09 Jul 2015

The third leg of the Botswana Motor Sport (BMS) championship series resumes this weekend at the Dumela Track in Francistown.

Motocross fans will once more gather at one of the best tracks in the circuit and witness some of the great racing.


The sport, which is becoming popular in the country, will this weekend showcase some of Botswana’s best riders, some of whom are fresh from competing in the Toyota 1000km Desert race recently.

The race is hosted by Lobelo Racing Club of Francistown. In an interview recently, the secretary of Lobelo Racing Club, Lola Berrie mentioned that it was all systems go for the weekend event.

“The track is ready and is in a perfect condition for the race on Saturday,” she noted.

She also explained that in this leg of the championship, they are expecting at least thirty-five riders to take part.
Berrie also highlighted that most of the riders are from clubs in Francistown, Gaborone, Orapa and Maun.


However, he also explained that they expect riders from Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The big news heading into the weekend event, she said, is that there will be two new riders in the 85cc, an indication that the sport is growing.

During the BMS championship which involves six races per year, three in Gaborone and Francistown respectively, she added that national riders accumulate points in every race which leads to the crowning of the national champion at the end of the year.

The weekend event, she highlighted, is important because it will be used as a qualifier and is the last race before the Motocross of African Nations in Zimbabwe during the last weekend of August.

“For the Zimbabwe event, BMS will be sending five riders per class,” she said.

In addition, Berrie said they intend to host other races away from Francistown and Gaborone, but noted that the unavailability of motocross tracks is a big challenge.

However, she said that what they do is to take off-road Enduro events to other places where there are clubs.
Building motocross tracks, she added, is an expensive undertaking and tracks need to be maintained regularly.

On the upcoming race, she also said she was hopeful that the attendance would be good, judging by the number of spectators who thronged the last race.

“The funds that we get from gate takings are used to develop the Dumela Track. In future, we want to construct a fence around the track and maybe if we get enough funds, build a club house,” said Berrie.

She indicated that they also wish to construct proper starting gates for the riders, hence their decision to sell their club merchandise on the race day.

Most of the riders at Lobelo Racing Club, she added, are still new and did not take part in the desert race which requires a lot of experience and funding.

However, she said that some of them intend to participate next year when they are ready.

Also, the Lobelo Club secretary highlighted that their race marshals are becoming more experienced with every passing race.

She also maintained that they continue to train them because as participants at the races increase, they also need to measure up to the high numbers and have more trained marshals.

After the weekend event, the next BMS race will be an off road Enduro race on August 15, outside Francistown. Ends