Bako soars high at Zim Summer Series
THERE was no stopping young Zimbabwean motocross sensation Emmanuel Bako at this year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series in which he swept the board in the 65cc A Class during the three days of action at Donnybrook Park in Harare this past week.
This year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series consisted of two Supercross (night racing) events, which were held on Wednesday and Friday, and a full day of motocross action on the final day of this exciting motorcycling event on Sunday.
And 11-year-old Bako, who was mounting a Husqvarna bike, was in an uncompromising mood as he took no prisoners in the 65cc A Class in which he emerged as the overall winner and claimed the first step on the podium on the final day of the series on Sunday.
Second place in the 65cc A Class went to another exciting young Zimbabwean rider Jordan Dewdney while South Africa’s Jordan van Wyk settled for third place.
Like Bako, Dewdney also performed well although he started off slowly during Wednesday night’s Supercross event as he fell twice in the first race and ended up 7th in that race. It got better for him from there on.
Sunday’s motocross event went on very well for Dewdney who took all three holeshots, finishing up with two 2nd places and one 3rd place to finish 2nd overall behind Bako for this year’s series.
But the series belonged to Bako, who will be a Grade Six pupil at Heritage School in Harare next year, as he was in true form in the 65cc A Class winning all the heats on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday to be crowned the overall champion of this section.
Now a member of South African motocross team, Team Vision Racing Team, Bako was just a ball of fire during the three days of action in which he produced the best lap (1:18.430) on the opening day of the series on Wednesday night. There were 12 riders in the 65cc A Class. Bako’s performance was just extraordinary and the talented young rider said he now can’t wait to compete in next year’s South African National Championship series which is held over seven rounds from February to October.
Another top Zimbabwean junior rider Daiyaan Manuel also performed well in the 85cc A Class in which he came first overall ahead of South Africa’s Jonathan Mlimi and another local lad Davin Cocker.
Bako did well to finish fourth overall in the 85cc A Class ahead of Kuda Mhene (Jnr). But the country’s top female rider Tanya Muzinda (13) had a series to forget as she finished in 11th place overall in the 85cc A Class which had 14 competitors, 13 of them were boys.
In fact, Muzinda was forced to miss the opening day of the Zimbabwe Summer Series on Wednesday night as she was attending the Annual National Sports Awards (ANSA) function where she was crowned the 2017 Junior Sportswoman of the Year.
She then went on to take part in the second day of this year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series on Friday night where she had a tyre puncture and had a DNF (Did Not Finish).But on Sunday, Muzinda managed to finish sixth at the end of the day’s action and came 11th overall in a disappointing outing for her in the 85cc A Class.
She then indicated after the race on Sunday that she is likely to move a class up next year and this will see her racing in the 125cc Class.
In the main MX1 class it was Zimbabwe’s champion rider Jayden Ashwell who dominated a field of seven riders which included South Africans Kerin Fitzgerald, Damon Straydom and Joshua Mlimi who came second, third and fourth respectively. After playing second fiddle to Ashwell in the MX1 Class, South Africa’s Fitzgerald took the first step on the podium in the MX2 Class ahead of his fellow countryman Joshua Mlimi and Zimbabwe’s Regan Wasmuth.
But Wasmuth showed some good speed in the 125cc Class which he won ahead of South Africans Cameron Durow and Jonathan Mlimi.
The top three places in the 50cc Class went Jordan van Wyk of South Africa, Emile Croisette and Karl van As (both of Zimbabwe).