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Ellina Mhlanga, Harare Bureau
AS Zimbabwe brace up for this year’s FIM Africa Motocross of African Nations Championships, hopes are high that local riders will give it their best shot when more than 200 participants meet for the event slated for this weekend at Donnybrook Park in Harare. The championships will take place on Saturday and Sunday.
Team Zimbabwe is made up of 59 riders and will be captained by South Africa-based MX1 Class rider Jayden Ashwell.
Jamie Kerwin, the public relations officer for the Bogwheelers Club who run motocross in Zimbabwe on behalf of Motorsport Zimbabwe, said the team has been training at Donnybrook every weekend for the past weeks with some of the country’s elite riders such as Josh Goby, Tristan Grainger and Regan Wasmuth leading the sessions.
However, he indicated that practice is over now as the track has been closed in preparation for the main event.
“The captain is Jayden Ashwell, he is a very well-known local rider. He is already in the country and the team has been practicing tirelessly. They have been preparing every weekend at the track at Donnybrook.
“They have been doing three to four hours of training every Saturday and some of the senior, elite riders have been running the training sessions. But there are no more sessions as the track is closed in preparation for the event. So practice is over,” said Kerwin.
Promising female rider, Tadiwanashe Nyamupfukudza (12), who was part of Team Zimbabwe for the championships, has been ruled out because of an injury.
“She will be replaced on the team. But that may not be a girl, it maybe a boy that replaces her because it runs in classes not by gender. We have one of the largest teams competing. We will still have a full team basically,” Kerwin said.
About 209 entries in total have been made with riders coming from seven countries – South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda Morocco, Zambia and the hosts Zimbabwe, who are fielding the largest team of 59 riders.
Kerwin said with the hosts fielding the largest team coupled with the fact that some of their riders have the exposure and experience they are hoping for some favourable results.
“We expect us being one of the largest teams, we are very hopeful that we will come out on top. They have been practicing really hard and putting in a lot of work, the riders themselves.
“Some of our riders ride in South Africa, they compete there, so they are familiar with racing against the very competitive nations that we are very hopeful that we will have a very good result,” said Kerwin.
Kerwin said participating countries are expected to start arriving in Harare today.
Online Reporter