ZIM SUMMER SERIES RETURNS

Collin Matiza

Zimpapers Sports Hub

IT’S back!

AFTER having temporarily disappeared from the local motorsport radar, the Zimbabwe Summer Series is making a welcome return to the motocross calendar in December this year.

It is the premier, season-ending annual motorcycling and motocross event traditionally held over three days in December at Donnybrook Park Raceway in Harare.  It typically opens with two days of Supercross (night racing) followed by a full day of high-octane motocross action on its final day

Run by the Bogwheelers Club under Motorsport Zimbabwe, this thrilling event is returning this year after it was shelved last year after its dates clashed with the staging of the fifth and final round of the 2025 World Supercross Championship, which was held in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Zimbabwe Summer Series is set to make a sensational return at Donnybrook Park Raceway on December 9, 11 and 13. The Bogwheelers Club confirmed the dates yesterday. Its return comes as some sweet music into the ears of a number of local top junior and senior motocross riders who missed it last year. These riders include exciting young bikers O’Neill Shamuyarira, Victor Nyamupfukudza and Riley Rocher; and veteran Doug Mellor who raised the Zimbabwean flag high during this year’s FIM Africa Motocross of African Nations Championship in Windhoek, Namibia, towards the end of August. The quartet helped Team Zimbabwe to finish fourth overall behind South Africa,  hosts Namibia and Uganda in the two-day event.

This year’s FIM Africa Motocross of African Nations Championship attracted a good turnout of more than 350 junior and senior riders from 11 countries – South Africa, Namibia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, Madagascar, Eswatini, Angola and Mozambique.

Two of Team Zimbabwe’s senior riders, Rocher and Mellor, claimed the top individual prizes in the MX2 and Veterans classes.

Sixteen-year-old Rocher was in a league of his own in the MX2 Class in which he claimed the top step on the podium at the business end of the competition.  He was emulated by seasoned campaigner and “old-warhorse” Mellor who emerged as the top dog in the Veterans category.

Two of Zimbabwe’s talented young riders, Shamuyarira (8) and Nyamupfukudza (11), also came out of the competition with their heads held high after coming fourth overall in the juniors 50cc and 85cc classes. Both Shamuyarira, who is popularly known as “Wawie” in the local motocross circles, and Nyamupfukudza missed podium by a whisker as they were in 3rd place for a few laps but later lost it. And after raising the country’s flag high during this year’s African Championship, these riders are now itching to compete in the Zimbabwe Summer Series in December.

Apart from the local riders, the Zimbabwe Summer Series also attracts top riders from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini and Zambia.