By OUR CORRESPONDENT
Lady rider Atete Benzinge was Kenya’s best placed rider in the FIM Afica Motocross of African Nations (MXOAN), which concluded in Moroccos’ fourth largest city of Marrakech.
Atete returned third in WMX Class behind hard-charging Leah Heygate of Zambia and Mienke Cawood of South Africa.
Being a lone ranger for Kenya in the competitive WMX category, saw the country settle for fouth overall in class.
–Podium Finishers-
By and large, Team Kenya savoured three podium slots, two of which came from MX50 and MX65 team standings.
In the MX 50 female class, Chiara Hatanga of Kenya came second behind Hellena Ainomugisha from Uganda.
Kenyan skipper Apollo Mbuki came 9th in MX1, behind winner Saad Soulmani of Morocco, who won all three heats, while Fortune Ssentamu of Uganda finished third.
MX Vets/Masters saw Kenya’s Fredrick Yongo finish 12th in a race won by Craig Cruger of South Africa.
South African riders swept the board in MX 50 with Joshua-Zion Naude beating Trey Dean and Alessandro Green to the podium. The best placed Kenyan in MC50 was Jeremy Hawi Opudo, who returned sixth.
Other Kenyans in MX50 were Chiara (10th), Paul Thanga (12th), Leto Tohani (14h), and Matt Kahondu (16th).
Kigen Mutuma in sixth place was the best placed Kenyan riderin MX65.
Other Kenuans in MC65 were Dylan Hatanga in 7th, Jedd Hatanga in 8th, Lemaiyan Muraya Mugo in 9th , Armani Amani11th spot and Jayden Njogu finishing 18th.
Kenya finished fourth in the event.
Uganda garnered 479 points to finish second overall behind South Africa (586 points) while hosts Morocco ame third with a total of 447.
Meanwhile , young Zimbabwean motorcyclist Victor Nyamupfukudza raised his country’s flag high by claiming an overall second-place finish in the 65cc Class, won by Chan Graven of South Africa.
The highly anticipated two-day event in the North African country saw over 200 riders from 10 countries, including like South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Uganda, compete for supremacy.
Dubbed the motocross equivalent of the Africa Cup of Nations in football, the MXOAN again saw intense competition across various categories at the weekend.
And 10-year-old Nyamupfukudza, who was Zimbabwe’s sole representative at these prestigious continental motorcycling Championship was all smiles and pumped his fists with emotion as he managed to finish second overall behind one of South Africa’s top junior motocross racers Ohan Graven in the 65cc Class.
