NAIROBI, Kenya, October 5- Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo took advantage of Lee Rose’s mechanical problems to win his second Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) National Rally Championship career title at the 30th Guru Nanak Rally on Sunday.Tundo won the Rally in Il-Bissel at the repeat run of the 29.1km Kamakuru-Maili Tisa stage where Rose lost 4minutes while stopping to fix a snapped sump guard.
“This is absolutely brilliant. I feel unhappy for Lee (Rose) because I inherited the lead from him and sealed the championship, but that’s rallying,” said Tundo.
With Tundo home at penultimate stage, focus will now be on the second series position when the KCB S&L Rally wraps up the 2009 season in Mombasa on November 7-8.
While Tundo was overjoyed with his exploits, Rose was excruciated with mechanical gremlins that stymied his second consecutive Guru Nanak title and by far contention in the title chase.
“We stopped for 4 minutes to fix the problem. But I must admit I have been very unlucky this season despite being the fastest driver,” said Rose.
The Guru Nanak once again produced the series champion for the second year running. It was in this event that Baldev Chaer won his maiden KNRC last year.
This was the second rally for Car Track who extended their trasponders from the first 10 KNRC cars to one in 2WD.
Rose led the proceedings into first service but going into the last 4km of the flying finish he broke the sump-guard.
Ian Duncan was actually the winner of the rally with 1.39.31hours before the penalty but then dipped to third overall thus missing a 12th Guru nanak win.
Tundo’s navigator Tim Jessop secured his third KNRC career win after winning the championship in 2005, 2007 and 2009. Tundo became the champion by attaining the unassailable 440points.
The 2WD Championship went down to the wire after leader Jasmeet Chana (VW Golf) retired in the early morning transport road section when his fuel distributer failed. As a result defending champion Leo Varese won the 2WD to cut Chana’s wide lead to a paltry seven points.
Varese (VW Golf) clocked 1h03m53s to beat Munir Khan (Toyoya Levin) tyo come second; 5.11minutes behind. Adnan Suhail (Daihatsu) completed the podium in 1h17m37s.
The 2WD had four finishers out of 11 starters.
The rough and challenging nature of the Il-Bissel terrain claimed a number of cars.
Alastair Cavenagh was the first casualty when his Mitsubishi EVO9 packed up at CS2 Kamakuru stage. Izhar Mirza, Kunal Pattni, Rommy Bhamra who retired at remote service in
Provisional Results: 1. Carl Tundo/Tim Jessop (Mitsubishi Lancer (1hr:40.28mins; 2. Ian Duncan/amar Slatch (Nissan Patrol) 1:41:30; 3. Lee Rose/Piers Daykin (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1:42:26; 4. Azar Anwar/Julius Ngigi (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1:44:19; 5. Baldev Chger/Raju Sehmi (Subaru Impreza) 1:46:55; 6. Alfir Khan/Mohamed Kana (Subaru Impreza) 1:50:39; 7. Asad Anwar/Kashif Sheikh (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1:57:22; 8. Susheel Shah/Andy Nagi (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1:57:28; 9. Said Hamad/Victor Okundi (Subaru Impreza) 2:03:25; 10. Ben Muchemi/Bob Kaugi (Subaru Impreza) 2;05:36; 11. Manik Choda/Jasmeer Channa (ubaru Impreza) 2:06:07; 12. Kirit Rajput/Ravi Soni (Subaru Impreza) 2:09:17; 13. Asad Khan/Salim Khan (Subaru Impreza) 2:15:44; 14. Anwar Pandya/George Mwangi (Subaru Impreza) 2:36:45; 15. Olivier Costa/Andrew Dog (Subaru Impreza) 2:25:05
2WD: Leo Varese/Kigondu Kareithi (VW Golf GTi) 1h03m53s; Munir Khan/Anita Irwin (Toyota Levin) 1h09m04s; Adnan Suhail/Zahir Shah (Daihastu) 1h17m37s; Philip Kiriazi/Katrine Diniz (Ford Escort) 1h43m50
Standings
KNRC: Carl Tundo 440points, Lee Rose 335, Ian Duncan 305, Azar Anwar 270
2WD: Jasmeet Chana 103, Leo Varese 96, Munir Khan 83