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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
A total of 55 racers have registered to participate at Saturday’s Bulawayo Motoring Club’s end of year event — Toyota Castrol 3 Hour Endurance Race to be held at the Bulawayo Motorsport Park, formerly known as Victoria Falls Road Circuit.

Leonora Young, one of the organisers of the biggest motorsport event of the year which started in 1969, said this year’s edition has attracted foreign competitors from England, South Africa and Botswana.

Fourteen-year-old British born Zimbabwean rider Connor Thompson who competed at the British Superbikes recently was the first to jet into Bulawayo last Wednesday, with South Africa’s Monroe Racing Club and their teenage sensation Savannah Woodward arriving yesterday.

Young said they expect participants from Botswana to arrive in time for the race.

“So far we’ve received 55 entries for both cars and bikes. This year’s event promises to be bigger and better. Besides local participants, we also have drivers and riders coming from the UK, South Africa and Botswana to add flair to the competition. Local motor racing enthusiasts should brace for an exciting weekend,” said Young.

The motorcycles will take centre stage between 1PM and 2PM before the motorsport enthusiasts enjoy a Three-Hour Endurance which will start at 3pm until 6pm.

South Africa’s Shelby Can Am series have six confirmed entries with Botswana’s super fast Nardini coming to give Bulawayo guys a run for their money.

Shaun Whyte will be defending his title on the motorbike side with his Yamaha R6. He won the one hour race with 45 laps in the previous event followed closely by Dave Mouat and Cam Aitken also with 45 laps on a Honda CBR. Mathew Shultz completed with 43 laps falling into third place and the quartet should expect stiff challenge from Thompson.

Thompson has been delivering good results which saw him grabbing the attention of front running teams. For the 2016 season, Connor signed for Team Steelmate Racing and finished a very impressive sixth in the championship despite missing the first four rounds, also bagging two wins and four second-place finishes.

In the women’s category, all eyes will be on 16-year-old Woodward who has been prolific this year, having competed in both South Africa and Zimbabwe. Her highlight was being selected for the Red Bull Rookies Cup trials in Spain.

Other female bikers expected at the BMC event include Bianca Schultz from Bulawayo, who will ride a Honda CBR600 and is expected to face stiff competition from Harare’s Tiffany Fisher, who will also be using a similar bike.

These two competitors have improved steadily in recent years, with Tiffany winning last year’s Megelli 250 cc Zimbabwe National Championship.

@ZililoR