Eldoret Rally KNRC Round 5 by asgarsidi786

GLORY AT WRC SAFARI RALLY BUT SORROW IN KENYA NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIOSHIP AS THE ONCE FAMOUS ELDORET RALLY RETURNS.

Carl

Tundo and Tim Jessop’s four-year reign as champion of the Eldoret rally was finally ended by the Chana brothers, Jasmeet and Ravi Chana. Tundo won the last edition in 2019 in the Western Kenya Motor Club (WKMC) organized event driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X before the Club was sidelined by the Kenya Motor Sport Federation (KMSF). This is a rally which came to the series amid backdrop of unrest.

Despite not winning a single stage Channa became the 25th different winner of the Eldoret Rally when once gain his consistency paid off after early pacesetter Hamza Anwar retired while leading the rally after four of the six stages. Jasmeet and brother Ravi won their second career event and are now way ahead in the overall Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) championship table.

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Mitsubishi has now taken the number one spot with the most wins in the WKMC’s history. Chana’s win took the manufacturer to eleven wins, with Tundo winning five of them, having tied with Subaru since 2019 on ten wins. Toyota with seven wins hold third position.

Just like Rob Collinge in 1974 who had been trying harder than anybody to win a major motor rally his ambitions were fulfilled when he claimed the victory with Chris Bates in a Colt Galant. Fast track forward and Chana mirrored the same results when he claimed the win in the fifth round of the 2023 KNRC series. While Collinge was the first driver to win the event in a Colt Galant Chana becomes the sixth driver to do so in a Mitsubishi when he claimed the victory in a Lancer model forty-nine years after the first.

Just like Hamza led the rally from Channa in a similar Lancer X model, Rob Collinge was being led by the similar Colt Galant of Jim Noon and Jim Heather-Hayes at the halfway mark of the 500km event. But the Noon Galant lost a rear wheel and half-shaft (Hamza’s Lancer broke the gearbox transfer shaft!) less than 50km to the finish allowing Collinge and Bates to win the event from the Colt Lancer of Davinder Singh and Roger Barnard. Collinge had sportingly stopped to give the stranded crew a spare half-shaft which he was carrying Asad Anwar also saved brother Azar in the 1987 edition!, story below). Noon managed to complete the route in eighth place.

Some amazing driving from Hamza, Chana didn’t deserve to win as the Mitsubishi Lancer of Hamza was tearing away at incredible speed but ultimately, it’s about winning. Hamza was again let down by realaiabilty problems and Channa the master of consistency grabbed the opportunity with both hands to claim his second career win and his first in Eldoret where he made his debut in the main KNRC series in 2009 after winning the Two Wheel Drive championship the previous year in an ex - Sammy Aslam VW Golf GTi. The Golf was an ex - factory car from the VW Motorsports stable and was driven by Austria’s Franz Witmann in previous Safari rally.

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Chana’s 03:29.8min win over the Datsun 280Z of Ian Duncan ensured the serial class winner sits amongst the elite who have won the event at least once following his first triumph at the once iconic event.

Sarbi Rai, Marco Brighetti, Emannuel Katto, Rory Green, Paul Bailey and Lee Rose for Rally Eldoret victories.

The Eldoret rally, famously known as the Raymond Rally, is one of the oldest event in the country. The Eldoret Rally carries so much magnitude and heritage in the history in terms of KNRC history. Rob Collinge and Carl Tundo are the masters of the event having won the event five times each. Ian Duncan is the second most famous with four wins while Tapio Laukkanen and Azar Anwar have three wins each. Laukkanen is the only driver to have claimed a hat trick of wins in the club’s history when he won the event in 2015, 2016 and 2017 in a Subaru Impreza GVB.

The Eldoret rally has some of the most fascinating memories. The famous “the race within the rally” of the Fluorspar escarpment hill climb always provided its customary excitement. Just like the sinking KNRC series the historic Hill climb is no more. The iconic climb used to start from the bottom of Flourspar Factory to the top at Nyaru. Rob Collinge was the master over the stage comprising of over 150 corners including 15 hairpins within a space of 20km and rising to an altitude of 4000ft.

