adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
THE exciting motorcycling sport of motocross returns to Donnybrook Raceway in Harare again tomorrow with the staging of a Bogwheelers Club race meeting.Most of the country’s top junior and senior riders, who took part in last Sunday’s fourth round of the NetOne National Championship series, are expected to be back at Donnybrook tomorrow to compete in this club event.
According to Big “Bigs” Chitima, a member of the Bogwheelers Club, there will be three heats each per class.
“After this, there will be two races left for each of the club series and national series. When combined, this series is called the NetOne Motocross series.
“It looks like some riders are coming back from injuries while some are going into injury. Wade Ashwell hurt both his wrists in a crash while training during the week and he is not likely to participate this weekend and next weekend too, leaving room for Reagan Wasmuth to recover lost points during his injury too.
“We hope to see Davin Cocker back (from injury) to challenge Reagan Bond and Mudiwa Chigumba this weekend.
“So much for what we know about injuries and their implications so far,” Chitima said yesterday.
One of the country’s top riders Ashley Thixton will, however, be missing from tomorrow’s line-up as he is still recovering from a left knee injury he sustained during last Sunday’s National Championship event at Donnybrook.
Ashley Thixton confirmed yesterday that he will not race in tomorrow’s club meet.
“No, I won’t be racing because I’m still injured. I hurt my left knee during last Sunday’s racing and it’s not looking good at the moment and I don’t know for how long I will be out of action,” said Ashley Thixton, who is currently leading in the National Championship’s MX1 Class points standings.
According to National Championship points standings which were released this week by the secretary of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation, Rose Rushforth, Ashley Thixton went into last weekend’s fourth round sitting pretty at the top of the MX1 Class table with 103 points, 23 ahead of his nearest rival Jade Ashwell.
Doug Mellor was sitting in third place with 47 points. Zvishavane-based Tafadzwa Mawarire went into last Sunday’s fourth round of the National Championship series leading the way in the 125cc Class with 115 points while C. Robinson (94 points) and Josh Thomas (88 points) were sitting in second and third places respectively.
In the MX Lites 85cc Class, Wade Ashwell was the group’s leader with 80 points, 14 ahead of second-placed Mike Mawarire while B. Perry was sitting in third place with 62 points.
In the 65cc Class, Davin Cocker had amassed 120 points after the first three rounds of the National Championship series to top the class’s standings in which another talented young rider Tristan Grainger was placed second with 98 points.
Mudiwa Chigumba and D. Evans were tied on third place with 74 points each. Another promising young rider Big “BJ” Chitima (Junior) accumulated 114 points in the first three rounds of the 50cc Class and led the class standings ahead of Kuda Mhene (Jnr) (100 points) and Daiyaan Manuel (89 points).
The fifth round of the NetOne National Championship series will be held next Sunday at Donnybrook and this will see the home of motorsport in Zimbabwe hosting motocross events for three consecutive weekends.
Meanwhile, Big “Bigs” Chitima (Snr) has clarified his position as a member of the Bogwheelers Club. Chitima (Snr) said he was no longer an official of the club and was now only an ordinary club member after some motocross officials expressed their reservations over some of the comments he was making in the Press.
Writing on his Facebook wall this week, Big Chitima (Snr) said some members of the Bogwheelers Club were not happy when The Herald wrote that he was an official of the Bogwheelers Club “who run motorcross in the country . . .”
And Big Chitima (Snr) responded this week by saying: “This clause has been interpreted by some to mean that Big ‘Bigs’ Chitima (Snr) is claiming that he is the Chairman of Bogwheelers. And I have been confronted and asked about my involvement in the development of the article. I say the following:
“1. I was not involved in the creation of that article at all. Only when I was told of its existence did I look for it, though it quotes a post that I correctly made on our FB (Facebook) regarding race results on Monday.
“2. I asked the reporter what he meant in this text and he said that he is very clear that Mr. Gary Grainger is the Chairman. His clause meant that Bogwheelers runs motorsport in Zimbabwe and I am a member of Bogwheelers, in order to authenticate my involvement in the sport. Exactly the same way I understood it at first reading.
“3. I hereby declare that I am not an official of Bogwheelers, neither am I intending to be Chairman of the club any time soon. I therefore hope and trust that this will help clear this issue in public and in the grapevine. I also hope that all sorts of salient things that may have started growing will disappear forthwith.
“4. I will stop posting stuff on this page forthwith save for casual comments to other interesting posts from other members.”
Online Reporter