adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
THE 2014 Zimbabwe motorsport season is scheduled to start on January 26 with the staging of a motocross event at the famous Donnybrook Raceway in Harare. According to this season’s calendar of events, which was released yesterday by the secretary of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation, Rose Rushforth, the once popular motor rallying races are once again missing from the Zimbabwean motorsport radar but the country’s motor racing enthusiasts do not have to despair as they will once again be entertained by a number of drag racing meetings which are on this year’s track racing menu at Donnybrook.
Drag Racing, which took the local motorsport scene by storm last year under the stewardship of the Dragpro Club, will open what promises to be another exciting season with a race meeting scheduled for April 6 and it will be followed by three other competitions which have been pencilled in for May 31, July 26 and October 5.
This means the 2014 Telecel Dragpro Drag Racing Series will now consist of four race meetings from the original six and all of them will be staged at Donnybrook.
Last season saw more than 3 000 motor racing spectators thronging Donnybrook to watch each of the six-round drag racing series and Susan Zevgolis, the secretary of the Dragpro Club, predicted that this year will be “bigger and better” as they expect more competitors to take part in this exciting track racing event.
Zevgolis, however, said this year’s drag racing events have been cut from six to four due to “a number of combining factors”.
“This year we are cutting it down to four race meetings because it takes a lot of work to stage these events and we would also like to stay out of the rainy season. Remember, our last event of the year last year was rained off and it left a lot of spectators disappointed.
“So, we can’t afford to be rained off again and the other reason we have decided to cut our events to four is that we would like to bring in a number of competitors from South Africa and for them to come in, they need some assurances that the event won’t be affected by the rains or something of that sort.
“This means our season will be shorter but will be bigger and better as there would be more competitors coming in and we are also looking at holding some social events during the night so that we attract more local racers who we would to take up this exciting motor racing event,” Zevgolis said.
Away from drag racing, Zimbabwean motorcycling followers will also have something exciting to look forward to this year as the Bogwheelers Club will stage quite a number of club and national motocross events at Donnybrook.
The January 26 motocross’ season-opener will be followed by 14 other race meetings which will all be staged by the Bogwheelers Club on February 16, March 9 and 23, May 25, June 8, July 6 and 27, September 21, October 12, November 2 and 23 and December 13, 14, 20 and 21. The highlight of the 2014 motocross season will be the Southern African Challenge which has been scheduled for March 23 and after competing in this regional event, most top Zimbabwean motocross riders are expected to later on head to neighbouring Zambia to take part in the annual FIM Africa Motocross of African Nations Championship that has been slated for August 31.
And the country’s premier motorcycling event, the 2014 Zimbabwe Summer Series, which consists of two motocross and as many Supercross competitions, will be staged over four days at Donnybrook on December 13, 14, 20 and 21.
Meanwhile, the 2014 karting season will open on February 23 with the Harare Karting Club staging their first competition of the year at Donnybrook and it will be followed by other race meetings at the same venue on March 30, May 18, June 1 and 15, July 13, August 3, September 14, October 24 and November 16.
Donnybrook will also play host to the exciting 4×4 Jamboree on September 27 and 28 while a number of main circuit races will take place at the same venue and in Bulawayo during the course of the year.
But it is the ever popular drag racing events which are once again expected to pull the biggest number of spectators when the Dragpro Club hold the four rounds of the 2014 Telecel Drag Racing Series at Donnybrook.
Online Reporter