Driving a Fiat 131 Abarth in the 1980 edition Collinge went quickest by climbing the Hill in 15min 21sec, which itself broke his own record the previous year in an Alfa Alfetta GTV. Local driver Iqbal Rai broke that record in 1981 when he went six seconds faster than Collinge’s time in a Porsche 911 with Collinge finishing the last five kilometers on a flat tyre! In 1978 Collinge and Anton Levitan won

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Chana matches Kenya legends Jack Simonian, Mike Kirkland, George Barbour, Bernd Strahl, Ann Taeith, Jonathan Savage, Najmi Kassam, Greg Criticos, Jim Heather-Hayes, Patrick Njiru, Sammy Aslam,

Kshs 1000 for setting the fastest time on the Flourspar Hill Climb, rising from 0-4000 feet in 16min 24sec in the Alfa Alfetta GTV.

Basil Criticos and Aslam Khan had a lucky escape after their Ford Escort R1800 burst into flames within seconds of limping out the car. They could only recover a wheel brace from the burning car as a souvenir from the 1981 edition! Ann Taieth and Sylvia King became the first-ever all women crew to register a victory on a KNRC round. Driving an ex-Rauno Altonnen works Opel Ascona 400 they beat the second placed Subaru 4WD of Carlo Vituli and Robin Nixon by 14mins.

In 1987 Azar Anwar entered a Toyota Trueno for the first time which he built in his back yard. With Dave Macharia in the co-driver’s seat, he was going quickly enough for a top-ten finish but ran out of fuel in the Cherenganis. Brother Asad, Hamza’s father, running 40min behind in the Standard Production Rally Class (SPRC) stopped to refuel them so they avoided time bar and finished 15th overall while Asad Anwar and Prakash Shah won the D.T. Dobie sponsored SPRC category in their Nissan PA10 from the Behr brothers, Raymond and Brian driving a Datsun 1600SSS. The SPRC was one of the best supporting categories in the national championship. Even with the organisers running their event on low budgets they managed to bring D.T. Dobie & Company on board to support the series.

IN A NUTSHELL

The current administration doesn’t have a second tier to the main event to support the back markers in the main KNRC series. Even with the big budgets and big publicity about running an academy, Clubmen Rally Championship etc., nothing has happened. Azar Anwar did prepare a Toyota Yaris (in his backyard once again) in 2022 which the WRC Safari officials promised will be the future rally car for upcoming drivers in the KNRC, but once the WRC Safari rally was over nothing happened. The car never went beyond the Kasarani Spectator Stage before it was taken back by the owner, a former senior FIA delegate.

During this year’s WRC Safari rally some drivers, who have rallied only once in the last 12 - years, were boosted by the government to enter the Safari. This project was nothing to do with the future of the KNRC as only one driver was below the age of 25-years-old!

The Kenya Rally Drivers Association (KRDA) had introduced the Division 1, 2 and 3 categories in conjunction with the Rallies Commission. The Eldoret rally kick started the category in 2009 but fourteen - years down the road not a single competitor has benefitted from this series.

Though Chana appears to be hitting his best form, and not taking away credit from him, he has claimed all the three categories in different years but it’s coming at a time when the national series is on its death bed. The WRC Safari rally is being given so much attention that their more officials at their offices than competitors on the local series.

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The current owner of the East African Classic Safari Rally Joey Ghose and his driver Sammy Aslam are the only crew to have won the event in a Front-Wheel Drive car. They won the 1993 event in an ex- Sarbjeet Rai VW Golf GTi. The Golf was acquired by Rai from the VW Motorsports factory team which was used as a recce car for Erwin Weber during the famous Safari rally. This is the same car in which Jasmeet Channa won the Two -Wheel Drive category in the 2007 KCB Eldoret Rally.

Hamza, back for the local events with his navigator Adnan Din after he opted to use a foreign navigator, Alexander Kihurani of USA, in the WRC Estonia rally, won four of the six stages before his Lancer broke down in Kendur, the fifth stage of the event, allowing the inspired Channa to take the landmark victory.

Even after Hamza retired Chana was being rattled by the two FIA supported Ford R3s of Jeremiah Wahome and Mcrae Kimathi. But the Fords were unable to capitalize. Wahome won two stages, including the Power stage but had to settle for third overall while a puncture dropped Mcrae to fourth position.

The most experienced driver in the history of the rally and the true icon in the Kenya’s motorsport history, Ian Duncan, used all his expertise to keep the historic Datsun 280Z on the road and claim an excellent second overall and his first podium since his third place on the Top Fry Nakuru Rally in 2018.

It was also Duncan’s first finish in Eldoret since 2018 when he brought the Nissan Hard body Pick-up to 11th position with Anthony Nielsen. It was also the first time a Nissan has finished in the podium since 2010 when Duncan and Amar Slaatch drove the Nissan Patrol Pick-up to second place in 2010. Complete outsider Najmi Kassam, navigated by Thee Soin, was the last driver to win the Eldoret rally in a Nissan when he snatched a sensational victory in 1988 driving a 240RS model.

