Vroooom! Rally cars in Nakuru

Top Fry Nakuru Rally defending champion Onkar Rai is the star attraction as the first round of the Kenya National Rally Championships revs-off at Nakuru Athletic Club this morning.

The farming area will reverberate with vrooms as rally cars zoom past spectators in the battle for honours.

Buoyed by winning the contest in December, which was the last leg of the KNRC last season and while rallying before his home fans today, Rai is expected to give his arch rival and former national champion Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo a run for his money.

Rai, who will be co-driven by Gareth Dawe in a Skoda Fabia Car No 6 and is scheduled to leave the ramp in the fourth position, is tipped to retain the title if his brilliant show is anything by.

He also outclassed former champion Ian Duncan, who was co-driven by Anthony Nielsen in Mitsubishi Evolution 10.

Baldev Chager, who was narrowly beaten by Rai (Onkar) to finish runners up, hopes to overcome stiff opposition if he rectifies the mistakes that made him lose the same race in the last stages.

There will be a service park located at Gicheha Farm in Rongai with the race headquarters at Rift Valley Motorsports Club in Solai, where the vehicles are expected to complete the grueling race.

Twenty-four cars have been registered for the championship to cover 367.59km of which 85 per cent will be run on private land with 150,80km being competitive sections with the longest stage being 30.74km, shortest stage 20.49km and 23.36km being on open roads.

Cars will run 127.44km on private land with six competitive sections. Karani Patel co-driven by James Mwangi in a Mitsubishi Evolution will be the first car to be off the ramp. [Ben Ahenda]