Bako, Manuel inspire Team Zim

Mynhardt.

The script did not change on the final day of racing on Sunday as Manuel, a Grade Seven pupil at St. John’s Preparatory School in Harare, had another solid day and rode like a superstar to retain his lead.

Manuel simply outclassed his rivals in style while Bako kept a close distance behind to close the championships in first and second place respectively in the 65cc Class.

Bako is a Grade Six pupil at Mai Grace Mugabe Junior School in Mazowe.

Manuel and Bako’s fine showing on the track on Saturday and Sunday helped Team Zimbabwe to put a number of points on board and this saw them finishing second overall behind regional powerhouses South Africa. Zambia came third ahead of the hosts Botswana.

This year’s African Motocross Championships attracted junior and senior male and female riders from 10 countries - the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the hosts Botswana.

And Zimbabwe, who were sponsored by Colcom, managed to finish second overall behind South Africa despite being forced to field a smal team of 13 riders after Tristan Grainger and Ricky Whyte got injured on Day One of the championships on Saturday.

Grainger and Whyte are both reported to have sustained broken collarbone injuries.

But this did not stop their fellow riders from Zimbabwe to put up some brilliant performances as team captain Ashley Thixton, Davin Cocker and South Africa-based Regan Wasmuth emulated Manuel and Bako by taking places on the podium in the different classes that they rode in.

Thixton represented Zimbabwe in the MX2 Class and helped his country to come second behind South Africa in this class.

Wasmuth also put up a solid performance in the 125cc Class in which Zimbabwe finished second behind South Africa while Cocker rode brilliantly in the 85cc Class.

Brighton “Bucks” Bako, who was part of Team Zimbabwe’s management team in Gaborone at the weekend, saluted all these riders for carrying the country’s flag high during the two days of some high octane racing on the multiple tracks of Mmamashia.

“I think the team did extremely well considering that we ended up having only 16 riders making the trip to Botswana and then youngsters Tristan Grainger and Ricky Whyte got injured on the first day of competition which saw us fielding a depleted side of 13 bikers on the final day of racing on Sunday.

“But kudos to Daiyaan Manuel, Emmanuel Bako, Ashley Thixton, Davin Cocker and Regan Wasmuth who stood head and shoulders above the rest of the team members. All these guys got podium places and scored some high points for Team Zimbabwe and this enabled us to finish second overall behind South Africa,” Brighton Bako said from Gaborone yesterday.