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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
THE country’s top female motocross rider Tanya Muzinda made her presence felt during the final round of the 2017 Bogwheelers Club National Championship series at Donnybrook yesterday where she took a credible third place finish in the 85cc Class.

Racing against boys, Muzinda (13) once again showed no ghost of inferiority complex as she impressed again to come third overall behind Tristan Grainger and David Evans.

And this saw Muzinda claiming a place on the podium for the first time in the local national event this year.

In fact, in yesterday’s race meeting, there was a lot of competition between Muzinda and Evans with the former finding herself in second place behind Grainger in the opening heat but she made a mistake on the last lap and was overtaken by Evans.

Evans took advantage of Muzinda’s mistake but he admitted that he had a torrid time to finish in second place behind Muzinda in this heat.

There was also an exciting battle in the 65cc A Class where young Emmanuel Bako (12) finally managed to beat his “old foe” Daiyaan Manuel (13) for the first step on the podium after winning both heats.

Bako was in was in true form and showed great speed to win both heats to take a well-deserved first place ahead of Manuel.

Manuel is, however, likely to be crowned as the 2017 National 65cc A Class Champion after having dominated Bako in most of their duels during the six-round series.

This will see the former St. John’s Preparatory School pupil “scoring a double” this year as he has already been crowned the 2017 65cc Champion in South Africa.

Yesterday’s race meeting was nearly cancelled because of the rains which pounded most of Harare in the morning and racing only started at 11am after it stopped raining and the sun was shining again and the track was now in perfect condition.

Next stop for the riders who took part in yesterday’s event is the Zimbabwe Summer Series which is scheduled for the same venue next month.

The season-ending Zimbabwe Summer Series is the country’s premier motorcycling event which is held annually during the second week of December and this year’s event will consist of two Supercross (night racing) events and one full day of motocross action.

This year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series will open with two Supercross events on December 13 and 15 followed by a full day of motocross action on December 17.

And apart from the local riders, this year’s event is once again expected to attract a number of foreign bikers from neighbouring countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Zambia as well as those from Swaziland.

Some top bikers from Germany have also indicated that they are likely to fly to this part of the world to grace this year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series.