2012 Anwar Sidi Rally Magazine

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ISSUE No. 83

2011 SEASON IN REVIEW

f a c e b o o k . c o m / a n w a r. s i d i

KQ Classic Rally Enduro Cross Country Autocross

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44 Motorsport Rally Review Crew:Photography: Anwar Sidi Rally Editor: Gishinga Njoroge Design and Layout: James Chunguli 0722 458 011

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Reproduction of material appearing on The Rally Motorsport Review Magazine in any form is forbidden without prior written permission from the publishers.

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Rallying Yearender 2011 Rising Stars Emerge .............................................................................

Round 1: Cavenagh Siblings Rule the Roost ................................................................................

Round 2: Duncan Banks Wet and Slippery Kmsc Bankika Rally .................................................

Round 3: Ravine ‘Mud Master’ .....................................................................................................

Round 4: Tundo Relishes Hat-Trick Safari Victories ss Whyte Rules ARC Front ........................

Round 5: Ageing Azar Savors Victory in Eldoret as Punctures Change Fortunes of WKMSC .....

Round 6: Duncan on The Verge of ‘Elusive’ Glory ........................................................................

Round 7: Duncan Crowned KNRC Champion as Tundo Wins KCB Guru Nanak Rally in Kajiado .....

Round 8: Duncan Ends KNRC on a High ......................................................................................

Classic Rally: First Porsche Safari Win ........................................................................................

Championships Standings ............................................................................................................

Rai Brothers Scaling New Heights ..............................................................................................

Checchni shine as Zambia, SA Fail to start FIM Africa Cross Country .........................................

Kirimi Rules Formula 2 ................................................................................................................

Shivam Crowns First Full Cross Country with Championship Title .............................................

Keith Crowned Autocross King ....................................................................................................

Aslam Khan Wins Motor Personality of The Year Award ..............................................................

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P.O. Box 11141-00400, Nairobi-Kenya Tel: 020-558889 Cell: 0722 786 714, 0735 786 714 Tele/Fax: 558691 Email: anwarsidi@yahoo.com www.anwarphotography.com www.facebook.com/anwar.sidi Cover Photo by Simon Williams

2011 SEASON STARS

RALLYING YEARENDER 2011

RISING STARS EMERGE Cavenagh won the season-opener in Voi.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

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he 2011 Kenya National Rally Championship [KNRC] season will go down as one of the most unpredictable in recent times. It was indeed the year that brought about major surprises with some Division Two and Three drivers claiming top ten positions overall in the KNRC, contrary to all expectations.

For instance, the Rai brothers; Onkar and Tejvir, they were just impressive.

Ugandan Jas Mangat was, however, the most stirring among the upcoming lot. Last year, Mangat drove on a Kenyan competition license and was contesting for a third overall place in the Mombasa round, only to kiss the Mombasa Motor Cluib [MMC] organized event goodbye with mechanical gremlins.

Mangat finished second in the Safari Rally and third in the Bankika Rally.

Onkar, nephew of the great Sarbi Rai, was in the top ten more than thrice and claimed his career best position in the season-closing KCB Mtaani Rally in Mariakani when he drove the ex-Baldev Chager Subaru N12 to third overall place. Onkar’s steady rise since making his debut at the 2010 season-closing Guru Nanak Rally hasn’t been in vain.

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The level-headed Onkar won the KNRC Division Two title, incidentally with a 100% finish record, just on his first full season of racing.

Sandeep Jandu and his partner Dipps Mehangra won the Division Three category but also stunned all and sundry with sporadic overall top ten finishes.

Jasmeet in a Toyota Celica GT4 won the newly-introduced Group ‘S’ class title and missed out on the Division Two title after a good fight with Onkar.

In Eldoret, Onkar romped home fourth overall while his elder brother Tejvir settled for

fifth.

There was stunning performance from the likes of Nairobi-based former Clubman’s Rally Championship [CRC] winners Hardeep S Rehsi and Imran Mogul.

During the Guru Nanak round, Hardeep rolled on the second stage while leading the pack. In the Mombasa Rally, Imran was actually the surprise package when he retired at the end of Stage 4, while actually leading and going for his maiden KNRC career win.

“The exhaust manifold broke a bolt and the hot exhaust

melted the timing belt-it was really annoying,” recalled Imran.

All in all, the Division One entrants -- comprising the top 15 ranked KNRC drivers – dominated, with Ian Duncan reclaiming the KNRC title that he had last won in the year 2000. Duncan won four out of eight rallies in the KCB KNRC 2011 season.

Oilibya Racing maestro, Azar Anwar, settled for fourth overall place in Mombasa, thus ending his KNRC 2011 at third overall. He rued the performance of his ageing Mitsubishi.

2011 SEASON STARS

Carl Tundo

Alastair Cavenagh

Ian Duncan

Azar Anwar

Jaspreet Chaatte

Onkar Rai

Manvir Baryan

James Kirimi

Charles Hinga

Sandeep Jandu

But Duncan was given a run for his money by the Dalbit Petroleum team drivers Alastair Cavenagh and Carl Tundo. Tundo was a star last year while winning the Safari and Guru Nanak rallies.

Cavenagh won the seasonopener in Voi. Duncan won the Bankika Rally in Lukenya, Nakuru Rally in Eldama Ravine, Mombasa Rally in Mariakani and the Kisumu Rally held in Awasi and Chemelil.

For Azar Anwar age was nothing but a number and actually one round outright, the Eldoret Rally.

“My Evo8 is older and a bit slower [than the cars of arch rivals] so I am always forced to push harder and it keeps up resulting in more damage and punctures.

“For example, at the Coast, we bent both front chassis, broke boot wings and had to contend with two punctures,” said Azar. He added: “I enjoyed Mombasa, though.; it was really a fast event which required total commitment.

“We pulled back 1.40secs from Rai on the last stage but it was not enough to secure a podium. We went steadily from the start but lost over four

minutes with the punctures, otherwise, we would have been within a minute of the winners.”

Mombasa was a nostalgic tour for legendary Frank Tundo, 61, navigated by daughter Tash and driving son’s EVO9 to come fifth overall. Frank was, incidentally, 11 minutes slower than the winner.

Frank used Carl Tundo’s car to fill the void left behind when his newly-wed son was at honeymoon. This was Frank’s first appearance in a rally in 25 years and he admitted, candidly, that his speed was below par. “I’m slow,” quiped the maestro of long Safari

Rally events of 1970s and 80s.

Charles Hinga of Oilibya Racing was impressive this season with a couple of top tens. He savoured his career best sixth overall place, navigated by Norris Ongalo, as well as a seventh at the Bankika Rally.

Newcomer Manvir Singh visited the top 10 for the first time in Mombasa when Shameer Yusuf guided him to eighth overall. And so was Kisumu-based Jaspreet Chatthe who got a creditable 10th [navigated by Gugu Panesar] in an ex-Lee Rose EVO9.

Quentin Mitchell

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2011 VOI RALLY ROUND 1 0F 8

CAVENAGH SIBLINGS

RULE THE ROOST

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

avenagh siblings Alastair and Adrian perked up the occasion -once again entered their names in the annals of rallying history upon leading KCB Personal Loans Rally from start to finish in Voi. Cruising home their grey Mitsubishi Evolution 9 to the momentous victory at Voi Wildlife Lodge finish was incidentally a repeat perormance of the 2004 Kisumu Rally when Adrian and Alastair became 6

the second ever pair of rally siblings after legendary Joginder Singh and his brother Jaswant trailed the blaze in 1965.

And shattering their own record amidst searing heat was such a brilliant way for Alastair to launch his 2011 title defense.

Cavenagh’s Dalbit teammate Carl “Flash” Tundo fought his way up from fifth to second overall place as Ian Duncan’s 3rd handed Mitsubishi Evolution 9 an ecstatic clean-sweep.

“After 67kilometers, I mean, it was only one second between us; a great start for the season obviously and a very good tight close race considering Ian (Duncan) was in the new car,” an elated Alastair said.

VW Golf GTi driver James Kirimi was all smiles. KIrimi achieved his maiden career win in Formula Two as Joel Muchiri and Riaz Ishmail gave Toyota Levin second overall.

After 67kilometers, I mean, it was only one second between us; a great start for the season obviously and a very good tight close race considering Ian (Duncan) was in the new car,� an elated Alastair said.

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2011 VOI RALLY ROUND 1 0F 8

Jas Mangat/Gihan De Silver - Subaru Impreza The event, organized

by East Africa Safari Rally Limited, drew hordes of local spectators at Voi stadium with an estimated 8000 spectators and hundreds more cheering on top of building.

Cavenagh was elated with his lead as at second service (after stage 5) as the cars prepared to tackle the last three stages. Cavenagh’s main threat was Duncan and teammate Tundo who incidentally dipped to 5th position as at CS5.

“The front tyres became loose and we had to stop and check if all was okay. We lost about a minute.” said Tundo.

Formula 2 ace Adnan Suhail and his partner Absalom Aswani rolled the ex-Martin Gitata Daihatsu Charade Special on the CS 1 Sagala stage. The incident happened near the end of stage 1.

Fortunately, no one was injured and the car only sustained aesthetic damage allowing the crew to continue competing.

Adnan was navigated by Absalom Aswani to 7th in a Daihatsu Charade. James Kirimi navigated by Kimeli Korir in a VW Golf Gti finally broke the duck in Voi. 8

Don Smith / Bob Kaugi - Subaru Impreza

Sandeep Jandu/Gurdeep Mehangra - Subaru Impreza

Jasmeet Chana/George Njoroge - Toyota Celica GT4

VW Golf’s Gurmit Thethy partnering up with Depinder Kalsi sealed the podium dash in 64.40, 2.24 minutes behind Kirimi.

Gurmit Thethy/ Depinder Kalsi - Golf Gti

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2011 VOI RALLY ROUND 1 0F 8 ASRA students Joel Muchiri and Riyaz Ismail were elated with their his first ever podium amidst making their debut at last year’s KMSC Rally which they finished 7th, 5th in Mombasa, 4th in Guru Nanak and 2nd in Voi. Prior to Voi Kirimi’s best performance was in the 2009 RSC Thika Rally where he claimed second overall.

ASRA students Joel Muchiri and Riyaz Ismail were elated with their his first ever podium amidst making their debut at last year’s KMSC Rally which they finished 7th, 5th in Mombasa, 4th in Guru Nanak and 2nd in Voi. VW Golf’s Gurmit Thethy partnering up with Depinder Kalsi sealed the podium dash in 64.40, 2.24 minutes behind Kirimi.

There was quite a good chunk of Mombasa drivers in the Two Wheel Drive.

Casualties were Nadeem Kana on CS2 (broken ball joint), Naveed Khalid (Toyota Levin) on CS3 and debutantes Haraka Mamas of Joan Nesbitt and Dr Tamara K. Jones (Toyota Tercel RSI)- on CS1. µ

Paras Pandya /Roy McKenzie - Subaru

Zahid Omar/ Imran Khan - Mitsubishi Celeste 2011 KCB PERSONAL LOANS RALLY –VOI (12TH FEBRUARY 2011)

1. Alastair Cavenagh/Adrian Cavenagh (EVO9) 2. Carl Tundo/Tim Jessop (EVO 9) 3. Ian Duncan/Amaar Slatch (EVO9) 4. Alex Horsey/Frank Gitau (EVO9) 5. Azar Anwar/Julius Ngigi (EVO9) 6. Jas Mangat/Gihan De Silva (Subaru N10) 7. Hardeep Rehsi /Ravi Soni (EVO6) 8. Baldev Chager/Raju Sehmi (Subaru gc8) 9. Anthony Nielsen/Mike Ogwapit (EVO8) 10. Izhar Mirza/Zahir Shah (EVO9) 11. Asad Anwar/Kashif Shaikh (Subaru N11) 12. Charles Hinga/Norris Ongalo (EVO8) 13. Jasmeet Chana /George Njoroge (Toyota Celica GT4) 14. Naushad Kara/Adnan Din (Subaru N10) 15. Don Smith/Bob Kaugi (Subaru) 16. Stefano Roca/Franco Donadel (Datsun 240Z) 17. Sandeep Jandu/Gurdeep Mehangra (Subaru N10) 18. Anwar Pandya /Sunny Wason (Subaru N10) 19. Onkar Rai Supee Soin (Subaru N12) 20. Said Hamad/Victor Okundi (Subaru N10) 21. Rob Hellier/Sam Jethwa (Datsun I60J) 22. Ben Muchemi /Evans Mwenda (Subaru N10) 23. Ajaz Mirza/IMran Khan (Subaru) 24. Ramesh Vishram /Keith Henrie (Subaru Legacy) 25. Paras Pandya /Roy McKenzie (Subaru) 26. Sudesh HiraniHarpreep Sagoo (Subaru Forester)

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80.51 82.08 82.11 83.55 84.44 84.59 86.40 87.55 88.16 91.06 91.33 92.28 94.02 94.32 95.06 95.11 95.58 96.16 97.46 98.00 99.40 104.12 105.03 108.01 108.29 111.45

27. Edward Maina/Tonny Kimondo 28. Farhaan Khan/Thabit K.

(Toyota Celica GT4) 118.00 (Subaru ) 145.36

2WD 1. James Kirimi/ Kimeli Korir 2. Joe Muchiri/ Riyaz Ismael 3. Gurmit Thethy/ Depinder Kalsi 4. Jitendra Davda/ Prakam Narotam 5. Niaz Bashir/ Jonathan Kosgei 6. Zahid Omar/ Imran Khan 7. Adnan Suhail/ Absalom Aswani

(VW Golf Gti) 62.16 (Toyota Levin) 64.00 (Golf Gti) 64.40 (Levin) 70.13 (Golf Gti) 74.17 (Mitsubishi Celeste) 90.02 (Daihatsu Special) 110.53

CASUALTIES KNRC Jaswinder Chana/Ravi Chana Sameer Deen/Shamir Yusuf Khuram Bhutt/Salim Khan Raaji Bharij/Raju Chagger Peter Horsey/Dez Page Morris Jasminder Bharij/Guillaune Dekelver Aslam Khan/Arshad Khan Teveer Rai/Bharat Pattni 2WD Naveed Khalid/Mutuma Mmarimba Nadeem Kana/James Mwangi Joan Nesbbit/Dr. Tamara K. Jones

(Toyota Celica GT4) CS7 (Subaru) CS7 (Subaru N10) CS5 (Subaru) CS5 (Datsun Pickup-Spv) CS4 (Evo6) CS5 (Ford Escort) CS2 (Subaru N10) CS1 (Toyota Levin) (VW Golf GTi) (Toyota Tercel RSI)

CS3 CS2 CS1

2011 KMSC RALLY ROUND 2 0F 8

DUNCAN BANKS WET AND SLIPPERY KMSC BANKIKA RALLY PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

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ultiple Champion Ian Duncan was back in the groove winning the wet and tricky KCB Bankika Rally in the Athi River plains. Having already managed podium (3rd overall) in the season-opening Voi tour, Duncan proved to be a much greater force to be reckoned with this time around now that he had come to grips with the EVO9 and looked forward to a good fight with the rest of the front runners.

Known to master muddy drives on his previous massive pickups, this was indeed Duncan’s second outing with the new Mitsubishi EVO9 and by extension, his maiden win of the 2011 KNRC season just as leading drivers were left to regret muddy terrain. But all in all, Duncan’s win served up great moments ahead for rally

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enthusiasts.

For ‘Flash’, finishing 2nd overall for the second time running was all good – good for Championship and accumulating points for it.

“It would have been nicer to win but ce la vie....first loser is better than DNF. I had one of those days that didn’t click. We had limited rallying followed by huge gaps of waiting. When we returned to first service, I knew I had not driven well and was asleep but his (Ian) times were impressive though. When Alastair retired, I knew then I had to finish and finish well - I thought I had been attacking.

The rally was way too short to get into it - We did 20kms in the wet and I forgot to turn the center-diff on which was a huge mistake on my part. It was a fun section in both conditions,” Tundo said.

After Saturday’s cancelation of the 20km Steel Mill stage, the 27km (CS2) Steel-Stoni Athi stage and its repeat run on CS8, an overflowing river on CS1 Nazarene-Kitengela stage culminated into another cancellation.

