NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 6 – Defending Champion Baldev Singh Chager aka “Boldy” believes stopping leader Carl “Flash” Tundo from reclaiming the Kenya National Rally Championship title at Sunday’s season-closing KCB Guru Nanak Rally is going to be a tall order.
Chager has a tiny chance of defending the title he won in 2019 before COVID-19 saw the 2020 season end prematurely.
The “Flying Sing” will be seeking to close the season with a win with hopes that Tundo stumbles in the Il-Bissel based event which will be organized by Sikh Union Club Nairobi.
The event has been moved from Stony Athi to Il-Bissel due to inclement weather, according to a bulletin from Clerk of the Course Onkar Kalsi.
Kalsi added that the route itinerary will be announced in due course through a bulletin.
–Title Chase–
Tundo realistically only needs to finish eighth to secure the title given his 25-point advantage over Chager.
If Tundo finished eighth, he would have chalked up the much-needed 11 points enough to reclaim the title he lost to Chager a few years back.
Chager can only manage a maximum of 176, that is if he wins the event outright and indeed wins the Power Stage where the top three will earn bonus points (5,2,1) towards the championship.
However, one slip up could throw the championship battle firmly in Chager’s favour.
Mathematically, Boldy still has a slim chance of winning the championship.
Asked about his approach Boldy said: “We have to beat Flash by 25 points which is very difficult. Even if he drives on third gear, he will get the necessary points needed to win the championship.”
“Unless something drastic happens to him, only then we have a chance but at the pace that we are now there is a very slim chance for us, until he has a major issue. But we will go and attack it as we always do and do the best, we can give that Guru Nanak Rally is a home rally for us.”
Chager will team up with Ravi Chana in a VW Polo R5 while Tundo will go for the title in his traditional Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 10 and navigated by longstanding co-driver Tim Jessop.
“Sikh Union Club always puts a special effort, a finish at the clubhouse is always a great occasion to interact with the rally family at competition,” added Chager.
Meanwhile, season closer in Bissell will see some drivers and navigators fight for titles in various divisions of the Championship.
Jasmeet Chana and Aakif Virani already have the Group N and Division One titles in the bag. Their participation in Bissell will be a mere formality, given their championship status after Thika Rally.
Maxine Wahome will be fighting with former Two Wheel champion Daren Miranda for the Division title.
Maxine, in his very first year of rallying, tops the Division Two log on 137 points against Daren’s 123.
And having not graced the first two events, Maxine must enter the Guru Nanak to attain the 75% threshold for participation.
Maxine, a bike rider turned rally driver, made her debut on WRC Safari with Chantal Young but later changed her navigator to Linet Ayuko.
Ayuko is assured of the Division Two navigators’ championship and will be supporting Maxine for a driver-navigator title success.
She currently sits 9th on the KNRC log with a 100% finish record thus far.
KNRC OVERALL STANDINGS
1 Carl Tundo 166
2 Baldev Chager 141
3 Jasmeet Chana 120
4 Aakif Virani 93
5 Karan Patel 84
6 Onkar Rai 73
7 Mcrae Kimathi 61
8 Nikhil Sachania 53
9 Maxine Wahome 52
10 Tejveer Rai 49
GROUP N
1 Jasmeet Chana 192
2 Maxine Wahome 99
3 Nikhil Sachania 93
4 Evans Kavisi 64
5 Hamza Anwar 54
DIVISION 2
1 Maxine Wahome137
2 Daren Miranda123
3 Hamza Anwar 84
4 Evans Kavisi 73
5 Kush Patel 58
6 Jeremy WahomE 54
6= Nzioka Waita 54
