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Collin Matiza
ZIMBABWE’S motocross champion rider Ashley Thixton recently underwent surgery on his dislocated shoulder, and he is projected to need four to six months to recover.
This means the MX1 and MX2 rider will miss this year’s Betterbrands Zimbabwe Summer Series which is scheduled for Donnybrook Park Raceway in Harare from December 11 to 15.
Speaking to Zimpapers Sports Hub yesterday, the 30-year-old dirt bike rider Thixton revealed that he is also expecting his first child and this will also see him taking some time-off the track. Asked if he was going to be available for this year’s Betterbrands Zimbabwe Summer Series, Thixton said: “No, I won’t be racing this year. I’ve just had a shoulder replacement, so I’m off the bike for six months.
“And together with expecting my first child, I’m taking a year off from racing but I’ll be back stronger next year.” A veteran of so many battles on the track at Donnybrook, Thixton has been a regular feature at the Zimbabwe Summer Series since its inception just after the turn of the new millennium. He has won so many races in the different classes that he has competed in at Donnybrook since he was introduced to the sport by his father, Trevor, as a three-year-old.
And at the beginning of this year, he wrote his piece of history when he competed in the 2024 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.
Thixton managed to last the full distance at the Dakar 2024 Rally in January, finishing at position 32 and he became the third Zimbabwean after motor rally driver Conrad Rautenbach and fellow rider Graeme Sharp to emerge unscathed at the tortuous event in the dunes of Saudi Arabia. Thixton said at that time he was happy to have done the nation proud.
“I am very happy to be back home and it was such an experience. I enjoyed every moment in Saudi Arabia.
“It’s a dream come true. It really is something that means a lot . . . It’s not easy to get but now I’ve got it.
“I had the privilege of doing it, the privilege of putting myself through it, having people following it with me. I am happy for the support I got from everyone and as you can see there are many people, who have come here to welcome me which shows that I had the support. I am now looking forward to doing it again next year. “In the mean time I am going to take a break and relax as this has been a long two weeks of hard work,” said Thixton.
He became the second Zimbabwean motorbike rider to complete the full distance of the tough two-week Dakar Rally after Sharp, who achieved this feat in 2020 when the event moved to Saudi Arabia.
During this year’s Dakar Rally, Thixton came 20th in the 12th and final stage for an overall position of 32 in the bikes section.
In motorsport, Thixton joined the class of retired motor rally driver Jamie Whyte and his co-driver Phil Archenoul who won the African Championship back-to-back in 2009 and 2010.
A fine motocross and enduro rider, the 30-year-old only turned to rally raids a couple of years ago and got his ticket for this year’s Dakar by finishing the Sonora Rally back in April 2023.
For his first Dakar, he was part of the HT Rally Raid Husqvarna squad.
Online Reporter