And after reconnaissance, Englishman Simon Tysoe was already feeling stressed out with the roughness of the event organized by Kenya Motor Sports Club (KMSC). “The roads are too rough; some are even impassable,” said Tysoe who was testing his car for the East African Safari Classic with Imran Khan of Kenya.

In the wake of scrutineering and documentation, rally cars were confined into an overnight parc ferme at KMSC “Clubhouse” in readiness for the early morning start.

The Rally was flagged off by

Sports Ministry’s Permanent Secretary James Waweru outside Rongai KCB Branch and all cars were diverted to Mathatani after changes.

Prior to flag-off, in the height of rare motorsport politics, rally drivers Baldev Chager and Carl Tundo took all and sundry by surprise when they descended onto the designated VIP area and candidly stated that drivers felt shortchanged and ill-atease; precisely- “unhappy with the manner in which the Jim Kahumbura led KMSF team ran affairs of the sport.”

Consequently, Tundo presented a comprehensive petition highlighting KMSF’s undoing and asked the PS to request the Government to intervene and help restore sanity into the well-regarded rally sport.

Duncan proved to be a much greater force to be reckoned with this time around now that he had come to grips with the EVO9 and looked forward to a good fight with the rest of the front runners.

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2011 KMSC RALLY ROUND 2 0F 8 Politics aside-the rally started off in earnest thereafter, with the preceding stage at Nazarene being declared “mission impossible” prompting force majeure rule to see the light of the day what with a paltry less than 90kilometers to tackle.

The deletion of Nazarene stage from the itinerary, however, delayed Blue Triangle spectator stage which indeed left onlookers cooling their heels and crews grumbling in first service when they took longer than expected.

Close to six thousand spectators turned up at the stage when cars finally got to service and took to the quarry stage. But conditions on the 21km Mathatani stage proved quite unforgiving to some top drivers. And by the time crews went through the second repeat run of Mathatani, the demanding course had claimed top drivers including Baldev Chager, Alastair Cavenagh, Hardeep S. Rehsi, Jaswinder Chana, Jasminder Bharij, Sandeep Jandu, Simon Tysoe from Great Britain, Edward Maina and Mital Shah.

Fresh on his inaugural victory of the season in Voi where he led the big field from start to finishnavigated by his brother AdrianDefending Champion, Cavenagh was back with Gavin Laurence but then became the first casualty on the opening stage at Mathatani where his EVO9 car landed into a ditch –while trying to evade a stuck spectator car.

“We retired as a result of having to alter our line over the crest of a brow due to a spectator car which had got stuck and landed in a large wash-away which ripped the front left hand wheel off ending our rally on the spot. I wouldn’t know why organizers didn’t inform us of the stuck car,” said crestfallen Cavenagh.

The 2008 KNRC Champion Baldev Chager and his partner Raju Sehmi were caught up in an undesirable situation prior to their underpowered Subaru gc8 exiting the event.

“We broke a drive shaft and lost control in the flying finish and ended up breaking the front suspension,” a dejected Chager explained.

Tundo gave Duncan a chase but later admitted that Duncan was driving like a man possessed.

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While other drivers were left to rue the wet and slippery morning run, Duncan appeared to relish the conditions and led as at CS3 Mathatani followed

by Tundo and Peter Horsey before the penalty of 2% was introduced to his total time.

Group S contender Jaswinder “Jazzy”Chana (Toyota Celica

GT4) retired on the repeat run of Mathatani-Lukenya with gear box problems 7km into the stage.

Sandeep Jandu’s Subaru stalled 3kms from Jazzy’s Celica. All in all, Athi Rally was full of surprises, drama and confusion.

Quentin Mitchell had actually

been placed third overall in the initial final classification but after auditing of results a few days later, the former buggy driver ended up in fourth behind Jas Mangat from Uganda.

Anthony Tibo savored his maiden top 10 finish (9th overall) and so were Charles Hinga (7th) and Onkar Rai (6th). Jamseet

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2011 KMSC RALLY ROUND 2 0F 8

Anwar Pandya / Sunny Wason - Subaru Impreza Chana won the Group S class in 8th overall place.

Hinga realized that at the end of the first section he was bit too slow. Actually the problem was the diff. On the first stage, Hinga had 16.57 minutes and (Anthony) Tibo 15.59. Strangely, he had given Hinga a minute.

Raaji Bharij returned his exSusheel Subaru in 11th position in his first muddy drive. Said he: “First mud rally, so was very slow and careful in the morning. Then we came into service and took the risk to put mud grips on, but holding was delayed because of cars getting stuck, so by the time we went out again, it was all dry! So I lost more time...but I think we were 6th or 7th, and then I went out on the last section just to go as fast as possible to try to get 5th, and we had two punctures in one place which dropped us down. But I’m glad we fought for it. I can’t wait for the next mud rally.”

Anwar Pandya I got stuck because (Hardeep) Rehsi was stuck. Anwar had to go off road and they were both there for over 30 minutes. Ravi Soni who sat with Hardeep didn’t enjoy the rally. “We had a misfire that made the car lose all power9kms into CS1. It actually sounded like a VW Beetle in the muddy conditions and with no power; it was very difficult to

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drive through the mud. We did manage to drive out of CS1 and get the car to service, but the problem was with the injectors which were not repairable. The car, in 1st gear, had absolutely no power to pull out of the mud, so we got stuck for 20 minutes.

The car did not go off, but was misfiring-apparently we were

driving on 2 cylinders,” said Soni.

“It’s fantastic!! I wish it was longer, but I enjoyed every moment..getting stuck in recce, spectator stage, the mud..every bit!!Tibo said, “when the route dried up, everyone got quicker!, but when the rain came down we were 10th fastest in the last

stage. Penelope (my car) loves the wet,” said Tibo.

Arthur Kinyanjui “AK 47”, a former Autocross driver, made his rally debut along with Brian Mbuvi in their Subaru N10 and finished 19th.

Munir Khan won the 2WD with Gurmit Thethy making up his career best second. µ

KCB BANKIKA RALLY 2011-ROUND 2 KNRC 1. Ian Duncan/Amaar Slatch 2. Carl Tundo/Tim Jessop 3. Jas Mangat/G DeSilva 4. Quentin Mitchell/Chris Davies 5. Peter Horsey/Des Page Morris 6. Onkar Rai/Supee Soin 7. Charles Hinga/Norris Ongalo 8. Jasmeet Chana/G. Njoroge 9. Anthony Tibo/Kavit Dave 10. Asad Khan/Elodie Sampere 11. Raji Bharij/Raju Chager 12. Alex Horsey/Frank Gitau 13. Fahd Bary/Ben Spinks 14. Imran Mogul/Sophie Govani 15.Tejveer Rai/Bharat Pattni 16. Ramesh Vishram/Atul Kochhar 17. Minesh Rathod/Sachin Sumaria 18. Azar Anwar/Julius Ngigi 19. Arthur Kinyanjui/Brian Mbuvi 20. Aslam Khan/Arshad Khan 21. Ben Muchemi/Evans Mwenda 22. Farhan Khan/Thabit Kandwala 23. Mohammed N./Shamir Yusuf 24. Anwar Pandya\Sunny Wason 25. Khalfan Athman\Abdulaziz Athman

EVO9 EVO9 Subaru Subaru N16 Datsun PU Subaru N12 EVO7 Toyota GT4 Subaru Subaru Subaru Evo9 Evo9 Subaru Subaru Subaru Subaru N10 Evo8 Subaru N10 Ford Escort Subaru Subaru Subaru Legacy Subaru Subaru

40.52 42.21 43.54 44.07 45.07 47.51 49.55 51.40 52.58 53.11 53.51 54.02 55.31 55.42 55.58 56.02 56.17 57.45 58.24 59.39 1.12.15 1.13.01 1.14.35 1.28.34 1.34.44

2WD 1.Munir Khan/Tim Challen 2.Gurmit Thethy/D Kalsi 3.James Kirimi/KImeli Korir 4.Ann Taith/Randeep Kalsi 5.Nadeem Kana/James Mwangi 6.Joel Muchiri/Riaz Ismail 7.Patrick Kibara/Nahreen Ismail 8.Joan Nesbitt/Dr Tamara K Jones 9.Jitu Davda/Babu Prakash

VW GolfGTi VW GOlfGTi VW GolfGTi VW Golf GTi VW GolfGTi VW GolfGTi Levin Toyota Toyota Marino

35.02 35.09 35.40 36.08 41.28 42.16 45.24 47.11 58.33

CASUALTIES Anwar Pandya/Sunny Wason Khalifan Athman/Abdulaziz Athman Edward Maina/Tonny Kimondo Jasminder Bharij/Guillaune Dekelver Alastair Cavenagh/Gavin Laurence Baldev Chager/Raju Sehmi Hardeep Rehsi/Ravi Soni Simon Tysoe/Imran Khan Mital Shah/Ravi Chhaniyara Jaswinder Chana/Ravi Chana Sandeep Jandu/Gurdeep Mehangra Charan Thethy/Viney Shah Said Hamad/Victor Okundi

Subaru Subaru Toyota GT4 EVO6 EVO9 Subaru gc8 Subaru Ford Escort Subaru Toyota GT4 Subaru N10 Subaru Subaru N10

TB-CS1 TB-CS1 CS1 CS1 CS1 CS2 CS2 CS2 CS2 CS3 CS3 CS4 CS5

2011 NAKURU RALLY ROUND 3 0F 8

RAVINE

‘MUD MASTER’ PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

The wet and slippery nature of Ravine terrain claimed the entire 2WD field.

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an masters “wet and tricky” Mortgages Rally course in Ravine as stewards nullify Formula Two results. Ian Duncan made substantial strides towards his Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) campaign with a magnificent drive at KCB S&L Mortgages Rally staged in the all-new roads around Eldama Ravine area.

Duncan and his co-driver Amaar Slatch booked in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 car to the final service at Kabunyoni.

The feeling was similarly euphoric at Eldama Ravine Stadium’s ceremonial finish which played host to the spectator stage runs all day giving locals of this area a taste of amusement which was a far cry from the usual athletics stuff they were used to.

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Frank Tundo, a veteran of the Safari Rally, was the clerk of the course for the Rift Valley Motor & Sports Club (RVM&SC)organized event which according to most of the drivers was extremely ‘wet and tricky’-the underlining word being ‘TRICKY’.

One fascinating feature of this rally is that even the locals of Eldama Ravine didn’t expect it to be this wet this year.

According to debutante Halai siblings-Mahesh and Ketan, getting to first service was very comforting having gone through very tedious stretches.

The battle for KNRC honors was taking shape at this rate.

Duncan was rejoicing in victory knowing full well that he had indeed consolidated his lead to 345 points with a commendable 55point cushion from “homedriver” Carl “Flash” Tundo. But

this wasn’t sufficient for the five times Kenya Champion to actually rest on his laurels.

Duncan ’s mastery in the mud was simply peerless- if not spectacular. This was when the 1994 WRC Safari Rally winner chalked-up his second victory of 2011-by the by- the second muddy win of the season after Bankika Rally in Athi River last April-but not without ceaseless drama from some teams in the latter stages! The penultimate stage in Poror was in reality laden with drama with Safari Rally winner Carl “Flash” Tundo and Ugandan Jas Mangat rolling their machines just when the finish line appeared so close- yet so far.

But Tundo was able to push his EVO9 car back up and drove it all through to the finish thus salvaging some championship

points in third overall place!

“We came through a hairpin bend then cut in, but then there was a hidden rock which tipped us over. I also got a puncture in the same stage,” recounted Tundo. It was quite heartbreaking for Jas who lost his brakes while descending down the 10 Km tarmac section of CS 3-7, and to avoid an impact with an oncoming vehicle, his Subaru contraption went through a culvert leading to his excruciating roll. It was Mangat’s second roll in barely a fortnight after he led the home based Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally by a huge margin also to roll out at penultimate stage when the title seemed already in the bag-but it’s not over until it’s over.

The wet and slippery nature of Ravine terrain claimed the entire 2WD field eliciting mixed

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2011 NAKURU RALLY ROUND 3 0F 8 1

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5

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“We came through a hairpin bend then cut in, but then there was a hidden rock

The tough muddy conditions in Ravine proved quite unforgiving for over 10 cars including Joan Nesbitt, Alex Horsey, Imran Kana, David Kioni, Issa Amwari, Edward Maina, Farhaaz Khan, Stella Macharia, Hardeep S Rehsi and Nishit Shah.

reactions from crews. But all in all, it was amazing to see the vintage cars of John Rose (Datsun 240Z) and Aslam Khan (Ford Escort) go through the mud-torment stage at CS1.

Stewards nullified 2WD results after all cars got time barred in the muddy 35.40Km Kaprorwa-Sawich (CS 1) stage.

The 2WDs were supposed to proceed to the long 36Km (CS3)

Stella Macharia / Hellen Shiri - Subaru Impreza

20

Poror section then finish at the 1.7km stage at Ravine stadium.

HIGHWAY ACCIDENT Anwar Pandya “Kamajokes” was busy recceing not knowing that his N10 Subaru had crashed along Nakuru-Naivasha highway moments after it had passed the scrutineering test at the Lesiolo Grain Handlers facility.

The tough muddy conditions

3

4

7

8

which tipped us over. I also got a puncture in the same stage,” recounted Tundo. in Ravine proved quite unforgiving for over 10 cars including Joan Nesbitt, Alex Horsey, Imran Kana, David Kioni, Issa Amwari, Edward Maina, Farhaaz Khan, Stella Macharia, Hardeep S Rehsi and Nishit Shah.

Defending Champion Alastair Cavenagh watched helplessly as his title defense ended with mechanical gremlins.

“Basically we went off; we were pushing quite hard. But that’s motorsports you have to take that sometimes, it has been bad luck,” said Cavenagh.

CHANGE OF NAVIGATORS Alex Horsey exited on CS2 Tugumoi stage. “Unfortunately, the wheel fell off and we broke the wheel studs which we were unable to fix,” regretted Alex who eventually got back to the cockpit to call pace notes for his brother Peter. While the general feeling was that it was an unorthodox move to change navigators, after Sam Jethwa got sick, Alex looked quite enthusiastic as he remembered their formative rally years with Peter when both would swap the seats of their father’s Toyota Corolla car. Peter were initially placed in 6th position but this was revoked and their names struck off the classification list for illegal change of co-driver.

Peter drove back his Datsun in 2h18m16s but was removed from the list this prompting Izhar Mirza to assume 6th position.

Lee Rose, who resides in Nelspruit near the Mozambique boarder, was back in Kenya to visit his Nairobi based parents, and had a go at his home rally which he ended up in second place navigated by Piers Daykin. Tundo was happy with third overall place despite the roll on the penultimate stage.

Baldev Charger’s frustration was evident on the eve of the rally as he desperately needed a finish on his second outing with the Subaru N15. The “Flying Singh” managed fourth as his veteran Oilibya Racing teammate Azar Anwar settled for fifth. Like Azar, Age was nothing but a number for John Rose, who in his 60s, cruised home 8th overall and won the Classic Car Cup in the Nakuru round. Prior to the Rally, Nakuru based driver, Fahd Bary was left to rue incessant retirements but 9th overall was quite reassuring. Jasmeet Chana (Toyota Celica GT4) won Group S class to stay atop in the table standings. Kisumu based first timers and siblings Dilraj and Savraj Bhui were happy to return 13th behind Jazzy Chana (Toyota Celica GT4) while Robert Kaugi and George Mwangi came home 14th in a

Subaru Impreza. Mahesh Halai was 15th, Muchemi 16th while Division Three Champion Ghalib Hajee from Eldoret returned from sabbatical with 17th place. Onkar Rai, the Division Two contender found himself in an unfamiliar 19th position and his brother Tejvir in 23rd.

Another notable retiree was former Clubman Champion Hardeep S. Rehsi. “The challenge in Eldama Ravine was a driver’s

nightmare,” said Hardeep.

Hardeep, however, sung praises of Rift Valley Motor & Sports Club (RVM&SC) for putting together a great event.

