Garuga motocross round I marred by low turn-up

The first round of the motocross championship in Garuga was a thrilling one, but the low turn-up raised concerns among officials and fans.

Out of the expected 80 riders, only 60 turned up and the fans were few, causing some federation officials to start asking why the number of fans and riders is dwindling.

Others attributed the low turn of fans to the organisation which was affected by the change of the race from Sunday to Saturday and others attributed it to lack of promotion.

“This is between me and you. Since we (FMU) started funding clubs to organise events, they have taken a back seat and are not promoting their events. You can see the number of fans here today,” an official said.

On the number of riders, he said that many riders were not training, so they could race, but expected the next outing in the second round the number would increase.

The 65c class had the biggest entry of 18 riders followed by the 50cc class with 12 racers, MX2 (3), 50cc Jr (6), MX85cc (6), MX1 (2) MX125 (6) and veterans and masters combined had seven riders.

Among those missing, Jeremaih Mawanda, Milton Akaki, Akena Obote, and Telvin Junju were absent from the MX2 class.

In the Lubega Racing Team, out of the five riders, only one was racing and the rest were on the sideline watching and the same was with the Kateete Racing Team as they were also on the sideline.

In the MX1 class, Fortune Sentamu and Asaf Natan did not show up and left Maxime Van Pee to battle Waleed Omar in the combined MX1 and MX2 classes race.

The Worldwide Movers sponsored event ended successfully with only 11 minor injuries to riders who fell during the race but later on continued with the race.

Isaac Mpuuga 60

Ariella Katende 49

Avisha Labore 47

Aiden Asiimwe 37

Sentamu Favour 34

Asa Mbabazi 21

MX125 class

Gift Sebuguzi 60

Ron Young 51

Malcom Omoding 45

Ruhani Kalsi 39

Miya Young 33

MX85cc class

Jerome Mubiru 60

Pascal Kasozi49

Ethan Jassa 47

Ally Kimera 39

Annie Deedan 22

Jason Burrows 11

65cc class

Jonathan Katende 60

Ramathan Mubiru 49

Isaac Mitima 40

Larry Sekamwa 39

Ashraf Mbabazi 37

Filbert Muwonge 23

50cc class

Jude Kyle Musedde 60

Abigail Katende 47

Noel Sekamwa 41

Faith Deedan 37

Eadrick Musedde 36

Helena Birungi 34

Jasen Katek 29

Abigail Muwanguzi 25

Asina Mbabazi 21

Alba Muwanguzi 18

John Patrick Muwonge 15

Veterans class

Kayira Geofrey 60

Ashraf Mbabazi 49

Christian Millet 47

Ash Young 39

Rogers Ssebunya 33

John Baptist Achal 30

Shafiq Babeyo 18

 MX2 class

Waleed Omar 60

Ashraf Mbabazi 51

Javans Balidawa 30

MX1 Class

Maxime Van Pee 60

Isma Mukiibi 51