25 Aug 2022

The nail biting and grueling Botswana Motorsport Cross Country national championship dubbed Kopong 200 will take place on the outskirts of Kopong on Saturday.

The race, round five of the national championship, has all the ingredients of a thriller pitting some of the finest off-road riders.

According to organisers of the race, the Kopong 200 would not only provide riders a scenic and challenging sandy and rocky route but would also be a perfect outing for motorsport fans.

In the elite OR 2 category, a close contest is expected between John Kelly, Kagiso Stephens and Boineelo Rantao.

Kelly will be buoyed by his performance at the flagship motocross event the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia early this year.

Motorsport fanatic have described Kelly as another chip of the class of the likes of Vincent Crosbie and Ross Branch.

Another entry to look forward to is Rantao who is the current champion of the OR 2 class closely followed by Stephens in the second spot.

Yet another category that has all to look forward to is the OR 3 class where entertaining youngster Kosmas Mamaloukos is currently riding the crest.

It would be interesting to see if Victor Du Toit would eventually overtake Mamaloukos for the pole position.

Mamaloukos competed in the just ended African continental race in Uganda in a motocross event on a national team assignment.

He is a doubtful starter for the Kopong 200 event as his bike was reported to be travelling back to Botswana by road and might not make it before the Saturday event.

This would allow Du Toit to transit into the first spot with ease.

In the quad bikes category all eyes would be on the likes of Baleseng Buzwani of Team champs and his closest rival Kago Mosekiemang from Jwaneng.

Speaking in an interview this week Gaborone Motor club spokesperson Stephens confirmed the weekend’s race that would be hosted about 30kilometres outside the city centre just around Sasakwe lands.

He said the race had been cut into four loops of about 50kms.

The designated service point and all the spectator points would stretch along the village of Kopong and the surrounding hamlets in the Kweneng east.

Stephens said the race would most definitely attract a good number of supporters as motorsport was growing in leaps and bounds in the country after being popularized by the annual flagship event, the Toyota desert race. ENDS