Frank (Tundo) did a great job by selecting stages which are different from the norm,” observed Hardeep who has been enjoying some consistent drives since his return from sabbatical last year after a 10year break. Prior to that Hardeep rallied from 1996 to 1999. µ

PROVISIONAL RESULTS 1. Ian Duncan/Amaar Slatch EVO9 2. Lee Rose/Piers Daykin EVO9 3. Carl Tundo/Tim Jessop EVO9

4. Baldev Chager/ Raju Sehmi SubaruN15 5. Azar Anwar/Julius Ngigi EVO8 6. Izhar Mirza/Zaheer Shah EVO9 7. John Rose/Mike Borrisow Datsun 240Z 8. Fahd Bary/Kashif Shaikh EVO9 9. Jasmeet Chana/George Njoroge Toyota Celica Gt4 10. Anthony Tibo/Kav Dave Subaru 11. Jazzy Chana/Ravi Chana Toyota Celica Gt4 12. Dilraj Bhui/Savraj Bhui Subaru impreza 13. Bob Kaugi/George Mwangi Subaru 14. Mahesh Halai/ Ketan Halai Subaru 15. Ben Muchemi Subaru 16. Ghalib Haji/Surinder Sudle Subaru N10 17. Khalid Umar/Shakil Umar Subaru 18. Onkar Rai/ Subaru N12 19. Aakif Virani/Azar Bhatti 20. Khalfan Athman Subaru 21. Aslam Khan/Arshad Khan Ford Escort 22. Tejvir Rai/Bharat Pattni Subaru 23. JitendraDhokia\Gugu Panesar Subaru 24.M Noormohamed\Hassan Saleh Subaru

2h02m11s 2h08m37s 2h09m57s 2h11m21s 2h16m57s 2h20m40s 2h29m04s 2h35m06s 2h35m44s 2h40m25s 2h42m38s 2h43m35s 2h45m19s 2h45m39s 2h47m44s 2h49m28s 2h51m18s 2h55m13s 3h00m35s 3h16m00s 3h19m16s 3h25m03s 3.26.58 3.34.52

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2011 SAFARI RALLY ROUND 4 0F 8

TUNDO RELISHES HAT-TRICK SAFARI VICTORIES AS WHYTE RULES ARC FRONT PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

G

reat Rift Valley farmer Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo and his partner Tim Jessop savored their third KCB Safari Rally career scalp together amidst thunderous cheers from spectators at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) finish ramp.

This was Flash’s third Safari scalp with previous victories achieved in South Coast in 2004 and 2009 at the same venue.

“The game plan kind of changed through out the day. The game plan in the Safari was to get points, because you know if you don’t score points your championship is kind of over; so went in with a sensible head from the first day and on the third stage we realized we were leading by over a minute. We spent lots of time in preparation of the car and made sure everything was running well. So we made sure that we didn’t have a major problem and it worked out well,” commented Tundo.

Ugandan Jas Mangat surprised all and sundry with a career best second overall position despite trailing Tundo by a massive 8.43minutes.

The 1994 WRC Safari Rally winner Ian Duncan and his partner Amaar Slatch sealed the podium dash in 2.52.48 hours.

Mangat could hardly believe his eyes in the wake of champagne celebrations. “It feels great. It hasn’t sunk in yet; I think we will realize this tomorrow. We knew the Safari would be a long and rough rally. Towards the end, we were like four or five people fighting for the

22

third position and at the end of the first stage in the morning they had all caught up with us, so it was a major decision to either push and get a reward or just hang around,” said Mangat.

Mangat racked up a rare double when he was awarded the inaugural Lochab Memorial Trophy donated for the best Sikh driver.

The trophy was donated by the Lochab Brothers from Eldoret in loving memory of the KNRC Division Three driver Randeep Singh Lochab who was killed in a grisly road accident two weeks prior to the Safari.

Tundo’s Leg 1A charge on Saturday was literally peerles. He swept through the gravel rally like a tornado claiming all the five stages at stake on the day;s action.

Tundo however backed off in Leg Two action on Sunday which entailed three stages around Konza, Kipeto and Olekajiado.

As Tundo took it easy, youngster Quentin Mitchell was indeed the greatest on CS7 (Konza 2-Olekajuado) while Mangat took CS8 honors in Kipeto as Duncan wrapped up his Safari fight with the CS9 win.

Behind Tundo was a spirited FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) battle pitting Champion Jamie Whyte and his Zimbabwean counterpart Conrad Rautenbach.

As at CS8 end, Whyte was well on course for a second place but dipped to fourth overall place after the Zimbabwean picked up a puncture on the last stage around Kipeto.

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2011 SAFARI RALLY ROUND 4 0F 8

Aslam Khan/Arshad Khan - Porche 911 “I am happy with the ARC win. I was not really worried with the outright win. My main worry was to keep Conrad at bay,” commented Whyte.

Kenya’s former Pirelli Star finalist Raaji Singh Bharij treasured a fifth career best Safari finish with Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach settling for sixth overall. But Rautenbach romped home second in the ARC class.

Nevertheless, Whyte had to contend with playing second fiddle to Rautenbach who consolidated his lead in the ARC fight. After four rounds, Rautenbach led the ARC pack with 93points with Jamie waiting to pounce with 76.

A troublesome run on Leg 2 by Madagascans Jean Yves Ranarivelo and Rila Ranaivomamianina ended in ninth overall position and a credible third in the ARC class on their Safari debut!

Ranarivelo charged quite aggressively with a joint second fastest time in Friday’s Jamhuri Spectators stage and 4th fastest on CS3 and CS4 but had his spirited fight was stymied with two punctures in the latter competitive stages.

During this 59th KCB Safari Rally 2011 edition crews came face to face with the FIA “Race True” Anti doping campaign. All competitors partaking Safari 2011 were issued with a copy of the FIA anti doping list with clear guidelines indicating prohibited substances. Mr. Surinder Thatthi, the FIA representative in Kenya

24

explained that the global body (FIA) was enforcing the antidoping campaign just as has been the case in other sports and hinted random test on crews in one of the African Rally Championship (ARC) events which Safari counts for.

SUPPLEMENTARY CLASS Jasmeet Chana won the supplementary class and behind his Toyota Celica GT4 contraption was former 2WD Champion Alfir Khan and cross-country quad ace Shazar Anwar who completed the podium rush.

Debutant Pauline SheghuMwanzia-a presenter with KBC Channel 1- was also a finisher in the supplementary class when she returned her Subaru machine in 10th overall. Sheghu was landed the Safari drive. Jagjeet Patter from Uganda won the 2WD class.

But what a better way it was for veteran Aslam Khan to test his Tuthill prepared Porsche 911 in entering a rally? That’s what Aslam did exactly with his new car. The car had been entered in the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally in November but, with it newly arrived in Africa, the chance to try it out on the modern Safari Rally Kenya held in Kajiado was not to be missed.

On the Safari Rally, Aslam was leading the Supplementary class when he lost control of the car and it gently rolled over. To his consternation, the car then had a small fire, but the crew managed to extinguish it before too much damage was done.

DAY 1 (LEG 1A) After a four-year non attendance, Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach returned to the 59th KCB Safari Rally.

His Ford Fiesta 2000 machineairlifted from South Africalooked set to awaken the Kenyan brigade in the main class after he outran them at the hairy 2.22km spectator stage at Jamhuri Park in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 10,000 spectators. His navigator Nicolas Klinger was equally enthusiastic on his Safari visit despite Conrad backing off on the last two days. “I am very happy to be here. You know Safari

is one of those favorite rallies in the world along with rally Monte Carlo and Sweden . Unfortunately our car is designed for European rallies,” said Klinger.

The 2007 FIA African Rally Champion posted 1 minute 51 seconds to open a three seconds lead at the KICC overnight halt.

But in victory, the 2007 Safari champion had a different story to tell: “Every corner was twisty and the car’s transmission system was affected.”

“It is one hell of a rally.

Tomorrow (Day 2) I have to be cautious,” added Rautenbach had airlifted his S2000 contraption to

Conrad Rautenbach/ Nicholas Klinger – Ford Fiesta S2000

Alex Horsey/Frank Gitau - Mitsubishi EVO10 Nairobi following an excruciating exit in the South African based Gauteng Rally the previous weekend.

Kenya national champion Alistair Cavenagh had a similar scare and waltzed into service very worried despite being branded “Alastair Airways” for the big jump. His Mitsubishi Evo 9 was leaking water and oil. This aside, he finished a credible joint fourth with Baldev Chager and Alex Horsey.

“I don’t know what happened.

We had landed heavily and saw water vapor coming from the bonnet,” said Cavenagh who was

spotting the Dalbit Petroleum livery. On the Day one spectator stage, veteran Ian Duncan produced his usual flair to finish jointly second with Madagascan Jean Yves Ranarivelo clocking 1.54minutes. “I was last here in a World Rally Car in 1999 Safari and so I was cautious of the route but there is still no much difference,” said Jean.

Tundo was a contended man. He was happy with the good spectator turnout and said endurance starts tomorrow. He finished jointly seventh with Jas Mangat in 1:56 seconds. Baldev Chager finally drove the Subaru

N15 which he has been waiting for its arrival from Norway for the last seven months. “I have not tested this car which has never raced on gravel. We need to reset the suspensions and I did not give the stage 100 percent concentration because I had not slept on Thursday night as I was waiting for the car to arrive from Mombasa. I just need to go home and sleep,” said Baldy.

Former two times Safari champion Azar Anwar, 57, complained that his EVO8 was misfiring and lacked consistent power. For reigning African champion Jamie Whyte, it was

a near miss after his car stalled before entering holding point gate due to an electric misfire. He worked fast and in time to start.

“It was fine but tomorrow is a long day. I also hope I can win the Safari after coming too close in the past. KTN Sports Journalists Johnson Langat and Robert Soi suffered a road accident mishap near Nakumatt Junction after their Subaru was hit by a Land Rover on the right hand side which damaged the front wheel assembly. The car struggled at the super special. Mechanics, however, worked frantically in time for Leg 1B.

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2011 SAFARI RALLY ROUND 4 0F 8

Noor Mohamed\Hassan Saleh - Subaru

We messed it up yesterday with a huge jump at the spectator stage which bent our arm.

Imran Mogul/ Mutuma Marimba – Subaru N10 Madagascan Fredrick Rakotomanga was ecstatic of his Safari debut. Speaking through an interpreter, Fredrick said the spectator stage was okay. He was happy to see so many spectators.

Prior to the spectator stage at Jamhuri, the Government pledged to support Motor Sports in its long held plan to regain Safari Rally’s lost world status.

During the Official Flag Off ceremony, President Mwai KIbaki also pointed out that the Government will continue investing more resources in strengthening the sports industry through provision of relevant sports equipment and infrastructure.

“In order for us to succeed in strengthening motor sports in the country, I call upon the Motor Sports Federation (KMSF) to

26

ensure motorsports are developed to international standards. We must, in particular, strive to meet all the conditions set by the International Federation of Automobiles (FIA) so as to stand a better chance regaining the World Status. This achievement will raise the profile of the KCB Safari Rally and also attract the World top drivers to compete in the event every year,” said Kibaki.

LEG 1B Tundo maintained his dogged campaign in search of a rare KCB Safari Rally hat-trick when he outran the entire field on Leg1 B around Isinya and Kajiado.

The Lanet-based wheat farmer claiming all the five stages at stake in a day full of drama and anxiety. On- song Tundo appeared to have mastered the conditions opening unassailable 5.42

minutes lead over second placed reigning ARC Champion Jamie Whyte of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean Rauntenbach looked set to dismantle the Kenyan brigade during Friday’s Jamhuri Park spectator stage after he went to bed with a three seconds lead. But Rautenbach, who is leading the FIA African Rally Championship by 75points, had to contend with playing second fiddle to Tundo who topped Day Two proceedings with three stages to spare.

The third place went to Madagascan Safari debutants Jean Yves Ranarivelo and Rila Ranaivomamianina in a Subaru impreza. Jean timed 2.02.26 while Uganda ’s Jas Mangat, who is competing on a Kenyan license settled for fourth in 2:03.41 ahead of veteran Ian Duncan.

Rautenbach’s Green Fuel Ford Fiesta S2000 was the talk of town after Leg1A but fears that the Zimbabwean would clear the ground with all and sundry evaporated soon enough when Tundo set the quickest time on CS2. “We had a puncture and the stages are very rough; not good for our car which isn’t used to rough stages. We are trying not to destroy our car which is quite difficult on these bad roads. We can’t attack on these stages. Our car is already falling apart. Now I just want to try and get to the finish.”

Rautenbach trailed Tundo by 41 seconds after CS2 but an excruciating puncture on CS4 (Kamukuru Road) dipped him to seventh overall as cars headed to the overnight Perc Ferme at Isinya.

Alex Horsey suffered two punctures on CS4 while Peter hit a culvert and retired upon damaging the drive shaft. “This is a long and hard Safari compared to the others. I have had a two punctures which set me back a little bit. Otherwise, the car is behaving itself and I am quite happy with my day 1. The car has a lot of torque and it’s an amazing machine. Tomorrow I will attack,” said Alex. Tundo was all smiles: “Safari is going well so far. We are going at a steady pace with no problems and I am happy; although I lost brakes on stage 1.”

Mangat commented: “We had a puncture in the morning which set us back about five minutes but all in all car is ok and driving well.” Quentin sprained a leg in the morning and was limping.

Said he: “Its one of the toughest ‘Safaris in the recent past but we are trying to get through without many problems. We broke 3 rims in the morning (on different stages) and had a puncture after taking a huge jump which also messed our rear diff a little bit.”

Yves described Day Two action as quite tactical. “We have to find balance between pace and preserving the car. We are a little behind after my navigator who is a bit tired got lost for most of cs2 and I had to drive by sight.”

Imran Mogul settled for 10th.

“Its not good for me at all. We messed it up yesterday with a huge jump at the spectator stage which bent our arm. My car is damaged on the left so we are nursing it home. We hit another rock which bent our arm again and I have no spare,” Imran said.

Hardeep Rehsi promised to drive aggressive: “we got lost in the diversions which have changed

since safari. Safari is ok for me.

The car is okay but the time lost has taken us back. Tomorrow is flat out for me.”

Kenyan Raaji Bharij said: “Safari is very good for us. We are lying sixth overall which I think isn’t too high up or down the ladder. It’s a good position for us. We just keeping it fast but not too fast. Although we blew a rear shock which set us back a bit. Tomorrow we will just try and maintain the position a top five will be dream come true.”

Former Kenya champion Chager ended by the road side with a broken rear right drive shaft.

“We worked by the road side and when we thought we were okay the central differential control locked,” said Chager.

“Of course as I said on Friday the Safari will offer me the opportunity to test and develop the car,” added the Oil Libyasponsored driver who received the Subaru N15 only a few hours before the Safari flag off.

