Bako back in the hunt at Dirt Bronco

ZIMBABWE’S junior motocross champion rider Emmanuel Bako just hates losing.

The 12-year-old talented biker was left kicking himself after he was forced to settle for second place in the 65cc Class during the heavily subscribed round two of the 2018 South African National Championship series at Maritzburg Motocross Club in Pietermaritzburg last Saturday.

And according to Bako’s father and manager, Brighton, the young rider was angry with himself after he was beaten into second place by South Africa’s Lucca Mynhardt in the 65cc Class which had a strong field of 18 riders.

“Although Emmanuel indicated to you after the race on Saturday that he was satisfied with his second place finish, the real truth is that he was hurting inside and he was really upset and frustrated with the outcome of this race because he really wanted to win it to consolidate his place at the top of the 65cc Standings.

“He said he was not born to settle for second place but he also learnt that you can’t relax or be complacent in this game where a hunter can end up being hunted. So, he has gone back to the drawing board, analysing what went wrong for him on Saturday and he now wants to correct his mistakes at an inland race meeting at Dirt Bronco in Krugersdorp this coming Sunday,” Brighton said.

Up until last weekend’s painful second-place finish in Pietermaritzburg, Bako had won all his races in the 65cc Class in South Africa this year.

Bako has already “thrown away” the bike he used in Pietermaritzburg last Saturday after it developed some clutch problems.

His father has bought him a brand new one — a Husqvarna — which he is going to use during the third round of the Inland Motocross Championship series at Dirt Bronco on Sunday.

The Inland Motocross Championship series is made up of nine rounds whose opening two rounds were held at Smoking Pistons on February 11 and at ERORA on March 11.

And this Sunday will see the staging of its round three at Dirt Bronco which is now Emmanuel’s favourite hunting ground in the South African motocross circuit.

Bako is now a member of one of South Africa’s top motocross teams Team Vision Racing Team - which is owned by one of that country’s most revered trainers Grant Florey.

He is now being forced to frequently travel to South Africa to race in either the South African National Championship series or in a number of some regional race meetings that are held every other weekend Down South.