NYAHURURU,
Kenya, Mar 9 – On the day he celebrated his 45^th birthday Baldev ‘Singh’
Chager took over the Kenya National Rally Championship lead from Carl ‘Flash’
Tundo after clinching the Nyahururu Rally title on Sunday.

The Flying
Singh, as he is commonly referred as navigated the technical terrains of
Laikipia County in scintillating fashion, leading the rally from start to
finish.

It was double celebration for Chager who
had to dash back to Nairobi ostensibly to attend to his daughter’s birthday.

“We had a good recce and indeed our pace-notes worked really
well. We had a puncture in the last rally and Flash had two on this event. I
have never won a rally on my birthday which was also my daughter’s birthday.
I’m chuffed.” Chager said.

Tundo was left to rue the two punctures
which denied him the chance for back to back success after winning the season
opening Guru Nanak event last month.

“It was a tough rally for us, not those good days. We picked a
puncture 7kms in the opening stage which put us back on the leader-board and
had another puncture in the third stage but that’s rallying,” said
Tundo.

After two rounds of brilliant displays, Chager now
moves to the summit of the KNRC log on 56 against Tundo’s 52 points. Tejveer
Rai, on his second outing in the VW Polo R5, racked up a career best second
overall position beating Tundo to third.

Chager won the first three stages but Tundo
bounced back to take the next two and most importantly the power stage which
earned him three bonus points.

Fourth was Karan Patel who like Tundo
picked two punctures and lost time. Eric Bengi and his partner Peter Mutuma finally
made it to the finish after a prolonged period of gremlins and DNFs.

Driving a new Evo10, Bengi retuned fifth.

The roads in Rumuruti were well marked,
graded and had a mix of every thing from flat-out sections to
twisty, to jumps and rocks. The first 7kms of the power stage which was the
day’s last run were exactly the same as SS1 Ol Maisor stage but at the 7km mark
diverted to the left.

Two stages, Ol Maisor and Sosian, were repeated
twice after which rally traffic embarked on the power stage attack.

The event featured a competitive
distance of 147.96km and 158.32km transport road section.

Out of the 13 cars which started the Rift
Valley Motor Band Sports Club RVMSC organised round, only 10 survived the
demanding terrain in Rumuruti.

Results

1. Baldev 
Chager /Ravi  Soni (Mitsubishi
Lancer Evolution X) 1:2810.0hours

2. Tejveer 
Rai/Gavin  Lawrence  (VW Polo R5)         1:30.25.8

3. Carl 
Tundo/ Tim  Jessop   (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X)     1:31.30.2

 4.
Karan  Patel /James  Mwangi (Ford Fiesta R5)            1.35.48.8

5. Eric 
Bengi/ Peter  Mutuma      (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X)   1:38.25.7

 6.
Jasmeet  Chana/Ravi  Chana     
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X)   
1:40.14.1          

 7.
Evans  Kavisi/ Absolom  Aswani  
(Subaru Impreza N10)      1:41.52.2 

8. Nikhil 
Sachania/Deep  Patel    (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X) 1:57.13.8

9. Steve 
Mwangi/Dennis  Mwenda     (Subaru Impreza)  2:02.42.3

10. Daren 
Miranda/Wayne  Fernandes   (Subaru Impreza)  2:24.13.5    

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