adminCollin Matiza Sports Editor
A NUMBER of top junior and senior Zimbabwean motocross riders will be back on the road again this week when they travel to South Africa to take part in the fourth round of the 2015 Monster Energy South African National Championship series at Springfield in Durban on Saturday.
This year has seen some of the country’s top junior and senior riders such as Emmanuel Bako, Kuda Mhene (Jnr), Regan Wasmuth, Tristan Grainger, Wade and Jayden Ashwell going Down South.
They have competed in the first three rounds of the tough six-round Monster Energy South African National Championship series in Free State, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
The Zimbabwean riders made their presence felt in the different classes against a host of top junior and senior South African bikers.
This Saturday will see action in the 2015 Monster Energy South African National Motocross Championship series shifting to Springfield in Durban in what promises to be another exciting round of this tough motorcycling event.
Leading the way for the Zimbabwean riders will be eight-year-old Emmanuel Bako, a Grade Three pupil at Heritage Primary School in Harare, who is currently making waves in the 50cc Pro Class in which he has so far won almost all his races in the South African National Championship series.
During the last round of the series in Port Elizabeth, Bako won both his heats in the 50cc Pro Class and this saw him move into the top three of the national standings in South Africa.
On Saturday, Bako will have the company of fellow young Zimbabwean rider Jordan Dewdney who is expected to ride in the South African National Championship series’ 50cc Pro Class for the first time.
Another talented young Zimbabwean rider Mhene (Jnr) of Hartman House in Harare will compete in the 65cc Class where he will be joined by his teammate Daiyaan Manuel who won the 50cc Pro title in South Africa last year.
Manuel (10) has since graduated to race in the 65cc Class this year but he was unable to compete in the opening three rounds of this year’s South African National Championship series as he was still recuperating from a leg injury he sustained while racing in Zambia at the beginning of the year.
The St John’s College Preparatory School’s Grade Five pupil has now fully recovered from this injury and he will be flying out to Durban on Friday.
Zimbabwe’s champion rider Jayden Ashwell is expected to be the country’s flagbearer in the main MX1 Class on Saturday at Springfield while his young brother Wade and another promising young rider Regan Wasmuth and Josh Gobey will all compete in the 125cc High School Class.
Young Tristan Grainger is also expected to be in action at Springfield on Saturday where he will be competing in the 85cc Class and could be joined in this class by Davin Cocker.
The country’s top female rider Tanya Muzinda (10), who is now riding in the 65cc A Class, has an outside chance of taking part in this Saturday’s race meeting in Durban, according to her father and trainer, Tawanda.
“Funds permitting, Tanya is likely to join the other top riders from Zimbabwe in Durban on Saturday. My team in South Africa is trying to do something for her . . . They are working on it flat out,” Tawanda Muzinda said yesterday.
Online Reporter