The 2WD Class also had its fair share of drama with Jagjit Singh from Uganda and Pinal Patel driving their VW Golf to victory in 2.12.18hours Patrick Kibaara and Nehreen Ismail gave Kenya second overall slot in 2.12.25 hours while Kisumu based Niaz Bashir was third on 2.14.43. Fourth went to the crew of Joel Muchiri and Riyaz Ismael driving their Toyota Levin in 2.22.24 hours while Mombasa based rising star Naveed Khalid and Adnan Dinalso drove their Toyota Levin to fifth in 2.24.19hours. µ

SAFARI RALLY PROVISIONAL RESULTS 1. Carl Tundo/ Tim Jessop – Kenya Evo 9 2. Jas Mangat/ Gihan De Silnva – Uganda Subaru N12 3. Ian Duncan/ Amaar Slatch – Kenya Evo 9 4. James Whyte/ Philip Archenoul – Zimbabwe Subaru N10 5. Raaji Bharij/ Raju Chaggar- Kenya Subaru N10 6. Conrad Rautenbach/ Nicholas Klinger – Zimbabwe Ford Fiesta S2000 7. Quentin Mitchell/ Tim Challen- Kenya Subaru N16 8. Hardeep Rehsi/ Ravi Soni- Kenya Evo 9 9. Jean Yves Ranarivelo/ Rila Ranaivomamiani – Madagascar Subaru N12 10. Imran Mogul/ Mutuma Marimba – Kenya Subaru N10 11. Christakis Fiditis/ Guy Dekelver- Rwanda Subaru N12 12. Izhar Mirza/ zahir Shah- Kenya Evo 9 13. Valery Bukera/ Nital Khetia- Burundi Subaru N10 14. Ronald Ssebuguzi/ Cedric Buzabo- Uganda Evo 9 15. Alain Dethise/ Ronald Vanderveken- Burundi Subaru N11 16. Onkar Rai/ Andrew Doig – Kenya Subaru N12 17. Sandeep Jandu/ Gurdeep Mehangra- Kenya Subaru N10 18. Khurram Butt/ Salim Khan- Kenya Subaru N10 19. Said Hamad/Victor Okundi- Kenya Subaru N10 20. Fredrick Rakotomanga/ Adam Yachine- Madagascar Subaru N11 21. Jitendra Dhokia/ Gurdeep Panesar- Kenya Subaru Impreza 22. Aakif Virani/ Azhar Bhatti- Kenya Subaru N10 23. Mital Shah/ Ravi Channiyara- Kenya Subaru N8 SUPPLEMENTARY CLASS PROVISIONAL RESULTS 1. Jasmeet Chana/ George Njoroge – Kenya Toyota Celica GT4 2. Alfir Khan/ Mohamed Kana- Kenya Subaru Impreza 3. Shazar Anwar/ Job Njiru – Kenya Hybrid Pickup 4. Issa Amwari/ James Mwangi- Kenya Subaru Impreza 5. Edward Maina/ Tony Kimondo- Kenya Toyota Celica 6. Paras Pandya/ Roy Mckenzie –Kenya Subaru Impreza 7. Farhaan Khan/ Thabit Kandwalla-Kenya Subaru Impreza 8. Mohammed Noormohammed/ Shameer Yusuf – Kenya Subaru Impreza 9. Johnathen Somen/ Richard Hechle Ford Escort 10. Pauline Sheghu/ Hillary Kipchillat- Kenya Subaru Impreza 2WD CLASS PROVISIONAL RESULTS 1. Jagjit Sighn/ Pinal Patel – Uganda VW Golf 2. Patrick Kibaara/ Nehreen Ismail – Kenya 3. Niaz Bashir/ Jonathan Kosgei- Kenya Toyota Celica 4. Joel Muchiri/ Riyaz Ismael- Kenya Toyota Levin 5. Naveed Khalid/ Adnan Din- Kenya Toyota Levin 6. Nick Patel/ Andy McDononall- Kenya Mercedes Benz 7. Adnan Suhail/ Absalom Aswani- Kenya Daihatsu Charade 8. Dennis Mwenda/ Shakil Umar- Kenya VW Golf 9. James Kirimi/ Kiremi Korir- Kenya VW Golf 10. Rashid Kabi/ Eric Nzuva- Kenya Peugeot 206 11. Gideon Kimani/ Laban Cliff- Kenya Toyota Levin

2.43.45 2.52.28 2.52.48 2.54.14 2.54.40 2.55.24 2.55.56 2.58.36 2.59.02 2.59.02 3.02.28 3.02.49 3.04.20 3.06.23 3.06.23 3.15.19 3.16.44 3.22.02 3.27.30 3.33.53 3.54.05 4.23.26 4.49.44 3.21.43 3.30.11 3.32.28 3.45.44 3.59.01 4.05.47 4.06.01 4.11.30 4.22.01 4.49.47 2.12.18 2.12.25 2.14.43 2.22.24 2.24.19 2.31.57 2.32.40 2.47.02 2.54.17 2.55.49 3.00.22

Jean Yves Ranarivelo/ Rila R. – Subaru N12

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2011 ELDORET RALLY ROUND 5 0F 8

AGEING AZAR SAVORS VICTORY

IN ELDORET AS PUNCTURES CHANGE FORTUNES OF WKMSC ROUND

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

E

ldoret lived up to its expectation as the most u n p re d i c t a b le round of the Kenya National Rally Championship.

Rightly so, Lady Luck finally smiled on veteran Azar Anwar when the three-time former National Champion and Group N champion had the last laugh in the KCB SME Banking Eldoret Rally.

Azar only beat Ian Duncan by a mere 17 second to pull through following a steady run in the high altitude region. But this time round it was a different ball game with the roar of turbo charged machines taking centre stage.

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Like Azar, Nairobi’s Adnan Suhail in a Daihatsu Hybrid and navigated by Absalom Aswani also ended months of mechanical gremlins claiming the 2WD scalp by a huge 2.59 minutes margin from Kisumu based newcomer Niaz Bashir.

Bashir was incidentally the quickest on CS1 clocking 7.43minutes, a second ahead of the eventually winner. But Adnan pulled through on the second and last competitive stage where he beat Niaz by nearly two minutes.

Azar of Oilibya Racing Team was all smiles upon driving his Evolution 8 car to Cheptiret Primary School service prior to the ceremonial finish at

KCB Uganda Road Branch.

At 56, Azar ended five years of jinx and frustration in Eldoret, incidentally, the same KNRC event he had last won in 2006.

Eldoret, which has been known to produce surprises, saw Baldev Chager, defending champion Alastair Cavenagh and Carl Tundo fall by the wayside.

Chager suffered turbo problems in the early morning run while Alastair had his run stymied when he went off. We hit a bump badly in one of the stages that knocked Gavin out unconscious for almost 30seconds after he hit his head against the anti-roll bar.

We thought it was unsafe to

Engine problem followed by continuous lack of power affected our performance in the Eldoret Rally.

Somehow we were even lucky to finish the rally forget about winning it..�

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2011 ELDORET RALLY ROUND 5 0F 8

Issa Anwari and Job Njiru were happy with 16th place behind the classic car cup team of Aslam Khan and Ashrad Khan.

carry so we decided to limp out of the stage and retire from the competition.

It was unfortunate we were not able to do a proper recce.

Otherwise we would have probably missed this 30

incident,’’ said Cavenagh.

Gavin Laurence got sick in the car. Tundo went out with turbo problems. With Baldev and Cavenagh gone, Duncan was well on course for a second successive win but his lead was short-lived with an excruciating puncture on the first run of the rough 35KM Chebulbul-FF Uhuru Stage.

As at CS6, Alex Horsey was leading the Western Kenya Motor Club (WKMC) event with a minute ahead of Azar until a puncture dipped him to third overall. Surprises didn’t just end there-Onkar Rai posted his career best fourth in his Eldoret home turf and his brother Tejvir Rai taking fifth only on his third outing.

Tejvir had made his debut in

IAN DUNCAN & AMAAR SLATCH

A big thank you to all our sponsors MUDHEER

ENGINEERS

2011 ELDORET RALLY ROUND 5 0F 8

Voi during the Personal Loans Rally while this the fourth rally for Onkar who made his debut during the Guru nanak rally in 2010.

Alex settled for third and sealed the podium dash with 2.17mites ahead of Onkar. Jas Mangat from Uganda claimed

seventh place. Onkar was the Division two winner in Eldoret while his brother Tejvir won Division 3 ahead of Sandeep Jandu who could only manage eighth. Stefano Rocca and his partner Franco Donadel gave a good account of themselves finishing 9thwhile the Subaru

crew of Anwar Pandya and Ken Masoni claimed 10th place.

Alex unveiled his state-ofthe-art Evolution 10 machine, the only one of its own in the region, sounding quite febrile of the 2011 season campaign.

“The car is step further than the EVO9s and I am hoping

to win the championship this season before the big boys win,” said Horsey. Azar staunchly admitted he wasn’t really aggressive in a strategy to avoid punctures.

“We were going steadily to avoid punctures because almost everybody was experiencing problems,” said Azar. This was Azar’s third win in Eldoret after winning it in 1989, 2006 and this year. After Eldoret, Duncan lead the KNRC series with 190 points.

Charles Hinga took 11th place. “We didn’t push too hard in Eldoret because were trying to preserve the car for the Safari,” said Hinga.

Eldoret rally took place over the Easter weekend. It all started with the spectator stage at the ASK Showground. Twelfth overall was Khuram Bhutt from Mombasa followed by Dr Ahmed Ashraf from Uganda . Simon Tysoe from Britain was back in Kenya again with Kenyan Imran Khan as the duo tested for the KQ safari Classic and finished 14th. Issa Anwari and Job Njiru were happy with 16th place behind the classic car cup team of Aslam Khan and Ashrad Khan.

Mombasa based Sudesh Hirani “Hakuuz” sat with Mutuma Marimba from Nairobi for the first time and finished 18thoverall ahead of Kisumu’s Jitendra Dhokia.

Khalid Umar and Shakil Umar were 20th overall.

Eldoret rally took place over Easter holidays. On Sunday, the competitive stages tackled around Kaptagat Forest, Kapangetich and Flax areas.

Punctures also proved quite a menace to teams with Horsey

Joan Nesbit/Dr Tamara K Jones - Toyota Celest

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2011 NAKURU RALLY ROUND 5 OF 8

Jitendra Dhokia/Gugu Panesar - Subaru N10 loosing his lead to Azar on the rough CS7 Chebulbul stage.

On Saturday, hundreds of spectators gathered around the showground to catch a glimpse of the designated spectator stage. WKMSC charged a fee of KSh 50 to try and limit the number of spectators as a safety measure.

Carl Tundo and Ugandan Jas Mangat started off the KCB SME Banking Rally on an

awesome note claiming the 3.9KM Eldoret ASK Showground spectator stage in 3.40minutes.

Mangat’s joint lead was a welcome relief to the Subaru N-series contraptions which have had to struggle against the EVOs in the past two seasons.

This was such an encouraging drive for Mangat who secured his career best third overall place in Athi River the previuos month.

Cavenagh went to bed three seconds adrift the leading cars handing EVO9 another good result on Day 1.

Alex Horsey from Mombasa by driving the first EVOX on Kenyan soil but could only manage 4th on 3.45minutes.

But the stage was temporarily stopped when the Athman siblings Khalifan and Abdulaziz flipped their Subaru Impreza just a few meters to

the flying finish.

The Rallies Commission of Kenya Motor Sports for the first time ever introduced the Watt Sport timing system which allowed faster 2WD cars to start ahead of slower KNRC competitors.

Rally proper restarted at 7.30am passing through Kapngetich, Moi University , Cheptiret for service, Flax and Kaptagat Forest. µ

FINAL RESULTS KNRC 1. Azar Anwar/Julius Ngige (EVO8) 2. Ian Duncan/Amaar SLatch (EVO9) 3. Alex Horsey/Frank Gitau (EVO10) 4. Onkar Rai/Andrew Doig (Subaru N12) 5. Tejvir Rai/Bharat Pattni (Subaru) 6. Jaswinder Chana/Ravi Chana (Toyota Celica GT4) 7. Jas Mangat (Subaru N10) 8. Sandeep Jandu/G.Mehangra (Subaru) 9. Stefano Rocca/Franco Donadel (Datsun 260Z) 10. Anwar Pandya/Ken Masoni (Subaru N10) 11. Charles Hinga/Norris Ongalo (EVO8) 12. Khuram Bhutt/Salim Khan (Subaru N10) 13. Dr A.Ashraf/Daniel Ayebare 14. Simon Tysoe/Imran Khan (Ford Escort) 15. Aslam Khan/Asad Khan (Ford Escort) 16. Issa Amwari/Job Njiru (Subaru) 17. Jasmeet Chana/G Njoroge (Toyota Celica GT4) 18. Sudesh Hirani/M. Marimba (Subaru Legacy) 19. Jitendra Dhokia/G. Panesar (Subaru N10) 20. Khalid Umar/Shakil Umar (Subaru)

2WD 1. Adnan Suhail/Absalom Aswani (Daihatsu) 2. Niaz Bashir/J Kosgey (Toyota Levin) 3. Naveed Khalid/Riyaz (Toyota Levin) 4. James Kirimi/KImeli Korir (VW Golf) 5. Nadeem Kana/James Mwangi (VW Golf) 6. Joan Nesbit/Dr Tamara K Jones (Toyota Celest) 7. Imran Kana/Mohammed S. (Toyota L)

1h22m04s 1h22m21s 1h25m33s 1h27m50s 1h28m29s 1h29m23s 1h30m04s 1h30m10s 1h30m16s 1h31m36s 1h32m33s 1h33m31s 1h36m22s 1h36m53s 1h38m45s 1h43m22s 1h43m35s 1h46m50s 1h48m28s 1h50m00s 1.02.54 1.05.53 1.06.59 1.09.36 1.10.39 1.12.25 1.12.39

33

2011 KISUMU RALLY ROUND 6 0F 8

DUNCAN ON THE VERGE OF ‘ELUSIVE’ GLORY PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

G

oing into Equator Motor Club (EMC) event, the Kenya National Rally Championship had eluded five times former National Champion Ian Duncan for 11years.

But KCB Advantage Rally “Kisumu Rally” which had also been elusive since 1992 inched Duncan closer to the KNRC title he last won in the year 2000.

Outgoing Champion Alastair Cavenagh showed aggressive pace and class driving even faster than Duncan but settled for second overall place despite trailing Duncan by a massive 10minutes.

Jaswinder Chana and his

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brother Ravi Chana gave Toyota Celica GT4 its maiden podium position in the 2011 KNRC season behind Evolution 9 cars of winner Ian and Cavenagh.

Cavenagh was drawn back with excruciating punctures but bounced back when he won CS3 and CS4.

In winning the sixth round of the KNRC series, Duncan (who clocked 1h47m50s) stretched his KNRC series lead with 425points tally against Tundo’s 290. What that meant as curtains came down on Kisumu rally was that the 1994 WRC Safari Rally winner only needed a paltry 25 points or a top-seven finish at the preceding and penultimate KCB Guru Nanak Rally to

recapture the title he last held in the 2000 season.

Duncan who has won the Guru Nanak a record 11 times saw his title aspirations receive a major boost when hot contender Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo kissed Kisumu tour goodbye earlier on the third section.

The two wheel drive also served up great moments ahead and surprises galore too. It was exciting to see VW Golf GTi claim a 1-2 finish.

Nairobi based marketer, James Kirimi racked up his second win of the season in the 2WD class with newcomer Dennis Mwenda driving the ex-Nadeem Kana VW Golf to a career best second place.

Patrick Kibaara- teaming up

with Mombasa based James Mwangi -gave Toyota Levin third overall.

Baldev Chager retired on the repeat run of CS5 Daraja Mbili stage after breaking a rear cross member of his Subaru N16.

“We landed on a very heavy rock at CS1 which I think could have been the route course of the problem,” Chager said.

Azar Anwar and his partner Julius Ngigi in a Mitsubishi EVO8 also kissed Kisumu round goodbye on CS3 when the transfer gearbox gave up.

Datsun Debe youngster Peter Horsey was out with engine problems. “Our oil pump failed and we blew our engine on the second stage.

35

2011 KISUMU RALLY ROUND 6 0F 8

Baldev Chager retired on the repeat run of CS5 Daraja Mbili stage after breaking a rear cross member of his Subaru N16.

Samira Khan / Raju Chager - Ford Escort

Nishit Shah / Darshan Shah - Subaru Impreza

38

Anthony Tibo and Kavit Dave We also had two punctures on the first stage,” Horsey said.

Cavenagh had his morning run perturbed by two punctures on CS 1 and 2.

“First time round we drove on the puncture but then stopped on CS2 to change the second puncture,” Cavenagh said on second service.

Undaunted by the predicament, Cavenagh bounced back to win CS4 and climbed to second place.

Besides Jazzy Chana’s fairly tale finish, were a couple of career best feats posted by little known Jagjit Patter from Eldoret in fourth and Sandeep Jandu in fifth.

The Rai brothers visited the top 10 again after driving well in Eldoret. Onkar Rai was eighth and his brother Tejvir 7th. Jagjit Patter savored 4th overall position in his

Jasminder Bharij/ Ben Spinks - Mitsubishi Evo 6

Said Hamad and Victor Okundi Subaru contraption while Sandeep Jandu came fifth to enhance his Division Three lead. Ghalib Haji was happy with 9th.

