German riders to grace Zim Summer Series

FIVE top riders from Germany are expected to grace the country’s premier motorcycling event - the Zimbabwe Summer Series - which will be held over three days at Donnybrook Raceway in Harare next month.

In the past years, the Zimbabwe Summer Series, which is a motocross event, used to be held over four days during the second week of December and it comprised of two Supercross (night racing) and an equal number of motocross (day racing) events.

But all this changed in 2014 when the Bogwheelers Club, who run the motorcycling sport of motocross in this country, decided to break with tradition and reduced the number of days of this event from four to three with the hope of making it more exciting for both the competitors and spectators.

And Yasmin Manuel of the Bogwheelers Club yesterday told The Herald that this year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series, which usually attracts top junior and senior motocross riders from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia and the hosts Zimbabwe, will, for the fourthyear running, be held over three days at Donnybrook next month.

This year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series will open with two Supercross events on December 13 and 15 fol- lowed by a full day of motocross action on December 17.

Manuel also revealed that about “four or five” top riders from Germany have expressed their interest in flying down to this part of the world to take part in this year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series. “Remember when (my husband) Junior took (my son) Daiyaan for a two-week motocross training stint in Germany in April 2015, he made a lot of friends there who are into motocross and some of them have indicated that they would like to come down here to compete in this year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series.

“We have about four or five of them who compete in the MX1, MX2, 125 and 65cc classes and what we’re currently trying to do is to get some sponsorship which will see them flying down here for this big international event,” Yasmin Manuel said.

And if the German riders manage to make it for this year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series, they will be joined by a host of top junior and senior bikers from Zimbabwe who are already preparing for this big event by taking part in the last two rounds of the national championship series which have been slated for this coming Sunday and on November 26 at Donnybrook.

“We are going to have the penultimate round of the six-round 2017 national championship series at Donnybrook this coming Sunday followed by the final round on November 26 and this will all help our riders to prepare for next month’s Zimbabwe Summer Series,” Yasmin Manuel said.

But former Zimbabwe’s champion rider Ashley Thixton will miss all these events through injury and is only expected back in action next year.

Yasmin Manuel said Thixton broke his Achilles tendon during the last round of this year’s South African National Championship Series at Terra Topia just outside Johannesburg on October 14 and will be sidelined until the beginning of next year.

But the “usual suspects”, which include the country’s top junior and senior riders such as Daiyaan Manuel, Emmanuel Bako, Tanya Muzinda, Leigh-Anne Young, Tristan Grainger, Kuda Mhene (Jnr), Big “BJ” Chitima (Jnr), Munyaradzi Bako, Josh Goby, Cameron Thixton, Jordan Dewdney, Lee and Mudiwa Chigumba, Ricky Whyte and Bradley Perry, are all expected to take part in this Sunday’s penultimate round of the national championship series at Donnybrook.

Tawanda Muzinda, the father and trainer of the country’s top female rider Tanya Muzinda, confirmed yesterday that his daughter, who has recently returned from a successful one-month tour of England, will “definitely” be racing at Donnybrook on Sunday.