NAIROBI, Kenya, September 4 – Kajiado is the setting of an intense battle this weekend as the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) National Rally Championship reaches the business end with three rounds to go.
Series leader Carl Tundo quest to regain the title he won two years ago took a battering in the last two rounds after being forced to pull out with mechanical problems.
This time around, he will be hoping the plains are kind to him and his Mitsubishi EVO 9 when he rolls off the ramp in sixth place.
Another former champion Lee Rose hopes to use the landscape to his advantage and solidify his reputation as the ultimate speed merchant.
Rose who is currently second in the standings took advantage of Tundo’s misfortunes in the last two rallies by cutting his lead at the top and will be gunning for a top finish and clinch more points.
Fifth placed Ian Duncan will kick off the 202km event when he rolls first off the ramp outside the KCB Ongata Rongai branch early Sunday morning.
There’s also drama aplenty in the two wheel drive category which is expected to be a dogfight amongst leader Jasmeet Chana, defending champion Leonardo Varese and Charles Hinga.
Chana tops the standings despite not getting any points in the first round and another good performance will boost his chances of wresting the title from Varese.
This round will see the rally enter a new frontier with GPRS technology being used to chart the progress of drivers.
Its main aim is to evaluate the driver’s times at the start and the finish and also to catch drivers who move off course to gain an unfair advantage.
PROVISIONAL START LIST
KCB KNRC:1. Ian Duncan/Amaar Slatch (Nissan Patrol), 2. Azar Anwar/ Julius Ngigi (Evo 8), 3. Alastair Cavenagh/Saleem Haji (Evo 9), 4. Baldev Singh Chager /Raju Sehmi (Subaru N12), 5. Asad Anwar/ Kashif Sheikh (Evo 9), 6. Carl Tundo/Tim Jessop (Evo9), 7. Quentin Mitchell/Tim Challen-(Evo 8), 8. Asad Khan/Charles Kibue (Subaru N10), 9. Anwar Pandya/George Mwangi (Subaru N10), 10. Susheel Shah/Abdul Sidi (Evo 9), 11. Shaun Miller/Allasdair Keith (Evo 6), 12. Izhar Mirza/Arshad Khan (Evo 9), 13. Don Smith Sonal Smith (Subaru N12) 14. Ben Muchemi/Georege Njoroge (Subaru N10), 15. Jaswinder Chana/ Ravi Chana (Toyota Celica GT4) 16. Alfir Khan Mohammed Kana (Subaru Impreza), 17. Dinesh Sachania/Kiran Patel (Evo 6), 18. Kirit Rajput/ Ravi Soni (Subaru N10) 19. Ghalib Hajee/Sinder Sudle (Subaru N10) 20. Kunal Pattni/Bharat Pattni (Subaru), 21. Said Hamad/Victor Okundi (Subaru), 22. Robert Gow/ Norris Ongalo (Subaru), 23. Gianluca Ciaraldi/Farhaaz Khan (Evo 7) 24. 24: Stefano Rocca/Franco Donadel (Datsun 260z) 25. Rommy Bhamra/Harvinder Juttley (Datsun 240z) 26. Keval Maisura/DS Sehmi (Subaru) 27. Stanley Thuo/Kulwinder Kulu (Datsun 260Z) 28. Jonathan Savage/ Gavin Lawrence (Datsun 240Z) 29. Quentin Savage/Sabastian Tham (VW Golf GTi)
2WD Category:Jasmeet Chana/Sudhir Thatti (VW Golf GTi), James Kirimi/Kimeli Korir (VW Golf GTi), Charles Hinga/Evans Mwenda (Toyota Levin), Leonardo Varese/Kigondu Kareithi (VW Golf GTi), Ishpal Bilkhu/Paramjeet Sembi-Toyota Levin, Munir Khan/ Sam Jethwa (Toyota Levin), Adnan Suhail/Zahir Shah (Daihatsu), Zahid Omar/Imran Khan (Mitsubishi Celeste)..
