South African riders shine in Zimbabwe

After three days of hard international racing at the Donnybrook circuit in Zimbabwe last weekend, South Africa was crowned the 2019 African Nations Motocross Champion, followed by Zimbabwe and Uganda.

In the premier MX1 battle, two riders stood out among the rest. Zimbabwean captain Jayden Ashwell fought off 2018 African Nations Champion Maddy Malan of South Africa to take the individual Number 1 plate in front of his home crowd. Third overall went to D’Atrtagan Lobjoit from Botswana.

In the MX2 class South Africa’s Kerim Fitzgerald and Josh Mlimi dominated proceedings to take the two top placings for the weekend, followed by Regan Wasmuth of Zimbabwe. South Africa’s Dalton Venter won the 125cc title, followed by fellow countryman Davin Cocker and Zimbabwe’s Tristan Grainger, with the team award going to South Africa.

Some of the event’s closest race action came from the 85cc MX Lite riders, with Zimbabwean Daiyaan Manuel winning overall from Ugandan Stav Orland and South African Nate McLallen.

The Veterans class was one of the biggest gates of the weekend and despite the efforts of all the other competing nations, South African riders clinched the team accolade, while South Africa’s Craig Kruger took the individual championship trophy. Zambia’s top man Dale Holiday managed to win the individual Masters title, but Team South Africa once again proved to be too strong for the rest and won the team title.

The first rider to win three races out of the three was Zambian lady racer Leah Heygate, who really was unmatched in her class. She was followed by South Africa’s Tiegan Reed and Jaydene de Lima.

In the 65cc class, the three respective race wins went to Jordan van Wyk and Liam Botha from South Africa, plus Alon Orland from Uganda. Orland won overall, but the combined efforts of the South Africans saw them win the team title.

The 50cc class victory went to South African Ethan Williamson, followed by South Africa’s Christian Berington-Smith and Maicom Tabula from Uganda. The team victory went to South Africa.

After the meeting it was announced that the 2020 Motocross of African Nations event will be hosted by the Pearl of Africa, Uganda.

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