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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Focus on Machakos: Drivers relish challenge of dusty and speedy rally in second KNRC event

Sports

By -FEVERPITCH REPORTER | Feb 26, 2014

By FEVERPITCH REPORTER

Dennis Mwenda cruises during a past rally. Drivers are looking forward to the speed challenge at the Machakos rally on Sunday. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

Organisers of the KCB Machakos Rally believe a 9km sprint stage between Machakos and Konza will be crucial in determining who wraps up the win in the 423km event on Sunday.

Kenya Motor Sports Club (KMSC) Chairman Jim Kahumbura, who is also the clerk of the course, said the sprint stage will be important for the eventual winner and it also has a section reserved for spectator viewing. The spectator stage will be run twice with a total competitive distance of 173km.

Organisers are also warning spectators attending Sunday’s rally to be cautious and not to drive while drunk.

Julius Ngigi, the safety and medical commission chairman of Kenya Motor Sports Federation (KMSF), said those spectators who drink and drive will face the full force of the law.

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“There will be alcoblow and speed guns along the rally route course. Anyone drinking alcohol on the race-day will only have themselves to blame as traffic rules will be enforced,” said Ngigi.

The event will serve as the second round of the eight-leg KCB Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC). There will be six sections in total and three will be repeated.

Organisers have introduced a restriction not to allow spectators to drive into the sections by setting up parking zones. Fans will park their cars and walk to the competitive stage without having to interfere with the traffic flow.

Scruteneering will be done on Saturday at the Kenya Motor Sports Club (South “C” Club House) after which cars will proceed to the Boma Hotel for the overnight Perc-Ferme. The Service Park will be at Tumaini Secondary School.

On Sunday, the cars convey will snake from Boma Hotel at 6.00 pm heading to Machakos. The rally will be flagged off by Machakos County Governor Alfred Mutua outside KCB Machakos branch.

Meanwhile, the KNRC Division three driver Ronak Shah and co-driver Riyaz Ismail have upgraded from a Group S Toyota Celica to a Subaru N12 and are relishing the challenge in Machakos.

Also unveiling a new car is Eric Bengi who will be driving a new Two Wheel Drive Toyota RunX. Mahesh Halai and his nephew Ketan Dinesh Halai will be on his second outing in the Subaru N12 that they launched in Malindi.

Ronak’s car was bought from United Kingdom and was rebuilt locally by BHP Performance of Baldev Chager.

“Our expectations this weekend is to have as much seat time as possible and finish the rally so as to know the car well and also bond with each other. This is our third KNRC together and we also want to improve our ranking. The car is better than the Celica in every aspect,” said navigator Riyaz.

The rally attracted top drivers including Azar Anwar, who is making a comeback after skipping the Malindi Rally. Also entering the weekend’s event are Ian Duncan, Carl Tundo, defending champion Baldev Chager and Jaspreet Chatthe of Kisumu.

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