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The event, which took place over the Easter weekend at the Busiika Race Track, saw Katende dominate the 65cc class, scoring maximum points by winning all three heats.
After fracturing his right leg and missing the second round of the National Motocross Championship, Miguel Katende made an impressive return to competitive action in the first round of the East and Central Motocross Championship.
The event, which took place over the Easter weekend at the Busiika Race Track, saw Katende dominate the 65cc class, scoring maximum points by winning all three heats.
There were concerns over whether the period away with injury took a competitive toll on Miguel, but he showed no signs of slowing down, even on a rather unfamiliar course at Busiika.
Main rivals Ramathan Mubiru and younger brother Jonathan Katende pushed the 2022 MX 65 national champion all the way.
Mubiru, who held the home ground advantage did well to bring the chase to the Katende brothers, even holding the lead briefly on the first day.
Despite relinquishing his lead to Miguel, Mubiru held on to split between them at the end of day one, and pushing even harder on the final day, but could not catch Miguel.
"I had to push more because Ramathan Mubiru was on my neck especially on Day One. But I have to do more assessment on my recovering leg too," he told Daily Monitor.
The Lato Milk sponsored rider’s last competitive race was at the Jamuhuri Park in Kenya, where he won after winning all three heats to take victory at the Kenya National Motocross Championship season opener in February.
Gift Ssebuguzi, the African champion in the 85cc class, was also in excellent form, winning all three heats in his category.
Ssebuguzi was pleased with the condition of the track, saying "The last time we raced here was during the Armed Forced Race but it rained a lot and we had to change things.”
“But this time the track was nice with no much dust. It helped me push and win my class."
Stav Orland put on a class act to excite the crowd in the MX1 category, winning all three heats while showcasing his array of stunts over the jumps.
Riding under a South African license, was unstoppable in the MX1 class, his performance did not add any points to Team Uganda.
Riding a KTM 450cc (model 2023), he overlapped every rider in the class bar teammate Fortune Ssentamu.
Jude Musende won all three heats in the 50cc class, while Apollo Milton Obote did the same in the 125cc class. Fatu Kigguddu took the top of the podium in the MX1 class for Team Uganda.
Kenya's best performance was in the MX2 class, where they won with 138 points, while Uganda scored only 98.
Uganda took overall victory with 1625 points and hold a huge lead over Kenya who collected only 497 points.
The second round of the East and Central Motocross Championship will be held in December at Jamuhuri Park in Kenya.
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