Stav Orland breaks hands, out of MX Championship

Stav Orland will miss East Africa Motocross Championship. PHOTO BY FREDRICK M. KIYINGI

ALACHUA, FLORIDA- The Ugandan team for the East Africa Motocross Championship due December 10, has suffered another set back after Stav Orland broke both his hands.

Stav joins team captain Maxime van Pee, whose left knee was operated in September. The second leg of the East Africa Motocross Championship will be held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Stav, 11 years, was training in Texas, US along with his brother Aviv, 16, for the annual Thor Winter Olympics Supercross-Motocross championship held at Gatorback Cycle Park in Florida, USA recently.

Their trainer Blake Wharton, 26, estimates Stav will be our for about four-six weeks.
“It’s unfortunate that Stav will be out of action, but breaking a bone is better than injuring a knee,” the former professional rider and columnist in the RacerX Illustrated magazine told Daily Monitor.

“ By January he will begin his rehabilitation and then ride his bike again because his bones heal fast since he is still young.
Meanwhile, Aviv was ranked 40th out of 103 riders in MX Mini- Olympics in Florida.

The two-day event attracted over 3,000 competitors in different categories. Aviv was the only rider from Africa with others from Latin and Central America countries joining the locals.
According to Wharton, Aviv’s performance was top class in a highly competitive field.
“He has been tested among some of the best riders ( professional standard) and coped well. With more training, next year will be a different story,” he said.

Aviv’s father, Barak, himself a veteran rider was impressed with the performance and wished other Ugandan riders can get a chance of participating in such competitive field.
“From the track which is challenging with many jumps and twists to the start with over 40 riders on the grid. You need to have a perfect start and avoid collision, because its difficult to recover with only five laps to compete for,” he explained.

Barak also said there are plans to upgrade Busiika Arena, both on track and the fans viewing points to match standard tracks like the Gatorback Cycle Park, the home for both Supercross and Motocross.