Boldy to open the roads on the weekend's Kisumu Rally

Kisumu based Driver Chandrakant "Chandu" Devji in Action during last years Kisumu Rally at Kabonyo section. PICTURE BY PHILLIP ORWA

Baldev Chager aka "Flying Singh" has been seeded first on the weekend's third round of the Kenya National Rally Championship to be held in Kisumu and Chemelil region.

Chager “Boldy” as he is fondly referred to by fans will be navigated by Ravi Soni in a Kabras Sugar Racing Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.

The three times former KNRC will be attempting to reclaim what has eluded him for the past 18 years since his fairy tale Kisumu win when he made his KNRC Debut in 1998 and finished third in the standings.

Second off the ramp is six times former KNRC champion Ian Duncan in an Evolution X.

2014 winner Rajbir Rai in a Ford Fiesta R5, home boy Jassi Chatthe in a Evolution X and last year's winner Tapio Laukkanen taking off fifth.

Eric Bengi is the top seed in Two Wheel Drive, Bengi will be flagged off from the 19th position followed by Kisumu's Chabbhadia Chandrakant “Chandu” Devji who is also the Group S leader.

Chager sounded quite enthusiast of the event but admitted candidly that it will be tricky.

“Kisumu will be a tricky event, we can’t say much until we do the physical recce. But from experience when it rains heavy in Kisumu it literally creates flash floods so it’s a little concerning.” Said Boldy

The three times former KNRC Driver added “Being first is always hard as you make the breaking marks and lines for others. Mud in the tires also reduces grip a lot and it also creates huge issues with overheating.

We can’t say much more until we have physically seen the route and the weather forecast does not look promising either,"

The defending Champion of the Kisumu Rally and Leader of the KNRC Tapio Laukkanen who is also leading the KNRC Rally with a total of 25 points will also be seeking to flourish in Kisumu.

Duncan, who has previously won in Kisumu with a back-to back win 2012-2011 and in 1989, will also, is also seeking to reclaim the post that has eluded him four times now.

There will be three designated spectator stages located along Nucleus, Kabonyo and in Chemelil along Simba between the competitive sections.

While competitive section two and four will start at Kabonyo and finish at Mberere.

The rally is expected to finish at Kibos Sugar Industry with the competitive distance being 142.14km.

The longest distance will be between Kabonyo-Mberere that will cover a total of 47.34 kms followed by Nuclear that will cover 19.41 km while the shortest will be Simba that will be 8.64km.

The Kabonyo-Mberere and Nuclear stages will be repeated twice while the Simba stage will be run once.

Rains have been pounding the Lakeside City and it will be interesting to see how drivers navigate the soaked sections this weekend.