By Venessa Namusabi
The National Motorsport season on February 6-8 with the first round of the national motocross championship.
The venue to host the event is yet to be determined, though the races have been reduced to seven from eight citing financial constraints but the seven have been maintained for the rallying.
Uganda Motorsport Arena, Busiika that is currently known as the Extreme Adventure Park and the Victoria Raceway Park Garuga in Entebbe remain the reliable Motorsport Circuits in the country that can host sports events.
However, the Extreme Adventure Park stands out as the only international standard facility capable of hosting more than three disciplines at a time including Go-karting, TT and Drifting and Motocross.
The other tracks are struggling to meet the standards and others are closing up.
This remains a big challenge to the Federation of Motorsports Clubs of Uganda (FMU) in implementing its strategy according to the 2023 Sports Act which calls for the spread of the sports countrywide.
The Federation must partner with venue owners to keep these facilities active, but also increase events so that facilities have what to host.
Arua track and Kasanje track owned by Amos Wekesa died a natural death because of high maintenance costs and lack of activities to host.
Built in 2021, the Kasanje track hosted only three events while the Arua track never had any.
In the same year, Julius Kavuma Kabenge set up the track in Bukandula Gomba with a rally track but has not hosted any event since last year.
The Kyakaigo track in Fort Portal last hosted a motocross event in 2023, and is dying a natural death due lack of events.
Edson Ssekamwa, a director of Kyakaigo Sports Arena, attributes that to the distribution of events which does not motivate them to invest in a circuit.
“There is no return to invest in a motorsport facility unless FMU comes up with a supporting policy,” Ssekamwa said.
Kyakaigo, Bukandula, Omito track in Lira, Victoria Race Track Garuga, Mityana Track, Kalisizo motorsport Arena, and Jinja are the tracks FMU needs to consider for upgrading if the discipline is be spread across the country to cover the 75percent of the country as per the 2023 Sports Law.
However, FMU Secretary Reynold Kibira said that the introduction of more disciplines including Drag, Drifting & TT, Karting events are aimed to address such concerns.
He added that they are deliberately trying to diversify the calendar and include several events across different disciplines and regions, precisely to avoid concentrating activity in only a few facilities.
“The introduction of Drags, Drift & TT on the calendar, the proposal for the 8 National Rally Championships , Karting Championship and encouraging Club events is aimed at addressing these concerns,” Kibira added.
he explained that facilities not hosting national rounds will intentionally be integrated through regional events, club championships, youth and training programmes, test days, and promotional events…
We also intend to work towards a forward-looking, multi-season calendar outlook with facilitor owners involved, so investors can see a clear pathway for inclusion rather than waiting season by season.
This comes as we get them on board as affiliated members of the Federation so they are part of the discussion as facilities are obviously an integral and strategic component of motorsport growth especially with the grassroots outlook
That said, it is not always possible for every facility to host a national championship round in the same season. Where a facility does not appear on the calendar in a given year, this is not a reflection of its value or relevance and we hope together we can devise means of working it out
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