Tejvir was all smiles. “I was happy with my second top 10 after Eldoret. I was contesting for third in Kisumu before I lost my clutch,” said Tejvir.

Kisumu based “Team Rallytec” Subaru N10 of Jitendra Dhokia “Jitu” and Gurdeep Panesar “Gugu” visited their maiden top 10. They returned their Subaru in 10th overall place. Kisumu Homeboys and siblings Savraj and Dilraj Bhui racked up a credible 12th place in their Subaru beating Mombasa

based Said Hamad by 1.48minutes.

“Warembo Bila Make up” crew of Stella Macharia and Helen Shiri powered their ex-Lee Rose Impreza to 22nd position thus rackingup their first ever finish on their third outing; following retirements in the KCB Safari Rally and the muddy tour of Eldama Ravine.

Aslam Khan and his younger brother Arshad came home 14th testing the Tuthill prepared Porsche 911 while Anthony trailed them by 3.54minutes.

Nishit Shah was 16th navigated by Darshan Shah.

Raju Chagger navigated Samira Khan to 17th overall place in an ALS Ford Escort. µ

RESULTS: KISUMU RALLY 1. Ian Duncan/Amaar Slatch 2. Alastair Cavenagh/Gavin Laurence 3. Jaswinder Chana/Ravi Chana 4 . Jagjeet Patter/Vinay Shah 5. Sandeep Jandu/Gurdeep Mehangra 6. Jasminder Bharij/Ben Spinks 7. Tejveer Rai/Bharat Pattni 8 . Onkar Rai/Andrew Doig 9 . Ghalib Hajee/Sinder Sudle 10.Jitendra Dhokia/Gurdeep Panesar 11. Ben Muchemi/Evans Mwenda 12. Dilraj Bhui/Savraj Bhui 13. Said Hamad/Victor Okundi 14. Aslam KhanArshad Khan 15. Anthony Tibo/Kavit Dave 16. Nishit Shah/Darshan Shah 17. Samira Khan/Raju Chagger 18. Edward Maina/Tony Kimondo 19. Khalid Umar/Shakil Umar 20.Khalfan Athman/Abdulaziz Athman 21. Mohamed N./Hassan Saleh 22.Stella Macharia/Hellen Shiri

Mitsubishi EVO 9 01:47:44.00 Mitsubishi EVO 9 01:54:58.00 Toyota Cellica GT4 02:01:38.00 Subaru Impreza 02:02:46.00 Subaru Impreza 02:05:42.00 Mitsubishi Evo 6 02:05:58.00 Subaru Impreza 02:09:33.00 Subaru Impreza 02:10:04.00 Subaru Impreza 02:11:54.00 Subaru Impreza 02:13:02.00 Subaru Impreza 02:15:06.00 Subaru Impreza 02:13:03.00 Subaru Impreza 02:17:31.00 Porche 911 Classic 02:19:23.00 Subaru Impreza 02:20:07.00 Subaru Impreza 02:24:54.00 Ford Escort Classic 02:32:30.00 Toyota Cellica GT4 02:35:49.00 Subaru Impreza 02:31:03.00 Subaru Impreza 02:40:52.00 Subaru Impreza 02:42:23.00 Subaru Impreza 03:24:52.00

Ghalib Hajee/ Sinder Sudle - Subaru N10

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39

2011 GURU NANAK RALLY ROUND 7 0F 8

DUNCAN CROWNED KNRC CHAMPION AS TUNDO WINS KCB GURU NANAK RALLY IN KAJIADO PHOTOGRAPHY BY VANEER SIDI

Ian Duncan was the star attraction at the close of the 2011 KCB Guru Nanak Rally though it was Carl Tundo who really stole the show at the 32nd edition of the Simba Union Club round. In the wake of chalking up the 2010 Motor Sports Personality of the Year award in January 2011, Duncan celebrated his sixth career KNRC season title despite failing secure his 12th Guru Nanak diadem.

D

uncan, who has won the prestigious Guru Nanak Rally a record 11 times, appeared to back off in the dry and dusty conditions which marked the secenth and penultimate round of the eightleg KCB KNRC series.

The surprise package of the Guru Nanak Rally was indeed Hardeep Rehsi, who led the event then rolled while contesting for a strong podium position.

With no realistic chance of winning the KNRC title, Tundo drove his Mitsubishi EVO9 contraption flat-out to win the “Guru” in 1:30.05hours, beating Duncan by a 1.37minutes margin.

Adnan Suhail registered his second win of the season in the 2WD Class to add up to his April’s KCB SME Rally win in Eldoret.

Niaz Bashir savoured his second runners-up position

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Alastair Cavenagh / Gavin Lawrence - Ford Escort

Jaspreet Chatte / Gugu Panesar - Mitsubishi

after Voi following retirement in his Kisumu event in September.

He clocked 44:20minutes.

Joel Muchiri and Riyaz Kurji sealed the 2WD podium dash in 44:51minutes.

Duncan ’s navigator Amaar Slatch was all smiles upon clinching his first ever KNRC career (navigator’s) title.

He said: “It’s been a long year but we’ve worked very hard to achieve this. We were lucky that some of the big boys like Alastair and Tundo had problems. But I must admit that we were really consistent.”

Tundo was enthusiastic with the win, saying: “We were really pushing in this rally to try and get a lead, then in the last two stages backed off a bit. It wasn’t really rough; we encountered some rocks that could easily catch you out. Since the championship was over, I think Ian backed off as he’s usually a lot quicker.”

This was Tundo’s third Guru Nanak win. He also triumphed in 2009, the year of his second career national championship.

The 2008 national champ, Baldev Chager, settled for third overall in the season, saying he was hastily coming to grips with his new Subaru N16 car.

Chager was initially lying second and was charging really hard until a broken shock in the second last stage stymied his intended run.

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2011 GURU NANAK RALLY ROUND 7 0F 8 “The more we drive it the better it feels. We were running really well and managed to post the fastest time in the fourth section,” said Chager on claiming his maiden podium of the season.

The 2010 national champion Alastair Cavenagh, navigated

by Gavin Laurence, found his Classic Ford Escort Mark 2 drive. It was a completely different ball game as compared to his championship-winning Mitsubishi Evo9 he rested for the Guru Nanak.

Cavenagh was testing his Escort machine for the Kenya Airways EA Safari Classic Rally.

“It’s just a test for the Classic which wasn’t too bad. It feels so different to the EVO and so hard to drive,” said Cavenagh.

Alex Horsey and Frank Gitau brought home their Mitsubishi EVO X in fifth palace.

With most of the titles already sealed at this penultimate round, focus shifted to the 2WD class which went down to the wire amidst scintillating moments in Kajiado.

The title then held by Leonardo Varese was now to be decided during KCB Mtaani Rally in Mombasa in December.

The 2WD leader, James Kirimi, and his Eldoret-based codriver Kimeli Korir, appeared to back off in Kijiado playing safe for the championship.

“We were driving really cautiously with the title in mind.

Now we only need a sixth position in Mombasa; so it will be another cautious drive,” said Kirimi.

Muchiri was happy with third overall podium finish behind Adnan and Kisumu’s Niaz Bashir who beat him by a mere 31 seconds. Adnan clocked 42.29 minutes to beat Niaz by 1.51minutes.

“We were really hard on it on CS1. But our steering came

42

loose on CS2 after we hit one of those bumpy stretches. We also broke the rear shock so I couldn’t push in the last 14kilometers of the last section. My co-driver also called the notes amidst the pain inflamed by a broken tooth so I was just driving by sight at times.”

Muchiri added that pressure was now on Kirimi as he attempted to win the title on homestretch.

“We haven’t given up the championship race. We shall be going flat-out again in Mombasa . I will start my prepara-

tions today. We are stripping the car and rebuilding it for Mombasa ,” continued Muchiri.

Out of 14 drivers who took part in the race, only three retired.

Kibara and James Mwangi rolled their Toyota Levin car on CS2.

Gideon Kimani and Laban Cliff, on their third ever outing retired upon hitting a jump heavily, nosedived and damaged the radiator.

After completing the two stages, Mombasa youngster Navid Khalid went out when

the braking system went haywire and he retired on transport road section as he was headed to Nairobi.

“Our brakes failed after hitting a bank on the sideways.

We realised we had no brakes so we went slowly for 30kilometers and gave in the time card and retired,” said Navid.

Dennis Mwenda also retired with mechanical problems after hitting one of the jumps heavily.

Outgoing champion Leonardo Varese returned from sabbatical and finished fourth. µ

Niaz Bashir savoured his second runners-up position after Voi following retirement in his Kisumu event in September.

RESULTS: GURU NANAN RALLY 1 Carl Tundo /Tim Jessop 01:30:05.0 2 Ian Duncan /Amaar Slatch 01:31:42.0 3 Baldev Chager / Raju Sehmi 01:32:12.0 4 Azar Anwar /Julius Ngigi 01:33:44.0 5 Alex Horsey /Frank Gitau 01:35:33.0 6 Sandeep Jandu /Gurdeep Mehangra 01:41:21.0 7 Phineas Kimathi / George Mwangi 01:43:13.0 8 Simon Sharpe / Raju Chager 01:45:03.0 9 Jaswinder Chana / Ravi Chana 01:45:12.0 10 Jasmeet Chana /George Njoroge 01:45:55.0 11 Alastair Cavenagh / Gavin Laurence 01:46:00.0 12 Alfir Khan /Imran Khan 01:47:02.0 13 Charles Hinga /Mutuma Marimba 01:49:58.0 14 Manvir Sigh Baryan / Shameer Yusuf 01:50:24.0 15 John Nganga / Peter Njuguna 01:52:19.0 16 Onkar Rai / Andrew Doig 01:54:35.0 17 Aslam Khan / Arshad Khan 01:56:16.0 18 Ben Muchemi /Evans Mwenda 01:57:39.0 19 Jaspreet Singh Chatthe /Gurdeep Panesar 02:04:21.0 20 Edward Maina /Tony Kimondo 02:05:41.0 21 Rashid Kabi /Nehreen Ismail 02:05:45.0 22 Mahesh Halai / Ketan Dinesh Halai 02:06:22.0 23 Alasdair Keith / Tariq Malik 02:06:53.0 24 Dilraj Bhui / Savraj Bhui 02:10:06.0 25 Anwar Pandya / Ken Masoni 02:13:47.0 26 Rommy Bamrah / Harvinder Jutley 02:15:33.0 27 Samira Khan /Anita Irwin 02:26:09.0 28 Devan Bhundia / Rohit Bhundia 02:28:25.0 29 Farhaan Khan /Thabit Khandwala 02:31:36.0 30 Stela Macharia / Hellen Shiri 02:48:06.0 RETIRED 14 Imran Mogul / Vinay Shah 15 Asad Khan / Elodie Sampere 45 Jagjeet Patter/Zahir Shah * 159 Manic Choda /Jasmeer Choda 48 Anthony Tibo /Kavit Dave 150 Dalgeeth Singh Virdee /John Ngugi

61 Mital Shah /Ravi Chhaniyara 67 Tejveer Rai / Bharat Pattni 56 John Muigai / Allan Muhindi 94 Imran Mughal / Jasneil Ghataure 97 Jonathan Somen /Richard Hechle 21 Hardeep Rehsi / Ravi Soni 59 Issa Amwari / Job Njiru 20 Said Hamad / Mohamed Ali Khan

Niaz Bashir /Kimeli Korir - Toyota Celica

Nicholas Patel / Andy McDonnell - Mercedes Benz

43

2011 MOMBASA RALLY ROUND 8 0F 8

44

45

2011 MOMBASA RALLY ROUND 8 0F 8

Ben Muchemi / Evans Mwendwa - Subaru Impreza

Hardeep Reshi / Ravi Soni - Mitsubishi

Frank Tundo/Tash Tundo - Mitsubishi EVO9

DUNCAN ENDS KNRC ON A HIGH PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

W

ith 6 Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) titles under his belt, legendary Ian Duncan could hardly relent on his quest for more series points.

Having sealed the 2011 title during the penultimate Guru Nanak Rally in October, Duncan racked-up a maximum 80 points in the season-ending KCB Mtaani Rally in Mariakani on December 11 to cement a 565 points tally.

His Mitsubishi EVO9 saw off hard-charging Subaru Impreza N16 driven by Oilibya

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Racing’s Baldev Singh Chager and previously hard charging Imran Mogul who retired while leading the Mombasa Motor Club round.

Eager to secure a win in the season, Chager drove flat-out and led the rally.

Jas Mangat of Uganda drove his Subaru machine on his comeback but kissed the event goodbye while contesting for a season’s third overall place in the KNRC standings.

Chager was left to rue his unfortunate scenario. “I was going for it but unfortunately, the bracket of the inter-cooler

came out of the throttle body and we lost turbo boost,” said Chager whose season got off on a false start on his under powered Subaru gc8.

Onkar Singh Rai was elated with his maiden career podium (3rd) in an ex-Chager Impreza.

Olibya Racing’s Azar Anwar settled for 4th overall place thus ending his KNRC 2011 campaign in 3rd overall place but also rued the performance of his aging Mitsubishi.

“My Evo8 is older and a bit slower so I am always forced to push harder and it keeps up resulting in more damage and

punctures. Like at the Coastwe bent both front chassis, broke boot wing and had to contend with two punctures,” said Azar.

Azar went on: “I enjoyed Mombasa rally. It was really a fast event which required total commitment. A pity about my punctures though on stage 4 then stage 5. We pulled back 1.40 from Rai on the last stage but was not enough to secure a podium. But we went steadily from start but lost over 4minutes with the punctures – otherwise, we would have bin within a minute of winners.

Sudhesh Hirani - Subaru Impreza

Yusuf Pasta/David Kago - Subaru Forester

Riyaz Shiraz/Punit Shah - Datsun

Manvir S.Baryan/Shameer Yusuf - N16

Bryan Thairu/Lynnette Ayuko - Peugeot

Rashid Kabi / Nehreen Ismail - Subaru

John Mungai/Allan Muhindi - Subaru

Izar Mirza / Zahir Shah - Mitsubishi 47

2011 MOMBASA RALLY ROUND 8 0F 8

Ajaz Mirza/Imran Khan - Subaru

Khalid Umar/Shakil Umar - Subaru

Naushad Kara/Adnan Din - N12 Frank Tundo, 61, drove his son’s EVO9 and came home fifth overall navigated by his daughter Tash Tundo and was incidentally 11 minutes slower than the winner. Frank used Carl Tundo’s car to fill the void left behind when his newly wed son was involved in a honeymoon.

This was Frank’s first appearance in 25 years and he admitted candidly that his speed was below par. “I’m still very slow at the moment,” admitted Frank, a longstanding Safari Rally driver in the 1970s and 1980s.

Charles Hinga of Oilibya Racing savored his career best sixth overall place navigated by Norris Ongalo.

“It was a very fast event.

We took it easy in the first two stages because we realized some noise on the exhaust which was leaking. This was sorted in first service and we 48

pushed quite much and got our best ever result. On CS4 and 6, we set the 4th and 6th fastest times,” said Hinga.

Lota Motorsoports’ Naushad Kara and his partner Adnan Din emerged the top placed Coast crew in 7th driving a Subaru Impreza N12.

Newcomer Manvir Singh visited top 10 for the first time when Shameer Yusuf guided him to 8th overall place and so was Kisumu based Jaspreet Chatthe who got 10th place to his credit and navigated by Gugu Panesar in an ex-Lee Rose EVO9.

Eleventh was Ben Muchemi followed by Hardeep Rehsi, Issa Amwari and John Mungai.

