NAIROBI, November 24- Baldev Chager retained his Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) crown in dramatic fashion after he and title rival Carl Tundo retired from the KCB Guru Nanak Rally in an anti-climatic end to the season.
Six times former Kenya Champion Ian Duncan navigated by Amaar Slatch in a Nissan Patrol emerged winners on the day for his record 12th Guru Nanak title beating the Evo X of Rajbir Rai by two seconds to register his first win of the season in one of his traditional monster pick-ups that have thrilled fans in years gone by.
Chager had his championship success gifted in the early morning loop when Carl “Flash” Tundo retired on CS2 with fuel pump problems.
“A few kilometers into the stage we saw Tundo’s car by the roadside we actually stopped to say sorry to him because we knew the championship was in the bag,” said Chager.
Boldy as he is known by fans retired on the transport road section as he was motoring towards the repeat run of Sleeping Warrior stage.
“The car has been misbehaving and we were not going over 3500rpm. We came into service and thought we had the problem sorted out but the car kept misfiring on the transport section so we opted to retire,” the repeat KNRC champion who bagged his third crown following his previous success in 2008 explained.
He ended the season on 360points with Tundo who’s yet to come to grips with his superior Proton S 2000 machine finishing second on 326 points.
Chager’s navigator Ravi Soni rued winning the championship on a low note.
“It’s not the best way to win the championship. It was disappointing for ‘Flash’ to retire. We also had issues all day but at the end of the day its championship points that count.
“It’s always good to come out and have fun and the good fun is when you fight. It’s a bit of a disappointment in that respect but all the same we retain our championship,” the co-driver added.
Guru Nanak claimed a number of cars including the two Proton S2000s of Tundo and Alastair Cavenagh who retired midway through the rally with engine trouble.
Hussein Malik and Jassi Chatthe who was forced out after his navigator, Dave Sihoka fell sick on CS6 were among those in the casualty list.
Manvir Baryan finished the rally third followed by Raaji Bhajir with Karan Patel who trooped home fifth clinching the KNRC Division 3 and S Class championships.
Leonardo Varese recaptured the 2WD Championship despite Dennis Mwenda winning at Guru Nanak.
KNRC FINAL STANDINDS
- Chager 360
- Tundo 326
- Rajbir Rai 310
PROVISIONAL TOP 15 RESULTS
- Ian Duncan (Nissan Patrol) 1:47.12
- Rajbir Rai (EVOX) 1:47.14
- Manvir Baryan (Subaru) 1:53.33
- Raaji Bharij (EVO9) 1:54.42
- Karan Patel (Subaru GC8) 1:55.50
- Onkar Rai (EVO9) 1:56.17
- Azar Anwar (EVO8) 1:57.35
- Steve Gacheru (Subaru N10) 2:01.47
- Jasmeet Chana (EVOX) 2:02.09
- Imran Mogul (Subaru N10) 2:02.55
- Eric Bengi (Toyota RunX) 2:05.09
- Alasdair Keith (Subaru GC8) 2:05.25
- Steve Mwangi (Subaru N10) 2:06.40
- Ronak Shah (Subaru N12) 2:10.23
- Tejvir Rai (EVOX) 2:12.19.