The Channa brothers also became the second pair of siblings after the Savage brothers to win the Eldoret event. Qualified pilot Julian Savage powered his Lancia 037 to a famous victory on the famous event in the 1989 edition with his brother Jonathan Savage.

The Chana’s have delivered much stronger results, ending their victory drought in Nakuru in May. Chana’s run to victory, boosted by a second place in the Power Stage, has taken him to a massive lead of 67 points from fourth placed McRae Kimathi. The hugh margin is one of the biggest in the recent history of the sinking KNRC series. The siblings need 65 points to be declared champions of Kenya with four rounds of the season remaining.

Jeremiah Wahome, winner of the opening round in Machakos claimed third spot after setting two fastest times. His finish in the Ford R3 was the best for the manufacturer since Manvir Baryan and Rajbir Rai finished second and third in the 2016 edition driving a Fiesta R5model. Wahome missed the chance to become the first indigenous driver to win the Eldoret rally since Emannuel Katto who won in 1997.

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Victor Okundi also fell short in matching George Mwangi and Julius Ngigi as the last indigenous codriver to win the event. Mwangi and Ngigi claimed their landmark victory when they navigated Azar Anwar in 2006 and 2011 respectively.

Rajveer Thethy and Kush Patel, two of the upcoming drivers and with no backing from the federations or the government projects, claimed fifth and sixth place overall respectively with Wayne Fernandez and Mudassar Chaudhry navigating respectively.

Debutant Jose Sardinha was navigated to seventh place overall by seasoned co-driver Shameer Yusuf in an ex-Adin Haq raid specification Mitsubishi Pajero. The Kenyan based South African is a former Multiple Track racing winner in the South African series. He started driving in Raid events in the 3.5 V6 powered Pajero which is purpose-built for Rally Raid events. This was the first time a Mitsubishi SUV has finished a national event since Nikhil Sachania drove a Mitsubishi Challenger to 29th overall place on the 2014 KCB Safari rally with the previous owner, Charanjeev Singh, navigating.

Navdeep Sandhu was the best placed local in eighth place with Mohammed Khurram in a 40 - yearold Subaru Leone. This was Sandhu’s second career rally since the 2015 Eldoret Rally when he finished 35th overall on his debut. Sam Karangatha and Edward Ndukui drove the Minti Motorsports Datsun 180B to ninth position and claim second place in the Classic Car category. Ghalib Hajee’s bad luck continues as this time his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X slid off the road a few kilometers into the first stage. He was navigated by Riyaz Ismail. They were soon joined by Amaan Shah after he rolled his Subaru Impreza at the same spot.

THE RISE AND FALL OF ELDORET RALLY.

The Eldoret Rally which came to the series amid backdrop of unrest was once Kenya’s most revered rallies. It finally appeared on the KNRC table after having been sidelined for the past four years due to conflicts between the hosting club, the Western Motor Sports Club (WKMC), and the local federations, Kenya Motor Sport Federations (KMSF).

In 2019 the KCB Eldoret rally was postponed in what Kenya Motor Sports Federations cited as “interest of safety and unavoidable circumstances” on one of their Bulletins. But in the matter of facts the change was due to the closeness of the KCB Safari rally. The event was postponed from April to May and was won by Carl Tundo and Tim Jessop. In 2020 the event was postponed after the club requested for a deferment of their round, KMSF responded by posting a bulletin that it will be reviewed after the WRC Safari rally which carried more weight and value.

In 2021 the federations awarded the hosting of the WKMC rally to Simba Union Club as the loggerhead continued. The SUC organized the event, not to be confused with the Guru Nanak Rally, in Voi and in which Karan Patel and Tauseef Khan became the first crew to win the new event. The Club only came on board this season after the Nanyuki Rally Group decided not to honuor their dates to host their round of the KNRC series.

The event, just like the previous events, has fallen way below expectations as far the KNRC is concerned and it should serve as a timely wake-up call for the organisers who seem to put all their efforts and concentration on the WRC Safari Rally.

Having the FIA team up with the manufacturers to secure all the broadcasting rights at the foot step of the hosting country means the KNRC series has no support which it deserves for being the foundation of the Safari’s return to the WRC calendar.

Western Kenya Motor Club founded in the early 60s, is one of the three Clubs in the Country which can take pride in being Kenya’s most famous motorsport clubs. It has hosted one of the country’s famous event in a professional way.

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