Whyte favourite for award

By Paul Munyuki and Ellina Mhlanga
REIGNING African motor rally champion Jamie Whyte is expected to dominate when the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation holds their annual prize-giving function tonight.
The function is set to take place at the ZMSF headquarters in the Eastlea area of Harare.
Whyte is tipped to lift the Driver of the Year category following his exploits in the African Rally Championship series last year and on the local scene where he also won the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally title for the first time in 15 years.
Having won the ARC Drivers’ title for the second time last year, the 50-year-old, ably co-driven by Phil Archenoul, made history by becoming the first Zimbabwean to win the title back-to-back.
At the same time, Archenoul also finished as the best navigator in the ARC series with a total of 178 points, 78 ahead of Sylvia Vindevogel of Rwanda.
The duo could also clip the Team of the Year award as they were unconquerable during the 2010 motorsport year where they were also honoured by FIA for being the best team in African motor rallying. Other wins that propelled the duo to lifting the African title include the Uganda Rally and in the Tanzanian Rally where they finished with full points and with a total of six podium finishes in the ARC series.
Ranked number 14 in the world, the duo is tipped to grab a number of accolades at the annual awards-giving event set for the ZMSF head office in Eastlea tonight.
Shaun Whyte – young brother to Jamie – was outstanding on the local motor rallying scene where he clinched the National Motor Rally Championship towards the end of the year.
At the beginning of the final leg of the series, Shaun Whyte and Big “Bigs” Chitima, who finished fourth, were tied on 34 points but a second place finish during the Jialing Rally at Donnybrook was enough for the former to emerge triumphant. There is a huge chance that Chitima could be the Most Improved Driver of the Year despite finishing fourth in the national championship last year.
Laureen Marufu has a chance to be acknowledged as she won a class tittle in her debut appearance in the local motor racing and also went on to win the two-wheel class championship for 2010, having taken up the sport at the beginning of last year.
In motocross, the Thixton brothers – Ashley and Cameron – are expected to rule the roost in the competition where the former has been nominated for the MXI Class award of while his sibling Cameron is also a nominee for the middle class.
Ashley came tops in most of the local motocross events last year where he proved to be in a class of his own while his young brother Cameron wowed the crowds in the 85cc category. In the 65cc and 50cc, which are the junior categories, Bradley Perry and Reagan Bond were also in top form and there is a chance of them being the pick of the riders in their respective categories.