KNRC Casualties were the Horseys-Peter and Alex, Mangat, Imran Mogul, Izhar Mirza, Chana siblings Jasmeet and Jaswinder, Farhaan Khan, Stella Macharia and Qayyum Shiraz. µ

ROUND 8 MOMBASA RALLY RESULTS 1. Ian Duncan/Amaar Slatch (EVO9) 2. Baldev Chager/Raju Sehmi (N16) 3. Onkar S. Rai/Raju Chagger (N12) 4. Azar Anwar/Julius Ngigi (EVO8) 5. Frank Tundo/Tash Tundo (EVO9) 6. Charles Hinga/Norris Ongalo (EVO7) 7. Naushad Kara/Adnan Din (N12) 8. Manvir S.Baryan/Shameer Yusuf (N16) 9. Anwar Pandya/G. Mehangra (Subaru N10) 10. Jaspreet S. Chatthe (EVO9) 11. Ben Muchemi/Evans Mwenda (N10) 12. Hardeep Rehsi/Ravi Soni (Mitsubishi) 13. Issa Amwari/Job Njiru (Subaru) 14. John Mungai/Allan Muhindi (Subaru) 15. Aakrif Virani/Azhar Bhatti 16. Tejvir Rai/George Mwangi (Subaru) 17. Ajaz Mirza/Imran Khan (Subaru) 18. Mahesh Halai/Ketan Halai 19. Paras Pandya/Falgun Bhojak (Subaru) 20. Farhaaz Khan/Arshad Khan (Porsche 911) 21. Nicholas Patel/Andy McDonell (Mercedes) 22. Jan Abdulatif/Farzin Abdulatif (Subaru) 23. Yusuf Pasta/David Kago 24. Khalid Umar/Shakil Umar (Subaru) 2WD 1. James Kirimi/Kimeli Korir (VW Golf) 2. Niaz Bashir/Jonathan Kosgey (Toyota ) 3. Naveed Khalid/Absalom Aswani (Toyota Levin) 4. Dennis Mwenda/Edward Njoroge (VW Golf) 5. Nadeem Kana/James Mwangi (Subaru) 6. Dalbir Thethy/Imran Khan 7. Riyaz Shiraz/Punit Shah (Datsun) 8. Bryan Thairu/Lynnette Ayuko (Peugeot)

1.44.55 1.45.05 1.48.50 1.49.40 1.55.46 1.56.04 1.56.08 1.56.31 1.58.20 1.59.39 2.01.12 2.03.00 2.04.48 2.08.41 2.11.33 2.12.08 2.12.30 2.14.41 2.21.10 2.21.31 2.30.54 2.32.40 2.32.10 4.39.39 1.07.08 1.07.56 1.13.43 1.13.57 1.16.02 1.18.06 1.20.09 1.20.30

Congratulations Dalbit Team Congratulations to Alastair Cavenagh & Gavin Laurence and Carl ‘Flash’Tundo & Tim Jessop for their tremendous performance in the KNRC 2011 Season.

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KENYA AIRWAYS EAST AFRICAN SAFARI CLASSIC RALLY

FIRST PORSCHE

SAFARI WIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

O

n the last day of the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic rally the priority of all crews was to drive their cars over the finishers’ ramp at Mombasa, come hell or high water. And there have been plenty of both on this incredible adventure of a rally. Out of the forty-six crews that started, forty-three crews set off from Voi for the final day of competition. This is an impressive number of survivors on this epic event that combines

50

endurance with high speed competition over some of the toughest terrain and through some of the toughest conditions.

Bjorn and Mathias Waldegård, who were leading the event by twenty-four minutes, took it cautiously all day in their Porsche 911, setting respectable times but by no means the fastest. “It was a cruising day today,” said Waldegård. “And we didn’t put in an attack. I’m very glad to be here and very, very glad to have won the rally.

Mathias has done an absolutely brilliant job and done everything 100 %.” Second-placed crew Geoff Bell and Tim Challen were also taking things easy in their Datsun 260Z but still suffered two punctures in the last section. “We had two punctures only 400 metres apart from each other,” said Bell. “And we managed to bend a rim. I’m very glad to be here. We’ve been taking it easy today but maybe that was problem!” Third placed Stig Blomqvist and Ana Goni also

decided not to push too hard in their Ford Escort. “It’s been a really hard rally this year,” said Blomqvist. “But that’s the way it is on the Safari.”

As the cars went over the ramp at the Sarova Whitesands hotel in Mombasa there had been no change in the top three.

After an impressive battle with several top crews Waldegård was the overall winner by thirtyfive minutes from Bell.

This is the first Porsche victory on the Safari rally.

“In the first section the wipers stopped working and on the second the brakes went with 57 km to go.

Then we had a puncture – probably because we were going so fast with no brakes! This rally is absolutely epic – one of the best experiences of my life.”

- Travis Pastrana / Fabrizia Pons (Porsche 911)

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Third place overall went to Blomqvist who, despite hitting major problems with a broken axle on the first day, had climbed up from thirty-first position and was forty-one minutes behind Bell. Considering that the majority of the cars in the rally were Porsche 911s, the final 1-2-3 of a Porsche 911, a Datsun 260Z and a Ford Escort .

On the first 27 km section in the Taita foothills Gérard Marcy and Stéphane Prévot set fastest time by only five seconds from Steven Funk and Andrew Doig in another Porsche 911, while third fastest time went to Ian Duncan and Amaar Slaatch in their Ford Capri. Waldegård set only twelfth fastest but with, twentyfour minutes in hand over Bell, it was clear that the former World Rally Champion had a safe steady finish in his sights.

The other former World Rally Champion on the event, Stig Blomqvist, had problems on the road section when the engine cut out but, having changed the coil, the car continued.

The second section of the day was the rally’s first section in reverse with a small twist in the centre. Funk was clearly getting into his stride on this fast open section, setting quickest time by over half a minute from Duncan, while Perez, who also went well in the first section, set third fastest. Waldegård set eighth fastest time and his lead over Bell had now been diminished to twenty-two minutes but, with only 45 competitive kilometres

52

KENYA AIRWAYS EAST AFRICAN SAFARI CLASSIC RALLY and the road section back to Mombasa left to go, the Swedish crew clearly didn’t want to take any risks.

However the last section was not without its problems. Second overall crew Geoff Bell and Tim Challen hit problems in their Datsun 260Z when they had two punctures in quick succession and bent a rim, losing at least ten minutes. Fortunately for Bell he had a substantial lead over third placed Blomqvist and managed to maintain his second place overall, putting him between two former World Rally Champions on the podium which is no mean feat!

This meant that Waldegård’s lead extended to thirty-five minutes over Bell, whilst the gap between second placed Bell and third placed Blomqvist was reduced to just under forty-one minutes.

Steve Troman and Michael Nutt set fastest time on this last section in their Porsche 911 with Marcy setting second fastest and Duncan setting third fastest. This meant the top three remained the same from yesterday, as did the top ten indicating that everyone was adopting a cautious approach to ensure a safe finish.

Multiple Safari competitor Marcy finished in fourth place in his Porsche 911, followed by Steve Perez and Staffan Parmander in their Datsun 260Z in fifth place.

The Kick Energy rally team had battled through a fair amount of adversity from the offset and moved up an impressive 28 places from the first day when they were lying 33rd.

Current Kenyan Rally Champion Ian Duncan finished in seventh place alongside co-

driver Amaar Slatch. The Ford Capri crew were in the top three for the first part of the rally but dropped down to 22nd place due to mechanical problems on the third day but managed to pull up to seventh place overall.

Having driven a consistent rally, the Kronos Vintage Porsche 911 crew of Jean-Pierre Mondron and Nicolas Gilsoul finished in eighth place whilst John Lloyd and Adrian Cavenagh were in ninth place. A keen fan of the Safari principles of rallying, Lloyd has promised that this WILL be his last Safari but only time will tell. Making up the top ten was another Kronos Vintage Porsche 911 crew in the hands of Philippe Vandromme and Frédéric Vivier, whilst a third Kronos Vintage Porsche was eleventh in the hands of Grégoire de Mévius and Alain Guehennec. De Mévius, who is a former Production Car World Rally Champion, led the rally on the second day but broke his suspension on the fourth day and dropped down to 15th place. At the beginning of yesterday he had pulled up to sixth place but then dropped down to 13th after hitting a rock and then losing a wheel in a mud hole.

Although getting on the podium of this remarkable event is an incredible achievement so too is making the finishers’ ramps, which was clear by the huge smiles on each and every one of the crews that finished today. Indeed, it’s difficult to find words to describe the experience of competing on this event but, one thing’s for sure, it’s definitely addictive. µ

9. Andrew Siddall / Mike Borissow (Datsun 260 Z) “On the first section the engine temperature went up and we lost water. Then on the second we had a driveshaft fail and were stranded as the spare did not fit. We had heard a bad noise at the right rear end. But the third section was alright.”

53

KENYA AIRWAYS EAST AFRICAN SAFARI CLASSIC RALLY

54

3. Grégoire de Mévius / Alain Guehennec (Porsche 911)

1. Ian Duncan / Amaar Slatch (Ford Capri)

“We went gently . We caught up two cars and are in eleventh place overall. This rally is really something special and much tougher than I thought, especially for a classic car rally. And from what I heard it was especially tough this year.”

“Today (last day) was okay but it was a shame we couldn’t do another section rather than coming in with all that traffic on the Mombasa road.

7. Geoff Bell / Tim Challen (Datsun 260Z)

2. Gérard Marcy / Stéphane Prévot (Porsche 911)

“That last one was a section from hell. We had two punctures only 400 metres apart. We changed one and then changed the other and then there was this terrible vibrating noise but we crawled through and realised we had bent a rim. I’m very glad to be here. We’ve been taking it easy and maybe that was the problem!”

“I enjoyed and was pushing a little bit but the engine got very hot in the second section so we didn’t go too fast that section.

I’m here and that’s very nice.”

27. Rommy Bamrah / Harvey Jutley (Datsun 260Z)

35. Minesh Rathod / Sachin Sumaria (Colt Lancer GSR)

“We broke the rear arm again in the first section. They are supposed to be unbreakable but that is obviously not true.

They will now go into the sea. But we are here and we will be back in 2013.”

“We had a lovely day although we lost the clutch in the last section and suffered some punctures. We were just taking it easy.”

KENYA AIRWAYS EAST AFRICAN SAFARI CLASSIC RALLY

32. Kulwinder Sandhu / Harpal Singh Sudle (Datsun P710)

43. Peter Stoehr / Crispin Sassoon (Datsun 1600SSS)

“It was a good day. We took it easy like everybody to get it back in one piece. We are happy to be here and were trying to avoid drama.”

“On the second section the rear differential was really hot.

When we let the oil out, the bucket and the tarpaulin were melting because it was so hot. I thought we would not make it to the finish but we did.”

26. Marzio Kravos / Renzo Bernardi (Mercedes 450 SLC)

37 Phillipe Vandromme / Frederic Vivier (Porsche 911)

“We had to weld the bottom of the spring and lost thirty minutes but this Mercedes has given us very few problems.”

6 Steve Perez / Staffan Parmander (Datsun 260Z) “We made it! We pushed a bit because we thought we had nothing to lose. We caught Marcy on one section and got caught in his dust and we caught Geoff (Bell) in the last section. We’ve had no problems and no punctures for all of the rally. We were disappointed with what happened on the first day but we’ve managed to pull up. We’ve finished the whole rally and haven’t missed a section or a kilometre. It’s a great rally – I’ll definitely be back in 2013.”

“The tyre exploded 10 km before the end of the last section but we drove through and changed it afterwards. The rest of day we drove it cool. Tenth is a good position but amongst so many champions it is beautiful! We are very happy!”

11 Aziz Tejpar / Andy Nagi (Ford Escort Mark 1) “On the second section after 44 kilometres the engine started overheating. We had to stop the engine for it to cool down and later stop three more times to get water again.”

55

KENYA AIRWAYS EAST AFRICAN SAFARI CLASSIC RALLY

23. Thierry de Latre de Bosqueau / Eric Werner (Porsche 911)

40. Arron Banks / Tim Chesser (Ford Escort Mark 1)

“Section two was very tough and the notes were very bad.

There was a big jump and we saw it too late and put a dent in the bonnet. They were very nice sections and a fantastic event.

It lives up to its reputation as the longest and toughest!”

“We saw a lot of wildlife including a snowy owl. It was our first ever rally and we started and finished every stage. The car was running well.”

18. Aslam Khan / Arshad Khan (Porsche 911)

39. Ramesh Vishram / Atul Kochhar (Ford Escort Mark 2)

“The car was fantastic but the notes for the second section were not great – a ditch came too early and my nephew crashed behind us. This is our second best position on the event but this year the rally and the car I’m driving are much, much quicker. The only big problem we had was getting stuck in a river for one and a half hours but we have been climbing up the field. I’m so happy that it’s over – it is a tough event.”

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“We have done everything in this Safari, we have rolled, we crashed into a zebra, we had the suspension collapse and we got stuck in the mud. So we are happy to be here. Now I don’t want to see the car for a couple of weeks.”

5. Stig Blomqvist / Ana Goni (Ford Escort RS 1800)

38. Jonathan Somen / Richard Hechle (Ford Escort Mark 2)

“It has been a really hard rally this time but that’s the way it is.

On the road to the first section the engine stopped and we still had problems with the ignition in the first section.”

“We’re happy and we had a great day with good times. The first section was quite good and we did the second section faster than when it was run on the first day. Great day, great rally, great fun! From co-driver : “I’d like to do it all over again.”

KENYA AIRWAYS EAST AFRICAN SAFARI CLASSIC RALLY

28 November 2011 Final Official Classification Pos Car No:Driver/Co-Driver Make 1 4 Bjorn Waldegard / Mathias Waldegard Porsche 911 2 7 Geoff Bell / Tim Challen Datsun 260Z 3 5 Stig Blomqvist / Ana Goni Ford Escort RS1800 4 2 Gerard Marcy / Stephane Prevot Porsche 911 5 6 Steve Perez / Staffan Parmander Datsun 260Z 6 14 Steven Funk / Andrew Doig Porsche 911 7 1 Ian Duncan / Amaar Slatch Ford Capri 8 19 Jean-Pierre Mondron / Nicolas Gilsoul Porsche 911 9 10 John Lloyd / Adrian Cavenagh Ford Escort RS1800 10 37 Plillipe Vandromme / Frederic Vivier Porsche 911 11 3 Gregoire De Mevius / Alain Guehennec Porsche 911 12 45 Franz Wunderlich / Klaus-Peter Kristek Porsche 911 13 22 Richard Jackson / Preston Ayres Porsche 911 14 18 Aslam Khan / Arshad Khan Porsche 911 15 33 Richard Arrowsmith / Norris Midwood Ford Escort Mark1 16 17 Steve Troman / Michael Nutt Porsche 911 17 32 Kulwinder Sandhu / Harpal Singh Sudle Datsun P710 18 34 Jac Nellemann / Joseph Huber Porsche 911 19 23 Thierry De Latre / Eric Werner Porsche 911 20 43 Peter Stoehr / Crispin Sassoon Datsun 1600SSS 21 25 Mark Bentley / Edward Bentley Ford Escort Mark1 22 9 Andrew Siddall / Mike Borissow Datsun 260Z 23 11 Aziz Tejpar / Andy Nagi Ford Escort Mark1 24 26 Marzio Kravos / Renzo Bernardi Mercesdes 450SLC 25 35 Minesh Rathod / Sachin Sumaria Colt Lancer GSR 26 12 Simon Tysoe / Imran Khan Ford Escort Mark1 27 28 Nick Mason / Alex Horsey Datsun 260Z 28 46 Jean-Michel Martin / Ronain Martin Ford Escort Mark2 29 51 Samira Khan / Anita Irwin Ford Escort Mark1 30 29 Albert Michiels / Patrick De Coninck Porsche 911 31 38 Jonathan Somen / Richard Hechle Ford Escort Mark2 32 48 Paolo Faldini / Nicolas Beech Porsche 911 33 42 Josef Jobst / Uwe Kurzenberger Porsche 911 34 39 Ramesh Vishram / Atul Kochhar Ford Escort Mark2 35 44 Kurt A Engelhorn / Johan Nel Ford Escort Mark1 36 15 Juergen Bertl / Bernhard Ettel Porsche 911 37 40 Arron Banks / Tim Chesser Ford Escort Mark1 38 27 Rommy Bamrah / Harvey Jutley Datsun 260Z 39 52 Quentin Savage / Russell Savage Datsun 180B 40 31 Jacques Walens / Thierry Lacroix Porsche 911 41 47 Bernhard Kessel / Ronny Kessel Porsche 911 42 21 Jayant Shah / Lofty Drews Datsun 260Z 43 20 Louis Antonini / Pierre Antonini Porsche 911

Time 19:22:36 19:57:59 20:38:37 20:52:56 21:43:42 21:56:30 22:06:09 22:16:41 22:25:20 22:36:22 22:58:11 23:18:18 23:41:43 23:58:17 24:06:09 24:37:23 24:45:55 24:51:55 24:55:09 24:57:41 25:08:37 25:40:04 25:40:18 26:15:33 26:21:46 26:51:44 27:08:16 27:17:09 28:14:35 28:21:37 28:45:09 29:11:00 30:13:28 30:58:33 30:59:28 31:10:28 31:58:04 32:15:03 33:25:07 34:34:36 36:57:11 40:43:03 42:27:32

I

t was 10 years since the last WRC event took place in the Dark Continent. Last month over 9 days & 4,000km in Kenya & Tanzania the 5th biannual East African Classic Safari Rally took place. It was was a fantastic adventure is the most difficult & challenging conditions seen since the 1977 Safari.

