Apollo, Mugo win at Jamhuri

AFTER months of trying, outgoing MX65 Champion Apollo Mbuki and MX1 prospect Charles Mugo claimed their maiden wins as the fifth round of the Kenya Motocross Championship came to a dramatic end at Jamhuri Park on Sunday.

Apollo, who is making his debut at MX85 this season, had his campaign effectively sewn up when East Africa Champion Ivan Guya ran into mechanical gremlins midway through the third and last heat. David Murigi showed no signs of rust at his MX50 (of bikes up to 50cc) class specialty. He beat Rolf Kihara and Ryan Bailey to the MX50 honors.

Mugo won his first MX1 (formerly Open Class) race by default powering his Honda 450 contraption to considerable heights. He took full advantage of the absence of Yamaha 450 ace Shivam Vinayak. Vinayak, who has wiped the ground with all his opponents at his MX1 specialty, skipped the meeting to attend to pressing family commitments. 

It will however be interesting to see how Vinayak will make up for the absence when the sixth round of the bike series returns Jamhuri Park on August 8.

Fans at the Jamhuri Park track had a bonus as they witnessed an interesting father-and -son battle pitting Charles Mugo against his father Moses Mugo. Enduro Champion Harry Guelker came home second with 51 points while Moses Mugo (39) took fourth overall behind Isaac Kuria (43).

With Vinayak away, Samir Anwar became the only rider in the entire series to cling onto a flawless points score after winning the MX65 class with a maximum 60 points; followed by Jeremy Waithaka (51) and Githuku Mungai (43).

“The bike (KTM) was handling well and I am glad to be cruising in desirable tempo,” said Anwar, who is son of Kenya based KNRC Tanzania rally driver Anwar Pandya.

At MX85, Guya beat Mbuki to the first two heats but the latter benefited from a snapped bolt on the rear wheel of the former’s KTM bike.

“I was well on course for victory but not until I encountered this problem,” said Guya who stopped to fix the problem much to the advantage of Mbuki.

With Mbuki being awarded the top prize at the fifth round, Guya was bestowed with the most meritorious award for his guts to solder on during the bothersome third heat run.

Mbuki sounded quite febrile saying he is at pains to uphold the winning touch. “I hope to practice a lot more and ensure Guya’s comeback backfires in the coming race,” said Mbuki.

Tutu Maina beat his cousin Cruze ‘Control’ Muigai in what was an attention-grabbing MX2 (formerly 125cc class) battle.

This was Tutu’s first win of the season after a rather jinxed run of the previous round in Athi River. Tutu has been Muigai’s sturdiest opponent this season but the latter has had an edge winning three rounds so far. Outgoing MX85 champion Adil Khan claimed fourth overall at MX 2 with Allan Maina hot on his heels. Allan is a sibling to MX85 rider Eugene Maina who has taken a sabbatical to concentrate on academic commitments. 

FULL RESULTS
MX50: 1. David Murigi 60, 2. Rolf KIhara 51, 3. Ryan Bailey 47, 4. Maina Wanjigi 37,

5. Jesse Waithaka 35

MX65: 1. Samir Anwar 60,  2. Jeremy Waithaka 51, 3. Githuku Mungai 43, 4. Murigu Njiiri  39, 5. Owain Ashley 33, 6. Allister Diniz 25, 7. Mohammed Anwar 20

MX85: 1. Apollo Mbuki 54, 2. Ivan Guya 48, 3. Karan Sehmi 47, 4. Masalule Kituyi 35, Charles Kinyanjui 29.

MX2: 1. Tutu Maina 57, 2. Cruze Muigai 54, 3. Adil Khan 41, 4. Ken Anunda 41 5. Allan Maina 35.

MX1: 1. Charles Mugo 60, 2. Harry Guelker 51, 3. Isaac Kuria 43, 4. Moses Mugo 39.