In an epic action packed encounter of roaring horse power engines, the thrilling Botswana Race Wars drag racing motorsport dubbed ‘A SADC King’s Ransom’ powered by Sky Gate Motors delivered a spectacular show on Saturday. 

The high stakes annual event organised by Maverick Motorsport in conjunction with Rynos’s Torque Show and Custom Auto Accessories attracted 34 top end drivers from across the SADC region who battled it out at Lobatse Ponds in a thrilling encounter.

A South African national, Ofentse Raikane knowns as Raiks who was driving BMW M5 did not disappoint his legion of fans ultimately retaining his title as King of SADC champion after delivering stellar performance. He was under immense pressure pitted against the regions No.1 and one of Botswana’s finest drivers BMW Dracula 2.0 who made an attempt to claim back his title but fell on second position.

Under the category of the Fastest SUV, eight drivers were lined up to claim victory from the reigning champion, a local Motswana, Gomez Nkala, but he proved his prowess retaining his title behind the wheels of a white BMW X6.

Under the Fastest Bakkie category, Raiks, scooped yet another title behind the steering wheel of a Ford 2JZ Bakkie. Meanwhile the Fastest Old Classic tittle went to Kagiso who was driving BMW 325 Gusheshe, while under the Fastest FWD category, Glen on Cars emerged victorious driving a Golf 7R and Freddy took home the tittle of the Fastest normal aspirated category driving BMW M2. 

“It was an amazing experience, the people in Botswana are always hospitable, well cultured, well-mannered and are always an engaging crowd. They always make us feel welcome. On the race track I have had an opportunity to race before and won. Being able to defend my tittle as SADC king means a lot,” said Raiks in an interview after his victory.

He has a lot of respect for his closest challenger, Dracula 2.0, who came second. “We had a healthy competition. You see, to come to the start line and face your opponent takes a lot of effort, time, money and focused preparation. Dracula 2.0 showed up. I know that his car is fast. The fact that the competition went in my favour does not mean that he cannot come back. He can come back, he has done it before,” Raiks expressed confidence in his opponent’s abilities.

Additionally, the reigning SADC champion said he had noticed that every year the sport was growing and would like to see Botswana construct its first drag racing strip. He said the current venue was not conducive since the racing strip was narrow, calling for facilitation of a wider and safer strip for the drivers and the spectators.  

Meanwhile, a representative of Sky Gate Motors and Custom Auto Accessories, Ronetta Adam, told BOPA that the event was organised to get the people together, have fun and enhance the car culture. “We have not quite hit the formula yet but we believe that if we continue to sponsor and support the event we will eventually get there,” she said. 

Adam appreciated that people were gradually warming up to the elite sport adding that this year it had grown in leaps and bounds, “The fact that all tickets were sold out says a lot about the value of this sport,” she said.

The veteran motorsport coordinator, Joseph Khengere, attested to the growth of the sport.

“This time we had about 2 000 spectators. We had 34 registered drivers from Lesotho, Zimbabwe South Africa and Botswana which has increased compared to last year. The biggest highlight is that we have positioned Botswana to be the hub of drag racing and that is why it was dubbed the SADC King’s Ransom which is the ultimate tittle,” he said. ENDS