WRC now operates in a sanitised, politically correct PR World, top-flight rallying will never be what it once was and, for an easy kop-out excuse, the main protagonists can immediately jump to ‘Health & Safety’ reasons to hide an otherwise inconvenient truth.

Where has the long-distance endurance element to rallying gone? Do we need to have 13 similar flat-out sprint rallies just to reaffirm that Sébastien Loeb is the best driver and Citroën have the best car? What’s the spectacle for the TV viewer today? WRC’s visual appeal has not improved in the last 20 years.

Travis Pastrana described his time in Kenya and Tanzania this year as some of, ‘the best days of my entire life’. Travis, don’t expect the same if you come to the Acropolis next year.

I guarantee you that there is nowhere else on earth where you can have as much fun in a rally car as you’ve just had in Africa. I take my hat of to Surinder Thati and the organisers of the East African Classic Safari Rally, your event is a real gem in a sea of mediocrity. I will be back in 2013 -www.maxrally.com 57

2011 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

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2011 KNRC DRIVER STANDINGS Ian DUNCAN 485 Carl TUNDO 370 Jas MANGAT 195 Azar ANWAR 195 Alastair CAVENAGH 150 Alex HORSEY 135 Onkar RAI 129 Sandeep JANDU 110 Baldev CHAGER 110 Jaswinder CHANA 106 Quentin MITCHELL 93 Jasmeet CHANA 84 Izhar MIRZA 73 Tejveer RAI 73 Hardeep REHSI 70 Raaji BHARIJ 70 Lee ROSE 60 Charles HINGA 55 Imran MOGUL 48 Jagjeet PATTER 40 Anthony TIBO 39 Peter HORSEY 35 Aslam KHAN 33 Ben MUCHEMI 31 Fahd BARY 30 Said HAMAD 30 Jasminder BHARIJ 30 Jitendra DHOKIA 26 John ROSE 25 Khurram BUTT 25 Alfir KHAN 25 Phineas KIMATHI 25 Anwar PANDYA 24 Dilraj BHUI 23 Stafano ROCCA 21 Ghalib HAJEE 21 Edward MAINA 21 Simon SHARPE 20 Issa AMWARI 18 Farhaan KHAN 17 Anthony NIELSEN 16 Shazar ANWAR 15 Khalid UMAR 15 Asad KHAN 13 Khalfan ATHMAN 13 Mahesh HALAI 13 Paras PANDYA 11 M. NOORMOHAMED 11 Asad ANWAR 10 Don SMITH 10 Naushad KARA 10 Aakif VIRANI 10 Bob KAUGI 10 Manvir BARYAN 10 John NGANGA 10 Sudesh HIRANI 8 Ramesh VISHARAM 8 Samira KHAN 8 Stella Macharia 6 Minesh RATHOD 5 Arthur KINYANJUI 5 Mital SHAH 5 Jonathan SOMEN 5 Pauline SHEGHU 5 Nishit SHAH 5 Jaspreet CHATTHE 5 Ajaz MIRZA 3 Rob HELLIER 3 Rashid KABI 3 Alasdair KEITH 3 Rommy BAMRAH 3 Devan BHUNDIA 3

2011 KNRC NAVIGATORS STANDINGS 1 Amaar SLATCH 485 2 Tim JESSOP 370 3 Gihan DE SILVA 195 4 Julius NGIGI 195 5 Frank GITAU 135 6 Raju SEHMI 110 7 Ravi CHANA 106 8 Gurdeep MEHANGRA 105 9 Raju CHAGGER 98 10 Andrew DOIG 90 11 George NJOROGE 89 12 Adrian CAVENAGH 80 13 Bharat PATTNI 73 14 Ravi SONI 70 15 Gavin LAURENCE 70 16 Zahir SHAH 67 17 Piers DAYKIN 60 18 Tim CHALLEN 53 19 Mutuma MARIMBA 53 20 Norris ONGALO 50 21 Supee SOIN 40 22 Dez PAGE MORRIS 40 23 Ben SPINKS 40 24 Vinay SHAH 40 25 Ken MASONI 36 26 George MWANGI 35 27 Arshad KHAN 33 28 Evans MWENDA 33 29 Gurdeep PANESAR 31 30 Guy DEKELVER 30 31 Kashif SHEIKH 30 32 Victor OKUNDI 30 33 Mike BORISSOW 25 34 Salim KHAN 25 35 Kavit DAVE 23 36 Savraj BHUI 23 37 Franco DONADEL 21 38 Tony KIMONDO 21 39 Job NJIRU 18 40 Shameer YUSUF 18 41 Michael OGWAPIT 16 42 Elodie SAMPERE 16 43 Sinder SUDLE 16 44 Tinu KHAN 15 45 Shakil UMAR 15 46 Thabit KHADWALLA 14 47 Imran KHAN 13 48 Abdulaziz ATHMAN 13 49 Ketan D. HALAI 13 50 Roy McKENZIE 11 51 Sophie GOVANI 10 52 Robert KAUGI 10 53 Adnan DIN 10 54 Atul KOCHHAR 10 55 Azhar BHATTI 10 56 Imran KHAN 2 10 57 Peter NJUGUNA 10 58 Sunny WASON 8 59 James MWANGI 8 60 Hellen SHIRI 6 61 K. ACHARYA 5 62 Sachin SUMARIA 5 63 Brian MBUVI 5 64 Ravi CHANNIYARA 5 65 Richard HECHLE 5 66 Hillary K. KIPCHILLAT 5 67 Darshan SHAH 5 68 Jaspreet CHATTHE 5 69 Keith HENRIE 3 70 Harpreet SAGOO 3 71 Sam JETHWA 3 72 Hassan SALEH 3 73 Nehreen ISMAIL 3 74 Tariq MALIK 3 75 Hardev JUTLEY 3 76 Anita IRWIN 3 77 Kyle LUCAS 3

2011 KNRC 2WD STANDINGS Drivers 1 James KIRIMI 81 2 Joel MUCHIRI 67 3 Niaz BASHIR 65 4 Adnan SUHAIL 57 5 Patrick KIBAARA 53 6 Naveed Khalid 30 7 Gurmit THETHY 29 8 Dennis MWENDA 25 9 Nick PATEL 21 10 Munir Khan 20 11 Nadeem KANA 18 12 Jitendra DAVDA 18 13 Joan NESBITT 18 14 Imran KANA 15 15 Ann Taieth 11 16 Leonardo VARESE 11 17 Rashid KABI 9 18 Zahid OMAR 7 19 Gideon KIMANI 5 20 Brian THAIRU 5 21 Dalbir THETHY 4 22 Kirandeep CHANA 2 NAVIGATORS 1 Kimeli KORIR 79 2 Riyaz ISMAIL 77 3 Jonathan KOSGEI 61 4 Absalom ASWANI 55 5 James MWANGI 31 6 Nehreen ISMAIL 30 7 Pinal PATEL 30 8 Depinder KALSI 29 9 Tim CHALLEN 20 10 Andy MCDONALL 18 11 Tamara JONES 18 12 Prakash NAROTAM 18 13 Edward NJOROGE 16 14 Adnan DIN 14 15 Eric NZUVA 13 16 Randeep KHALSI 11 17 Kigondu KAREITHI 11 18 Imran Iqbal KANA 9 19 Shakil UMAR 8 20 Imran KHAN 7 21 Mohamed S. MOHAMED 6 22 Julius MWACHUYA 4 23 Gurpreet PANESAR 4 24 Labban CLIFF 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2011 - KCB CLASSIC CAR CUP DRIVER Aslam KHAN 85 Stefano ROCCA 40 Jonathan SOMEN 30 Samira KHAN 27 John ROSE 20 Alastair CAVENAGH 20 Rob HELLIER 16 Simon TYSOE 16 Rommy BAMRAH 13

NAVIGATORS 1 Arshad KHAN 2 Franco DONADEL 3 Richard HECHLE 4 Mike BORISSOW 5 Gavin LAURENCE 6 Sam JETHWA 7 Imran KHAN 8 Raju CHAGGER 9 Harvinder JUTLEY 10 Anita IRWIN

85 40 30 20 20 16 16 16 13 11

2011 KCB DIVISION 2 STANDINGS FOR DRIVERS 1 Onkar RAI 2 Jasmeet CHANA 3 Jaswinder CHANA 4 Izhar MIRZA 5 Hardeep REHSI 6 Charles HINGA 7 Anwar PANDYA 8 Said HAMAD 9 Khurram BUTT 10 Ghalib HAJEE 11 Jasminder BHARIJ 12 Shazar ANWAR 13 Naushad KARA 14 Don SMITH

380 300 270 230 200 200 150 96 88 80 60 38 35 30

DIVISION 2 FOR Navigators 1 George NJOROGE 300 2 Andrew DOIG 280 3 Ravi CHANA 270 4 Zahir SHAH 230 5 Ravi SONI 200 6 Norris ONGALO 150 7 Supee SOIN 100 8 Victor OKUNDI 96 9 Salim KHAN 88 10 Ken MASONI 85 11 Sunny WASON 65 12 Ben SPINKS 60 13 Matuma MARIMBA 50 14 K. ACHARYA 40 15 Sinder SUDLE 40 16 Job NJIRU 38 17 Adnan DIN 35 18 Robert KAUGI 30

2011 - SPV NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS DRIVERS 1 Peter HORSEY 2 Simon SHARPE 3 Asad KHAN

20 20 16

NAVIGATORS 1 Dez PAGE MORRIS 20 2 Raju CHAGER 20 3 Elodie SAMPERE 16

28 Nishit SHAH 25 29 Rashid KABI 25 30 Pauline SHEGHU 20 31 Samira KHAN 20 32 Stella MACHARIA 20 33 Alasdair KEITH 16 34 Mital SHAH 15 35 Devan BHUNDIA 10 FOR NAVIGATORS 1 Gurdeep MEHANGRA 400 2 Bharat PATTNI 196 3 Gurdeep PANESAR 185 4 Tony KIMONDO 136 5 Shameer YUSUF 108 6 Thabit KHANDWALLA 105 7 George MWANGI 100 8 Roy McKENZIE 93 9 James MWANGI 90 10 Kavit DAVE 90 11 Savraj BHUI 98 12 Ken MASONI 80 13 Kashif SHEIKH 80 14 Vinay SHAH 80 15 Shakil UMAR 73 16 Imran KHAN 60 17 Ben SPINKS 60 18 Ketan D. HALAI 55 19 Job NJIRU 50 20 Keith HENRIE 50 21 Azhar BHATTI 49 22 Abdulaziz ATHMAN 46 23 Mutuma MARIMBA 40 24 Atul KOCHHAR 40 25 Peter NJUGUNA 40 26 Hardeep SAGOO 35 27 Sachin SUMARIA 35 28 Brian MBUVI 30 29 Richard HECHLE 30 30 Darshan SHAH 25 31 Nehreen ISMAIL 25 32 Hillary K. KIPCHILLAT 20 33 Raju CHAGGER 20 34 Hellen SHIRI 20 35 Tariq MALIK 16 36 Ravi CHANNIYARA 15 37 Hassan SALEH 10 38 Kyle LUCAS 10

2011 KNRC S CLASS STANDINGS 1 Jasmeet CHANA 2 Jaswinder CHANA 3 Issa AMWARI 4 Farhaan KHAN 5 Ramesh VISHARAM 6 Anthony TIBO 7 Alfir KHAN 8 M. NOORMOHAMED 9 Edward MAINA 10 Khalid UMAR 11 Dilraj BHUI 12 Baldev CHAGER 13 Jagjeet PATTER 14 Paras PANDYA 15 Jasminder BHARIJ 16 Khalfan ATHMAN 17 Bob KAUGI 18 Pauline SHEGHU 19 Mahesh HALAI 20 Stella MACHARIA

NAVIGATORS 1 George NJOROGE 2 Ravi CHANA 3 Thabit KHANDWALLA 4 Kavit DAVE 5 Tinu KHAN 6 Tony KIMONDO 7 Shakil UMAR 8 Savraj BHUI 9 Raju SEHMI 10 Shameer YUSUF 11 James MWANGI 12 Atul KOCHHAR 13 Job NJIRU 14 Vinay SHAH 15 Roy MCKENZIE 16 Keith HENRIE 17 Ben SPINKS 18 Abdul A. ATHMAN 19 George MWANGI 20 Hilary K. KIPCHILLAT 21 Ketan D. HALAI 22 Hassan SALEH 23 Hellen SHIRI

99 53 36 35 29 25 24 24 24 23 22 20 16 14 13 10 9 8 7 3

99 53 35 25 24 24 23 22 20 20 20 16 16 16 14 13 13 10 9 8 7 4 3

2011 KNRC DIVISION 3 STANDINGS FOR DRIVERS 1 Sandeep JANDU 400 2 Tejveer RAI 196 3 Anthony TIBO 170 4 Jitendra DHOKIA 150 5 Issa AMWARI 140 6 Fahd BARY 140 7 Edward MAINA 136 8 Farhaan KHAN 105 9 Dilraj BHUI 98 10 Paras PANDYA 93 11 Ramesh VISHARAM 90 12 Jagjeet PATTER 80 13 Sudesh HIRANI 75 14 Khalid UMAR 73 15 M. NOORMOHAMED 68 16 Ajaz MIRZA 60 17 Phineas KIMATHI 60 18 Mahesh HALAI 55 19 Manvir BARYAN 50 20 Aakif VIRANI 49 21 Khalfan ATHMAN 46 22 Bob KAUGI 40 23 John NGANGA 40 24 Minesh RATHOD 35 25 Jaspreet S. CHATTHE 35 26 Arthur KINYANJUI 30 27 Jonathan SOMEN 30

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THE RAI BROTHERS

RAI BROS SCALING NEW HEIGHTS PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

O

nkar Rai and his brother Tejvir share many things in common. They are all rally-crazy siblings. They all happen to be second generation drivers. They are all eager to learn and always willing to achieve greater limits on competitive stages. Their stage times speak volumes of their longstanding craze which is motor sports. Tejvir, 27, and Onkar, 23, are nephews of two times Kenya Champion Sarbi Rai. The advantage of being second generation competitors is enormous. Their uncle Sarbi Rai (the great) and baldev Chager have been there to assist with any advice.

Onkar made his debut at the KCB Gurur Nanak Rally 2010 navigated

by Supee Soin and rolled his exBaldev Chager Kabras Subaru N12.

Since then, his career has grown in leaps and bounds.

“I was honored to sit with Supee.

He used to navigate over a decade ago. On our first rally and even during training he had been of 60

great support and taught me how to undestand the notes better,” recalls Onkar.

Onkar secured his maiden career podium (3rd) in Mombasa Rally 2011, won the MMC Round three Rally in September 2011 in Mariakani navigated by Kavit Dave and finished fourth overall in Eldoret where Tejvir finished fifth.

During round three MMC Club Championship in Mariakani, Tejvir won the opening section situated near Mnyenzeni Primary School navigated by Bharat Pattni in a Subaru GC8 . Tejvir started rallying in Voi duringt the KCB Personal Loans Rally organized by the East African Safari rally Limited.

