Fortune Ssentamu: The making of a motocross star

An idyllic Sunday afternoon is reminiscent of the calm before the storm that is Monday morning. But if you have to work on a beautiful afternoon, you might as well carry your tranquillity with you. That is the feeling you get in the stand at Busiika Uganda motorsports arena while watching Dabela Apolot take a swig from her beer mug. Her posture speaks relaxation.

In the late afternoon, young riders are training on the race track. For the uninitiated motocross enthusiast, two things might make you turn back, first of which is the deafening roar of the motorbikes. Then, if you are acrophobic, your heart might stop for a second as the riders soar over the ski jump.
Among the parents and coaches watching the riders practicing for the 2017 FIM Africa Nations Motocross Championships to be held Botswana this month, Apolot is the only woman. Watching her only child, Fortune Ssentamu, a fast rising motocross champion, during practice sessions is about the only time Apolot gets to see him on the track.

“I cannot watch Fortune on the start line on race days,” she says, adding: “He is so aggressive. He wants to be number one. Before the race begins, I hide. My husband calls to tell me the boy has set off and he is leading or he is number two. Only then do I come out of hiding and stand in the parking lot. I only go to the track during the last lap, to welcome him.”

Ssentamu,12, is a darling of motocross fans countrywide. And although his parents say he is quiet and shies away from strangers, the confidence in his step as he trudges up the stairs in his heavy black boots is unmistakable.
At the peak of his career in the MX85cc class, Ssentamu is also on the cusp of manhood. A shadow of a beard is visible on the upper lip of this boy who dreams of being an aeronautic engineer. “I love speed,” he says. “From my childhood, I loved speed. Besides, my best subject is science.”
However, all these achievements are only possible with intensive training, and Ssentamu began when he was three years old.

Nurturing great talent
Ssentamu’s father identified his talent when he was two-and-half-years-old. “We bought him a bicycle and added side support wheels to it. It took him only three months to ride without support. When he made three, his father bought him a China-made motorcycle as a birthday gift.”
Apolot was working in Gulu, her husband, a lover of motorbikes noticed his son’s interest and began coaching him. “I’m a rider, although I’m not into racing. I wanted Fortune to train in football but he loved the motorcycle.”
In retrospect, although Apolot is happy with her son’s achievements, she believes, if she had the chance, she would not have let him join the sport.

In 2009, when he was three, Ssentamu saw an advert of a Motocross National Championship event on Bukedde TV. The excited toddler demanded that his parents take him for the competition. “We tried to convince him that the motorbikes in the advert were not like the one he had. He insisted that we, at least, take him to watch. So, we drove to Garuga.”
The children on the track were riding powerful KTM bikes. After watching the race, the family met the team captain, Arthur Blick Jr.

“He told us Fortune needed a motorbike, riding gear, and a riding license. We showed him the China bike and instead of discouraging us, he told us it was good for beginners.”
They could not afford the $200-priced (Shs720,000) brand new riding gear, so Blick referred them to the late Major Mohammad Kiggundu, whose son, Fatuh Kiggundu, had outgrown some of his gear. “Maj Kiggundu sold us a helmet and riding boots at Shs200,000 and Shs150,000, respectively. We could not afford a new jersey so we took a sleeping bag to a tailor who converted it into an overall.”

In 2010, when he was four, Ssentamu entered his first competitive race. Out of 24 children in the MX50cc class, he emerged 12th. Later that year, he was among the nine riders who represented Uganda at the FIM Africa Nations Motocross Championships in South Africa.

It might seem strange that a four-year-old can ride a motorbike but at Busiika, among the bikers training on the track are two children who look about three years old. As they move around with pieces of fried chicken in their hands, their heavy tan-coloured riding gear seems to weigh them down.
“In South Africa, we hired a manual Honda bike at $100 (Shs360,000), yet Fortune was used to an automatic bike,” Apolot says, adding, “He did not know how not change gears. Asaf Natan (former national MX1 motocross champion) and Fatuh would set one gear for him and tell him to only accelerate. He performed well.”

