Sakupwanya rescues young rider
YOUNG motocross rider Victor Nyamupfukudza, who turns 10 on April 29, recently received an early birthday present in the form of two new motorbikes from the sport’s major sponsor — Scott Sakupwanya.
Last year saw Nyamupfukudza, who is now a Grade Five pupil at Elland Oak Junior School in Waterfalls, Harare, struggling with his old 50cc bike which he also rode in the 65cc Class races during the local club and national championship series at Donnybrook Park Raceway in Harare.
The bike always developed mechanical faults, giving Nyamupfukudza’s father and manager, Simbarashe, a lot of headaches, prompting him to send an SOS as he looked for a Good Samaritan or well-wishers to come to his son’s rescue by buying him a new bike.
This did not escape the attention of prominent Harare businessman and politician Sakupwanya who recently delivered two new 2024 65cc KTM bikes, worth more than US10 000, to the Nyamupfukudza’s home in Harare, much to the delight of Simbarashe Nyamupfukudza.
Simbarashe Nyamupfukudza could not hide his excitement as he broke the news to Zimpapers Sports yesterday.
“The Almighty God has finally answered our prayers. We were so desperate for a new bike or bikes as we started our preparations for the 2024 season. We had already discarded Victor’s old 50cc bike as it was no longer useful on the track.
“And out of the blue, we got a call that Mr Scott Sakupwanya has bought Victor two brand new bikes and I just couldn’t believe it. I had to wait for the bikes to be delivered to our place for me to believe it.
“They were delivered early this week and we assembled them last night (Tuesday night) and I don’t know how to thank Mr. Scott Sakupwanya, who personally bought these bikes, for his kind gesture. He’s just a God-given gift for all of us in the local motocross family,” Simbarashe Nyamupfukudza said.
Sakupwanya is now the major sponsor of the motorcycling sport of motocross in this country through his company’s Better Brands Petroleum and in December last year, they poured in more than US$1 million which went towards the hosting of the season-ending Zimbabwe Summer Series at Donnybrook Park Raceway in Harare.
It was also through Better Brands Petroleum’s massive sponsorship that saw the Bogwheelers Club, who run motocross in this country on behalf of Motorsport Zimbabwe, bring in more than 20 professional riders from overseas and South Africa who graced last year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series.
The overseas riders were drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Austria, Germany and Australia.
This made the 2023 Zimbabwe Summer Series the biggest international sporting event to be hosted by this country last year. The Zimbabwe Summer Series is the biggest motorcycling event in this country and it has over the past decade attracted top international dirt bike riders from the United States and the United Kingdom.
But for last year’s event, the net was spread to such countries as France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Australia, thanks to the massive sponsorship that was poured in by Sakupwanya’s Better Brands Petroleum.
But Sakupwanya’s benevolence did not end there as he recently donated two brand new 65cc KTM bikes to young Victor Nyamupfukudza. The machines were bought in South Africa.
Sakupwanya’s two sons, Mudiwa (10) and Judah (6) are also into motocross and they made their debut on the track at Donnybrook in 2022,
Meanwhile, the 2024 motocross season gets underway on February 25 with the staging of the opening round of the sixround National Championship series at Donnybrook.
The event will be preceded by Motorsport Zimbabwe’s Cocktail Party and Awards Ceremony which will be held on February 17 at The Highlander at Highlands Sports Club in Harare.