adminthe MXII Class crown.
The Summer Series is the country’s main season-ending motorcycling event and this year it was held over four exciting days at the home of motorsport in Zimbabwe — Donnybrook — on December 8, 12, 14 and 16.
The series was electronically timed and the perfect weather conditions set the stage for a showdown of note as some of the top international motocross riders from the United States, South Africa,
Zambia and Botswana had come down to upset the local contenders.
However, what had been a successful event was marred by an ugly incident of violence on the final day of competition at Donnybrook on Sunday when one of the riders was involved in a fistfight with a spectator during the prize-giving presentation ceremony.
The misunderstanding degenerated into total chaos as more people got involved in the scuffle before order was restored.
Earlier, one of South Africa’s top motocross riders van der Westhuizen was just in a class of his own as he first clinched the main MXI Class crown before asserting his dominance in this year’s Summer Series by lifting the MXII Class title. Van der Westhuizen produced some strong rides during the four days of action at Donnybrook which first enabled him to claim the first podium place in the MXI Class ahead of local champion Jayden Ashwell and Ross Branch of Botswana.
The talented South African rider amassed a total of 288 points in the MXI Class to pull off the win ahead of Ashwell (255 points) and Branch (245 points). Van der Westhuizen was also in dominant form in the MXII Class section where he accumulated a total of 271 points, relegating Branch (249 points) and Ashwell (242 points) into second and third places. In the 125cc Class, spectators were treated to some brilliant racing as two American riders Cole Barbieri and Dare DeMartile lined up side by side with South Africa’s Brad Cox.
And Cox showed no ghost of inferiority complex against the seasoned American riders, settling for second place in this class behind Barbieri with 268 points.
Barbieri won the 125cc Class after collecting a total of 291 points while his compatriot DeMartile came third (242 points).
But DeMartile later redeemed himself by winning the 85cc Class title after amassing a total of 300 points, 41 ahead of second-placed Zimbabwean Regan Wasmuth. Another top Zimbabwean rider Wade Ashwell came third in the 85cc Class with 233 points. In the 65cc Class, Zimbabwe’s Davin Cocker was just a bit too good for teammates Tristan Grainger and Adi Burl. Cocker picked up 291 points in this class and was well ahead of second-placed Grainger (243 points) and third-placed Burl (216 points).
In the 50cc A Class, it was the exciting South African Jono Mlimi who upset the local contenders as he secured the top spot with 297 points. Second was Mudiwa Chigumba (249 points) and third was another promising young Zimbabwean rider Big “BJ” Chitima (Junior) (244 points). In the Pee Wee Class for riders under the age of nine, Ryan Masimo (285 points) wrapped things up ahead of Tanya Muzinda (279 points) and David Knox (232 points). Proceedings in the 50cc B Class were dominated by Ricky Whyte.
The last day of the 2012 Summer Series on Sunday was, however, marred by some skirmishes, which happened during the prize-giving ceremony at Donnybrook. The event initially promised to end on a high as everyone gathered at Donnybrook for a championship prize-giving.
But a fist-fight broke out between one of the riders (name withheld), who took part in some freestyle demonstrations in-between the races during the four-day event, and one of the spectators.
And when some officials tried to separate the two “fighters”, more people joined in in this fracas, resulting in free for all scuffles before order was later restored. In fact, the ugly head of racism also reared its head during this skirmish and one of the top officials of motorsport in this country, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, yesterday called on both the Bogwheelers Club, who run motocross in this country, and the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation to take stern disciplinary action against the culprits.
“In fact, a nasty incident happened during the prize-giving ceremony on Sunday where both blacks and whites were involved in some fist-fighting and this painted a bad picture for our sport on this day,” the official said.
No comment could be obtained from both the Bogwheelers Club and the ZMSF yesterday.
Online Reporter