YOUNG RIDERS BRACED TO RACE
Botswana Motor Sport (BMS) Public Relations Officer (PRO), Darryl Ellitson, says their young riders will this weekend depart for Welkom, South Africa, to compete in different races in their respective categories at the 2021 National Motocross Championships.
Ellitson told Voice Sport that they are sending experienced riders for the different categories, noting that they have competed in international races before.
“We will be having Seth Meyer, 12, who will be competing in Pro Mini Class 85 cc; Zameer Bodhanya, 13, who will be contesting in 65 cc class; Jordan Maloba, 10, who will be in stage for 65 cc class, as well and Kosmas Mamaloukos, 17, who will be participating in the High School 125 cc class. Moreover, all riders from SA teams and international will be competing as this will be a preparatory race for upcoming races,” he said.
However, the spokesperson emphasised that Covid-19 has hit their sporting code hard as they have not been able to host events or source sponsorship for these particular competitions.
EVENTS
“We have not been able to host events at club nor national level, hence making it difficult to secure sponsors for various programmes like riders development as they are attracted by the level of exposure their brands get. It has been a difficult scenario since. Furthermore, our riders are at a disadvantage because they haven’t been getting enough practice and they will be up against riders who have been in action for a while. But I’m hopeful that we can defy the odds and go all the way to victory,” he said.
Ellitson highlighted that other countries are at an advanced stage in terms of hosting events thus they ought to find a way for their riders to compete under these difficult circumstances.
“Our riders have about over a year without racing and other countries are way ahead. So we came together and made a plan that we go to SA just to measure our standards and see how far we can go and it is a difficult task but we must do it because we love motor sport hence we cannot let it fade just like that,” highlighted Ellitson.
Meanwhile, Ellitson said they have another event to prepare for after this one, and they have to be ready.
“We have to prepare our riders for the Motocross of African Nations (MXOAN) which will be staged in Uganda in August, and as BMS, we have to ensure that our riders get proper training as other countries have been hosting national events, and that goes well with training riders to an appropriate international standard,” concluded Ellitson.