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Sports Reporter 

THE Isuzu brand represented by Autoworld in Zimbabwe is set to sponsor Zimbabwean off-road motorcycle racer Graeme Sharp at the gruelilng Dakar Rally to be staged in Saudi Arabia in 2020.

Sharp (32), a former Falcon College student, wants to make history by becoming the first Zimbabwean rider to finish the Dakar Rally and has been preparing for the 42nd edition of the most gruelling rally event in the world for the past two years.

Piet de Klerk, business development manager of Autoworld Zimbabwe said: “Graeme is an ordinary man on an extraordinary adventure and we are proud to support him on this journey. His ethos of hard work, persistence and humility align well with the Isuzu brand’s promise of ‘with you, for the long run’.” 

Sharp will compete with 137 motorbike riders from 60 countries. He has participated in several rally events and in 2017 he completed his first international rally, the Baja Rally in Mexico, where he finished 11th with a penalty free 1 800km. In April 2019 he qualified as part of the BAS Dakar team to race in the Dakar Rally 2020.

Sharp spent his childhood on a cattle ranch in Mvuma and was introduced to off-road trail and endure riding on a Yamaha WR 400 when he moved to Kariba.

These regular forays into the wilderness in the Zambezi Valley fuelled his love for adventure and motor biking.