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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
TWO of Zimbabwe’s top junior motocross riders, Emmanuel Bako and Regan Wasmuth, will this weekend head to Welkom in South Africa for the penultimate round of the 2018 South African National Championship series.

They both have a mountain to climb in their title chases for the 65cc and 125cc High School classes.

The sixth round of the tough seven-round South African National Championship series will be staged at Phakisa Motocross Club in Welkom on Saturday where Bako (12) will take to the track lying in third place in the 65cc Class Standings while Wasmuth (17) is sitting in second place in the 125cc High School Class.

Bako was at one stage in a powerful position in the 65cc Class in which he was sharing the lead in the Championship points with South Africa’s Lucca Mynhadrt but a big crash in the 1st heat of the fifth round at Zone 7 in Cape Town on August 11 saw him being sidelined and that left the door open for the latter to open up a 36-point lead over him in the title race.

Mynhardt is leading the way in the 65cc Class Standings with 228 points, 30 ahead of second-placed fellow South African Wian du Plooy while Bako slid down to third place with 192 points following his major setback at Zone 7 on August 11.

And Bako now has to roll up his sleeves at Welkom on Saturday and claim the top step on the podium if he has to cut Mynhardt’s lead at the top of the group standings ahead of the series’ final round scheduled for October 20 at Dirt Bronco in Johannesburg.

Anything less than a first-place finish at the end of business on Saturday will see Bako saying goodbye to his chances of being crowned the 2018 65cc Class Champion in South Africa.