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The Nairobian

Baldev Singh Chager leads as gearbox problems throw out Duncan out of KCB Safari Rally

Sports

By - OSCAR PILIPILI | Jul 07, 2013

By OSCAR PILIPILI

KENYA: The 2008 former Kenya National champion Baldev Singh Chager inched closer to the coveted KCB Safari Rally title on penultimate day with a clean and calculated run in Kajiado and its environs.

Chager, who is seeking to claim a maiden Safari Rally title, had his Leg 1B campaign effectively sewn up when last year’s winner Carl Tundo ran into mechanical problems.

He clocked 1:24.50 hours to beat Tundo by a two minutes four seconds margin.

Legendary 1994 WRC Safari Rally winner Ian Duncan was the biggest casualty of the day when he retired on CS5 end in Konza with gearbox problems on Saturday.

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Confident Chager

Chager was confident, knowing well that today’s 84km stage could change the course of the rally. The 84 km stage runs from Il-bissel to Parane.

Asked of his Day Two success, Chager who won the opening Kajiado Rally in January said: “Safari has always got some surprises up the sleeves. We went into Isinya stage knowing that Tundo and Duncan will push hard and they did just that. Duncan had a problem and Flash (Tundo) got a puncture,” said Chager.

The rockery in Kajiado claimed quite a number of cars. The Rwandese crew of Giancarlo Davite and Sylvia Vindevogel — who are fighting to regain their lead in the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC)— kissed the Kenyan round goodbye after their cars developed mechanical problems.

Also out were the Two wheel Drive VW crew of Gurmit Thethy and DP Kalsi with a broken rear axle on CS1.

Tundo picked up a puncture on CS5 and watched in disbelief as the sump-guard of his Mitsubishi EVO9 fell off. Coming into service Tundo was three minutes behind Chager but fought gallantly in the last section.

“We got a puncture so we had to stop to change the tyre. We had a clean run through the last section and took 40 seconds off Chager. We will try and do something in the 80 km today,” said Tundo.

Day two was also full of drama. Hapz Sagoo from Mombasa also retired six kilometers to the end of CS4 with a rear broken diff. Richard Onyoni’s EVO 8 caught fire on CS5 but both the driver and navigator Ken Masoni were okay.

PROVISIONAL DAY TWO RESULTS

1. Baldev Chager/Ravi Soni (EVOX) 1:24.50

2. Carl Tundo/Tim Jessop (EVO9) 1:26.54

3. Azar Anwar/Julius Ngige (EVO8) 1.29.36

4. Jaspreet Chatthe/Gugu Panesar (EVO9) 1:33.39

4. Quentin Mitchell/Robin D. (Subaru N16) 1:33.39

6. Frank Tundo/Tash Di Cangio (EVO9) 1.33.49

7. Jassy Singh/Dave Sihoka (Subaru) 1.36.52

8. Manvir Baryan (Suabru N16) 1.36.54

9. Jas Mangat/Gihan De Silva (EVOX) 1:38.41

10. Essa Mohammed/Greg Stead (Subaru) 1:39.06