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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
THIS Saturday sees the second round of the tough seven-round 2016 South African National Motocross Championship series moving to Zone 7 in Cape Town where Zimbabwe will once again be fielding a strong team of its top junior and senior riders.

In fact, Team Zimbabwe will once again be made up of the “usual suspects” — Emmanuel Bako, Daiyaan Manuel, Jordan Dewdney, Josh Goby and Regan Wasmuth — who all took part in the opening round of the tough and exciting motorcycling series at Rover in Port Elizabeth towards the end of February.

At Rover, all these talented riders met with some mixed fortunes in the different classes that they competed in with 10-year-old Manuel stealing the limelight from his teammates by finishing second overall in the 65cc Class behind South Africa’s Hayden Tulley while third place went to another South African rider Tyler Tarantino.

Eight-year-old Dewdney was also one of the stand-outs in the Zimbabwean team, with a third place finish in the 50cc Class behind South Africa’s Neil van der Vyver and Seth Young of Swaziland.

And the Lilfordia School’s Grade Four pupil will be heading to the Mother City this weekend where he will once again take on van der Vyver in his own backyard at the Zone 7 track.

Young Dewdney’s father, Warren, told The Herald yesterday that his son was looking forward to this weekend’s race meeting at Zone 7 in the Western Cape where he is expecting another “big battle” with Cape Town-based van der Vyver, Young and Jordan van Wyk.

“It’s still early days in the South African National Championship series but for Jordan it’s so far, so good as he managed to finish third overall in the opening round which was staged under tough conditions at Rover in Port Elizabeth and I’m quite convinced that he will perform much better at the Zone 7 track which is quite favourable to him,” Warren Dewdney said.

Another top Zimbabwean junior rider, Bako (9), is also looking forward to this weekend’s event in Cape Town after a disappointing outing at Rover on February 26 where he was forced to finish 14th overall in the 65cc Class after his bike’s back tyre broke down.

Bako’s father and manager, Brighton, said yesterday that “all is set” for his son to compete in the second round of the South African National Championship series at Zone 7 this weekend.

“He (Emmanuel) loves hard pack tracks like the one at Zone 7 and has no pressure or problem with it and he is itching to get back on his bike on Saturday and take on the guys who beat him the last time out at Rover.

“The track in Cape Town is good and easy to ride on . . . It’s more like the one at Donnybrook here in Harare, so he will enjoy the fight on Saturday. His bike is 100% in perfect condition unlike when he went to Rover and he is looking forward to a podium finish,” Brighton “Bucks” Bako said.

At Zone 7 on Saturday, Emmanuel Bako will also be joined on the track by fellow young Zimbabwean riders Wasmuth and Goby who both will be competing in the tough 125cc High School Class in which they didn’t do quite well in the previous round at Rover in Port Elizabeth where they failed to get a place on the podium.

In fact, at Rover, Wasmuth finished seventh overall in the 125cc High School Class after he managed to get 32 points.