But while Tejvir has visited the top 10 once in Eldoret, Onkar has had a good feel of the top 10 this season. He finished 19th in Voi, 8th in Kisumu, 6th in the KMSC Rally in Lukenya, “Well, My pace isn’t there yet. You have to remember our opponents have been doing rallies for years but I certainly work very hard to be able to get that pace.

But I want to keep learning in every rally. So experience will help me get faster and catch the big boys,” said Onkar. The Rais owe it all to Baldy who has been preparing their two cars at his BHP Performance workshop.

“We have been taking part in MMC Club Rallies to get experience under our belts as much as possible.

Since there are no training rallies these days, we are fortunate and grateful that MMC have been organizing some Club rallies. I have used these rallies to learn how to make my own notes and just get more confidence with the car. Our service team at BHP has prepared the car well,” said Tejvir. µ

2011 FIM ENDURO

CHECCHNI, SHINE AS ZAMBIA, SA FAIL TO START FIM AFRICA CROSS-COUNTRY PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

K

enyans Franco Checchni and Vincent Boulanger emerged triumphant in the B2 and B3 classes during FIM Africa Cross Country Team Championship in Soysambu Saturday as wouldbe entrants Zambian and South African riders watched the proceedings from the periphery.

The Southerners waltzed into town well in time for Friday’s sighting lap, only to realize that their competition machines couldn’t cross over into the Kenyan border as per earlier expectations.

Kenya Captain Sean Pelling was happy with a great result for Kenya which confirmed our East African dominance in the off road scene but commiserated with the Southerners.

“Very sad that the South Africa and Zambia logistics dictated they couldn’t compete - we were relishing the challenge given months of training and I am sure it would have been a close run contest! The track was fantastic from open high speed tracks to technical rocky climbs to deep river crossings. It was a very

62

professional set up and a huge thank you to all the helpers and spectators. Well done to my Kenyan team, “said Pelling.

Kenya, who entered 37 riders, won the Team Championship followed by Tanzania and Uganda .

Shaun Miller won B1 class (for bikes up to 200cc 2-stoke and 250

4- stroke) followed by compatriot Tutu Maina and Tanzanian Gifty Mshanga. Kenyans swept the over 46years- B4 Masters Class with Ian Duncan clinching top honors followed by the event’s oldest rider Jorgen Nielsen, 57, while Peter Kinyua sealing the podium dash for the oldies.

Per Bjerre of Tanzania won the B6 Seniors Class (38years) beating the Kenya duo of Harry Guelker and Tej Sehmi.

B8 class for lady bikers went to 16 year old Rebekker Bjerre from Tanzania while Chantal Young of Kenya scooped the accolades of the best ladies quad rider in B9 class. µ

2011 FORMULA 2

Kirimi Rules Formula 2 PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

I

t was a dream come true as James Kirimi finally entered his name in the annals of 2WD Championship history.

The title previously held by Leo Varese was down to the wire in Mombasa and fears of losing grip on it evaporated soon enough when Kirimi drove his VW Golf machine to victory at Mnyenzeni Primary in Mariakani.

Kirimi’s hard work paid off . This was his third career Formula Two win what with a cumulative time score of 1.07.08hours. Kirimi won the season-opening event in Voi had a repeat performance in Kisumu Rally and Mtaani Rally in Mariakani was exhilarating.

Mombasa based youngster Naveed Khalid sealed the podium dash in Mombasa and savored two fastest stage times in the last two stages. Navid suffered a puncture on CS1 and would easily win the Rally had he driven on the puncture.

“Being the home event, I really had to push hard, so we picked up a puncture on CS1 when we were caught up in Bashir’s dust,” explained Naveed.

Kirimi was all smiles.

“It feels great to win the championship. We’ve been quite consistent this season and saw the championship go down to the wire. The victory wasn’t quite expected at the start of the season but towards the last three events lady luck smiled on us again,” said Kirimi.

Joe Muchiri saw his F2 title ambitions go up in smoke when he broke the suspension arm of his Toyota Levin. All that Muchiri needed was to win the 2wd Championship on his second year of competition was to win in Mariakani and hope that Kirimi finishes 6th- which wasn’t the case. But Muchuiri announced after Mombasa Rally that his Levin was up for sale and that he was moving on to the superior KNRC class.

Adnan Suhail drove a lot more aggressively in 2011 winning in Eldoret and Guru

James Kirimi

Niaz Bashir

Joe Muchiri

Adnan Suhail

Patrick Kibaara

Naveed Khalid

Nanak. Yet all his effort ended him in fourth despite skipping Mombasa .

Former KNRC results officer Riyaz Shiraz made his debut in his home built Datsun PA10 160 and finished 7th overall in the 2WD class during the Mombasa event.

Patrick Kibaara almost won the Safari Rally seated with Nehreen Ismail but ended up in second overall place behind Ugandan Jagjeet Singh.

Kibaara, however, scored maximum points in Safari as Jagjeet wasn’t registered for the Kenyan championship.

Flping the Levin in Guru Nanak was a major blow for Kibaara.

The 2011 season handed the two wheelers a tormenting muddy experience. A good example was in Eldma Ravine where all Formula two cars were caught in thick mud prompting stewards to nullify all results. Niaz was

impressive and racked two second place positions in Eldoret and Safari.

Haraka Mamas showed pace and should blame it all on gremlins. When Haraka Mamas didn’t finish Mombasa it was undeniably the moment they hit a rock bottom. “We were just about 5kilometers to the finish and that was literally a low blow. We really enjoyed Eldoret Rally the most last season. The roads there were great and we were happy with our finish. We had a great time in the Guru Nanak. It kept us on our toes, we rhymed together beautifully, unfortunately, in Safari Rally we were really getting into it, the car was perfect and were so in psyche but luck was not on our side and ended up rolling the car,” recalled Nesbitt.

A total of 22 drivers and 25 drivers scored championship points. µ

2WD 1. James Kirimi

101points

2. Niaz Bashir

81

3. Joe Muchiri

67

4. Adnan Suhail

57

5. Patrick Kibaara 53 6. Naveed Khalid

43

It feels great to win the championship. We’ve been quite consistent this season and saw the championship go down to the wire.

The victory wasn’t quite expected at the start of the season but towards the last three events lady luck smiled on us again,” - Kirimi.

63

CROSS COUNTRY

Shivam Crowns First Full Cross Country with Championship Title PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

I

t was a dream come true for Shivam Vinayak as Yamaha 450 four-stroke go-getter claimed his maiden bike Championship on homestretchincidentally on his very first full year of off-road racing, this time round in the picturesque dry and rocky Masinga terrain.

It all started with the race in Selenkay organised by RSC. RVM&SC took the second round to Baringo while the Nanyuki Rally Group round ran in Dol Dol. The grand finale was held on a scenic location organized by RSC around Masinga Dam. In Masinga, Shivam was, however, unperturbed by second

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position in 2.46.46hours behind former Champion Sean Pelling (KTM) as Soysambu based Tom Cholmondeley sealed the podium dash in 2.50.39.

Pelling won the fourth and last round after clocking 2.27.45hours cumulatively on the two runs staghed on Saturday and Sunday.

Duncan had sealed the buggy class on penultimate stage in Dol Dol while Shazar Anwar survived scares from Vincent Boulanger mid-season but retained the quads title.

In Masinga, the 2011 KCB KNRC series leader Ian Duncan won the buggies class in 2.53.35hours beating Jim Heather

Hayes to second place.

Altaf Ganatra was indeed the winner of the buggy class in Selenkay prior to shifting to the cars and navigating newcomer Akash Dodhia in his Wildcat.

Azar Anwar won the car class in Baringo, Akash in Masing, so was Rajesh Maini but Nish Lakani’s consistency retained him the cars diadem.

Jim Heather Hayes drove his now elegant twin seater buggy which he has been driving for the better part of the season.

Shazar Anwar (quads) and Nish Lakhani (cars) retained their respective title despite failing to secure wins in Masinga. Shazar

finished 5th in quads while Nish managed 3rd in the cars class.

Since its inception in 2004, the year 2011 was a great success what with increased competitor partake across the board and media coverage. The rising fervor of women was a major ingredient.

Caroline Amstrong with her pink Range Rover was great to see and so was Sophie Govani who was navigated by Nehreen Ismail.

Govani finished 6th but Nehreen became the first ever girl of. Asian descent to finish a cross country event.

Shazar was very instrumental in the growth of the quads class with the rider even investing his time and finances persuading more people to join and then training them.

It started in the Isinya area on February 26 and concluded on February 27 in the serene Selengai area.

The cross-country series for 2011 kicked off with two dedicated sponsors.

Ganatra Plant and Equipment (JCB) and Titan Avionics (Garmin) came on board as co-sponsors for this exciting and popular series of events.

Everyone was improving their vehicles and Simon Sharpe’s Platz became the benchmark for rally raid cars. There was no real competition in the car class before the likes of Sharp, Nielsen (Anthony) and Nish Lakhani built or acquired their hybrid monsters.

The Cross Country Commission, headed by experienced competitor Ian Duncan, showed its committed in ensuring the sport grows, perhaps towards an eventual International off road event along the lines of a “Paris-Dakar” style event. µ

Manvir Baryan

MANVIR COMES OF AGE

H

aving already savored his maiden racing foray as a Division 3 rookie at last year’s KCB Guru Nanak Rally, Manvir Singh Baryan has come of age in 2012 and looks like he could earn some more top 10 finishes in the near future.

Indeed, the MRT driver has made regular forays into the Division Two Championship points over the past few events.

His spirited fight with Don Smithhis closest adversary-serves up great moments ahead for rally lovers.

Manvir with trainer Tapio Laukkanen

Nevertheless as every month goes by, he has to prove that he deserves to keep his division two status by charging his Subaru Impreza N16 contraption even harder.

On his debut during the 2011 Guru Nanak Rally, he finished 14th overall but flabbergasted all and sundry when he finished the subsequent Mombasa Rally tour in 8th position.

Also a longtime admirer and protege of Tommi Makinnen rally services crew who service him during KNRC events, Manvir has indeed demonstrated his talent with a string of impressive finishes.

The year 2012 has been successful

by Manvir’s standards.

He was trained by Finish Rally driver and 1999 British Rally Champion Tapio Laukkanen.

Shameer Yusuf

During KNRC 1 in Nyeri, he finished 8th overall. Round 2 which was the prestigious Nakuru Rally in the Lake Bogoria region saw Manvir return 12th.

During Round 3 in Kisumu, Manvir managed his third career top ten

position when he returned his state of the art Subaru in 10th!

He and his partner Shameer “Ole” Yusuf are leading the 2012 Division 2 Class with 165 points from Don Smith, Jasmeet Chana and Charles Hinga. He is indeed enthusiastic of his first Safari attempt incidentally on its 60th edition.

“Yes I am really excited to be part and parcel of the 60th edition of the Safari. This is a prestigious event in the motorsport industry and its challenges make the adventure even more exciting,” remarked Manvir.

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Niko na

AUTOCROSS

Keith Henrie

Keith 2011 Auto Cross Champion PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

K

eith Henrie is the new National Autocross 2011 Champion following Round 7 victory in the Athi River plains. He achieved the feat with an unassailable 147 points score which can’t be surpassed by his closest challengers in the remaining two rounds.

Keith clocked 5.31.07minutes and earned two bonus championship points for setting the fastest time of the day (FTD) on his fourth heat run which he cleared in 1.47.23 minutes. Rajbir Rai, son of two times Kenya Rally champion Sarbi Rai, gave Keith all that he could handle in the latter stages before settling for second overall on 5.31.73 minutes.

Rajbir was however flattered by winning the Under24 category what with a breathtaking war with Ken Anunda.

Anunda drove quite aggressively and maintained a steady run in the heat runs before sealing the podium dash and losing second place by a whisker.

Anunda, who is proceeding to the UK for further studies signed off in style and lost second place to Rajbir by three tenths of a second.

Raaji Bharij on his first ever Autocross race settled for 4th overall while Amaanraj Rai came home fifth.

Like Anunda, Amaanraj will also be proceeding for further studies in the UK. Round 7 action was full of hairraising thrills and some spectacular hairpins too. Âľ

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Keith clocked 5.31.07minutes and earned two bonus championship points for setting the fastest time of the day (FTD) on his fourth heat run which he cleared in 1.47.23 minutes.

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P.O. Box 64900-00620 Nairobi. Tel: 020 362 2000/ 8048120-6 Fax: 020-362 2345/ 3767575 Email: info@oilibya.co.ke

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We are proud to introduce the 2012 Oilibya Racing Team: Azar Anwar, Quentin Mitchell and Charles Hinga

Introducing the 2012 Oilibya Racing Team

Team of Ages

MOTOR SPORTS AWARDS

I had actually given up motorsports 25 years ago but thanks to my brother Arshad (left) who encouraged me to Right come back to motorsports,� said Aslam.

ASLAM KHAN WINS MOTOR PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR AWARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANWAR SIDI

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eteran classic driver Aslam Khan is the 2011 Motor Sports Personality of the Year 2011. This was the second time that Aslam has won this trophy after winning it jointly with Jayant Shah in 1982.

Khan, a former Kenya Air Force pilot and who turns 61 in June was lost for words as he held the trophy coveted aloft.

Khan won the Classic Car Cup for the second time last season with his brother

Arshad Khan in a Porsche 911. He has seen the motor world morph through different guises since launching his career in the 1970s.

"I wish to thank the KMSF competition license holders for nominating me for the award. I had actually given up motorsports 25 years ago but thanks to my brother Arshad who encouraged me to come back to motorsports," said Aslam. Aslam beat two other nominees Ian Duncan and Shi-

2011 MERIT AWARDS 1. Neil Granger Brown - Most Improved Motorcycle competitor Cruize Muigai 2. Most Improved Autocross Competitor - Samir Khan 3. John Ngunjiri Memorial - Most consistent crew-Ian Duncan/ Amaar Slatch 4. Tanveer Alam Memorial - Most Improved Rally DriverSandeep Jandu 5. William Kimaru Memorial - Most Improved Co-driver Gurdeep Mehangra 6. Mike Vaughan Ryall Memorial - best rally organization: Equator Motor Club - Simba Union - Guru Nanak 7. Johnny Hellier Memorial - Contribution to Motorsport - Abdul Sidi 8. Kulwant Singh Chana Memorial - media contribution Pascal Mulwa 9. Ladies Rose Bowl - Most meritorious Lady competitor Samira Khan 10. Motor Sport Personality of the Year-Aslam Khan 11. The KMSF Directors Award- Bob Dewar 70

vam Vinayak. He won the KCB Classic for the second time last year and previously in 2008. It was double victory for the Khan family as Samira Khan won the Ladies Rose Bowl for the most meritorious female competitor. Aslam is Samira's uncle.

The occasion also feted all champions in respective motorsports disciplines. Ivan Guya was feted for being the MX125 motocross championship. Keith Henrie won the National Autocross Championship. Âľ

THE 2011 CHAMPIONS MOTOCROSS: Mx50-Maina Wanjigi; Mx65-Rolf Kihara; Mx85Apollo Mbuki; Mx125-Ivan Guya; Mx2- Cruze Muigai; Mx1Shivam Vinayak.

ENDURO: Shivam Vinayak; Enduro 125-Shaun Miller, quadsShazar Anwar.

AUTOCROSS: Keith Henrie, under24-Charles Mugo.

CROSS COUNTRY: Cars driver: Nish Lakhani; cars navigator: Hunter Hannman; bikes: Shivam Vinayak, Quads: Shazar Anwar, Buggy- Ian Duncan; KNRC: 2WD navigator- Kimeli Korir, 2WD driver-James Kirimi; Classic Car Cup navigator-Arshad Khan, Classic Car Cup driver- Aslam Khan; Group S Navigator- George Njoroge, Group S driver- Jasmeet Chana, KNRC Div 3 driver- Sandeep Jandu; KNRC Div 3 navigator-; KNRC Div 2 driver-Onkar Rai, KNRC Div 3 navigator-; KNRC navigator-Amaar Slatch, KNRC driverIan Duncan.

Charles Hinga

Absalom Aswani

Norris Ongalo

Job Njiru

Linet Ayuko

Julius Ngigi

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