Collin Matiza Sports Editor
DONNYBROOK Raceway, the home of local motorsport, will once again come alive this Sunday when the Sables Dragpro Club stage the second round of the country’s most popular motor racing event – the hp lubes Castrol Drag Racing series.
The opening round of the 2018 Drag Racing series was held during the last weekend of April at Donnybrook where some high octane of motor racing was witnessed on the quarter-mile strip and another bumper crowd of local motorsport enthusiasts is expected to throng the popular Harare venue again on Sunday.
This Sunday’s drag racing event comes hot on the heels of the second round of the 2018 Bogwheelers Club’s Club Championship series which was held at Donnybrook last weekend.
And Temba Mazvimbakupa of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation yesterday saluted both the Bogwheelers Club and the Sables Dragpro Club for the role they are playing in the revival of motocross and drag racing events in Zimbabwe.
The Bogwheelers Club run the motorcycling sport of motocross in this country while the Sables Dragpro Club are the stewards of drag racing, a motor racing event which sees vehicles or motorcycles (usually specially prepared for the purpose) compete against each other, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line.
Both clubs run these two motorsport competitions under the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation and Mazvimbakupa has saluted these two institutions for the role they are playing in reviving and promoting their respective events in this country.
“At one stage, motorsport events in Zimbabwe faced the danger of sinking into oblivion due to the harsh economic climate that the country was going through but the past three or four years have seen Donnybrook, which is the home of local motorsport, coming alive again, thanks to the Sables Dragpro Club and the Bogwheelers Club who have both been working tirelessly to revive drag racing and motocross events in this country.
“Thousands of local motorsport enthusiasts are now finding their way back again to Donnybrook to watch these exciting events as well as main circuit racing, which is a good thing for the sport in this country,” Mazvimbakupa said.
Meanwhile, Yasmin Manuel, the secretary of the Bogwheelers Club, said yesterday that each rider who has been named in Team Zimbabwe for this year’s FIM Africa Motocross of African Nations Championships will have to foot his or her own expenses for the tour of Zambia in August.
This year’s African Championships are scheduled to be held from August 17 to 19 in Kitwe, Zambia, and the Bowheelers Club this week named a strong 42-member Team Zimbabwe for this annual continental event.
And Manuel said they were now busy making sure that all was in place before the team leaves for Kitwe in mid-August.
“In fact, each senior rider will pay $70 for the FIM licence while the juniors will pay $45 and then the entry fee for each junior and senior rider is $100.
“For the riders kit, we’ve asked for each rider to pay US$100 and as for transport, food and accommodation expenses, each rider will have to foot his or her own bill.
Team Zimbabwe for the 2018 FIM Africa Motocross of African Nations Championships
50cc Class: Emile Croisette, Luke Southon, Karl Van As, Callum Moore, Willem Krause.
65cc Class: Emmanuel Bako, Jordan Dewdney, Declan Barrett, Hunter Moore, Joshua Halkier, Blake Prinsloo, Munyaradzi Bako.
85cc Class: Daiyaan Manuel, Ricky Whyte, Jamie Doran, Tristan Versfeld, Cameron Mellor, Kuda Mhene (Jnr).
125cc Class: Regan Wasmuth, Tristan Grainger, Jayden Young, David Evans, Liam LeRoux, Luke Doran.
MX1 Class: Jayden Ashwell, Daniel Law, John Evans, Frik Prinsloo, Ross Bredenkamp.
MX2 Class: Ashley Thixton, Joshua Goby, Tafadzwa Mawarire, Jarques Du Plessis.
Ladies Class: Leigh-Anne Young, Tanya Muzinda, Bianca Beling.
Veterans Class: Warren Thorne, Doug Mellor, Phil Dos Santos, Mark Ziemann.
Masters Class: Shane Thomas, Lofty Versfeld.