Cometh the hour, cometh the man
After South Africa, Ssentamu competed in the continental championship in the MX50cc class in Nairobi. People begun to notice the future in Ssentamu’s talent. Natan offered his son’s KTM bike to the toddler to use for the entire 2010 season, pledging to fuel and service it. “A lawyer, William Byaruhanga (current Attorney General), had told Fortune to name any gift he wanted if he beat the Kenyans. I thought he would ask for a PlayStation.”
Ssentamu won both rounds of the championship – in Kenya and Uganda – and he surprised his parents by asking Byaruhanga for a MX65cc motorbike. The lawyer fulfilled his promise in 2011 and the boy used the bike up to 2014.
“In 2015, we hoped to upgrade him to the next class but we could not afford an MX85cc bike.” Until recently, Apolot was a social worker while her husband works in the freight cargo industry. As luck would have it, Patrick Van Pee (father of Maxime Van Pee, the national motocross team captain) offered to buy for the nine-year-old a 2012 MX85cc bike. He used the bike for a few months and then Rajvir Ray, a rally driver, bought him a brand new 2015 MX85cc motorbike.

Preparations for race day
Sportspeople have peculiar habits before competing. “When I’m training, I do not eat KFC, although I love it,” Ssentamu says, adding: “On the start line, I pray to God to help me win and to keep me safe. I have never had any fear. All I think about is clearing the humps and finishing the race.”
Before a race, Ssentamu would also visit his grandmother in Kibuli, who would pray for him. And after winning a race, he would retrace his steps to show her the prize. Unfortunately, she died in July.

An emotional loser
Ssentamu’s mother says when he loses he comes off the track crying. In January, Ssentamu lost the opening round of the 2017 National Motocross Championship in Garuga to Aviv and Stav Orland, due to problems with his motorbike.
“I tried to console him but I was also crying. Maxime’s mother told me to walk away. She consoled him. The father of the Obote brothers (JJ Akena and Milton Akaki) took him to his home and I picked him up the next day.” “If I want Fortune to perform well on race day, I accept whatever conditions he gives me.”

Training and Awards
Maxine Van Pee also took over Ssentamu’s training. Previously, he was being trained by his cousin, Derrick Ssentamu. With the new bike, Ssentamu won the second and third rounds of the national championships.
Ssentamu has won two USPA Awards, in 2012 and 2013. Currently, he stands second in the national championship and in the continental championship. The finals for the latter will be held in December 2017 in Nairobi. “The round in Botswana will take place on August 25-27, 2017 and his trip is being sponsored by Amos Wekesa, CEO, Great Lakes Safaris and Uganda Lodges Limited,” says Apolot.
“I only train on Sunday” Ssentamu says, adding, “But, I make sure I train extra hard.”
He is being groomed to be an African champion before he is 18 years. But for now, his training is over, as his parents pack up, Ssentamu takes his father’s Land Cruiser for a drive around the periphery of the race track.

Outside the sport
The sport has made him famous. “I have so many friends, even though I’m a normal child at school. I’m not proud. ”
Ssentamu is a weekly boarder in Primary Seven at Mother Majeri Day and Boarding Primary School. According to his father, the boy loves making discoveries. “If he finds a radio lying about, he takes it apart to see what is inside. He does the same with TVs. Actually, he is a spoiler (sic).”
Ssentamu taught himself how to drive when he was nine years and whenever his mother is going to town, he drives her from their home up to a short distance from the main road.

Last year, he conceived the idea of owning a smartphone. When his mother told him she did not have money to buy one, he waited eagerly for the 2016 Boxing Day rally at Festino Cite in Mukono. That year, though, the riders’ facilitation was handed over to Fatuh Kiggundu to keep him in the sport, after his father’s death.
“After the race, he greeted some of his fans. He told them he was fundraising, although he did not tell them what for. As they cheered him, they dropped money in his helmet. He collected Shs450,000. I lent him Shs50,000 to top up for a Tecno phone.”

Now, his dream is to buy a PlayStation 3. “When I ask him to refund my Shs50,000, he says, ‘Mummy, didn’t I ride well? Didn’t I make you happy?’” Apolot says.
Ssentamu has a special bond with his mother. “My best food in the whole world is mom’s food,” he says, continuing, “Anything mom cooks is the best.”

Fans investing in their star
At the beginning of 2017, Ssentamu’s fans decided to buy for him a stronger bike. The quotation for a 2017 MX85cc bike was $4,500 (Shs16.2m). One fundraiser was held and the fans raised $3,500 (Shs12.6m). “They were opting for a secondhand bike,” Apolot says, adding that in May, Lato Milk offered them $1,500 (Shs5.4m). Maxime Van Pee talked to his father, who decided to order the bike and cater for its transportation.”