fourth in the first heat and then was second in heat two until the last lap and then fell, ending up fifth overall.
But Dewdney is still tied in second place in the championship’s standings with Jordan van Wyk of South Africa who came second overall in the 50cc Class last Saturday behind another young South African biker Neil van der Vyver.
Kyle Townsend, also of South Africa, took third place in the 50cc Class.
A massive turn out and some great racing made for a very special day and a great welcome back into the South African Nationals for Bloemfontein.
The BORC track impressed all, and was well maintained throughout the day.
The next event in the South African National Championships is set to take place at the famous Syringa Park track in Muldersdrift just outside Johannesburg on July 2 where most of Zimbabwe’s top junior and senior riders, including Kuda Mhene (Jnr) and Emmanuel Bako who both missed last Saturday’s event in Bloemfontein, are expected to be available.
Mhene (Jnr), now a Grade Seven pupil at Hartman House in Harare, missed the third round of the South African Nationals in Bloemfontein as he is still recuperating from finger injury after he lost his nail while loading his bike a couple of weeks ago. He rides in the 85cc Class.
Nine-year-old Bako, on the other hand, failed to travel to Bloemfontein last weekend because his father and manager, Brighton “Bucks” Bako, was still to get his passport from the South African Embassy in Harare where he had submitted it for his work permit.
Emmanuel, a 65cc Class rider, is now peparing for the fourth round of the South African Nationals on July 2 in Muldersdrift before he leaves for Germany where he has been invited for a three-week training camp by two of that country’s top motocross clubs, MSC Waldkappel and MSC Bauschheim from August 5 to 22.
His trip to Germany is being facilitated by the GeBe Education and Sports Foundation, a German non-profit making organisation which has some links with a number of national sports associations in the European country and has a branch in Cape Town, South Africa.
The GeBe Foundation were also behind Daiyaan Manuel’s two-week training camp in Germany in August last year.
Online Reporter