Collin Matiza Sports Editor
BRETT Bircher and his son Brody, from South Africa, fired themselves into the history books of local motocross on Sunday.
They became the second father and son pair to win a championship at the Zimbabwe Summer Series which ended at Donnybrook Park.
The Zimbabwe Summer Series is an annual motorcycling event held during the second week of December and it marks the end of the motocross season in this country.
It consists of two Supercross (night racing events) and a full day of some motocross action held on a Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The Zimbabwe Summer Series has run for 52 years and this year is the second time, in its history, that a father and son have won the championships.
Brett Bircher emerged as the overall winner of the MX3 Class and was emulated by his son Brody who came out tops in the juniors’ 50cc Class.
And, he rode superbly to win the MX3 Class ahead of two Zimbabwean bikers Mark Ziemann and Adrian Olivier.
Brody got the better of two promising Zimbabwean junior riders, Junior Bako and Willem Krause, who came second and third respectively.
Junior Bako is brother to one of the country’s top junior motocross riders Emmanuel Bako, who was forced to play second fiddle to Daiyaan “D” Manuel in both the 85cc and 125cc classes during this year’s Zimbabwe Summer Series.
Manuel of St John’s College in Harare was just on fire during the three-day action of the 2019 Zimbabwe Summer Series as he was first crowned the 85cc champion before claiming the first step on the podium again in the 125cc.
He took both honours in the 85cc and 125cc classes ahead of Emmanuel Bako.
Third place in the 85cc Class went to Dillan Faasen while the bronze medal in the 125cc Class was claimed by Tristan Grainger.
There were some exciting duels in the seniors main MX1 Class between Zimbabwe’s champion rider Jayden Ashwell and two of South Africa’s top male bikers Maddy Malan and Tristan Purdon.
The trio went shoulder to shoulder in all their races but Malan managed to snatch the number one spot ahead of his compatriot Purdon while Ashwell was forced to settle for third place after some high octane racing.
South Africa-based Zimbabwean rider Regan Wasmuth was just too good for the rest of the field in the MX2 Class in which he came first overall ahead of fellow countrymen Regan Bond and Tristan Grainger.
There was a “foreign affairs” in MX1 450cc Class which was won by veteran Zambian rider Dale Holliday, who beat South Africans Geoff Den and Gary Killian into second and third place respectively. But Zimbabwean riders Declan Barrett, Karl van As and Emile Croisette cleaned up the podium in the 65cc Class in which they took the first three places.
There was also some joy for five-year-old Victor Nyamupfukudza, who came first in the PeeeWee Class which is designed for riders under the age of five. Jayden Kerwin and Cayden Classen came second and third in this class. South Africa’s Taigan Reed took the first step on the podium in the senior Ladies Class in which she outclassed her Zimbabwean rivals Leigh-Anne Young and Bianca Beling.
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