Sharpe, Anwar, Duncan and Cholmondeley shine

By OSCAR PILIPILI

Team JCB\Ganatra driver Simon Sharpe, his teammate Shazar Anwar, Tom Cholmondeley and Ian Duncan emerged winners during the opening round of the Cross Country Raid 1 organised by Nanyuki Rally Group in the remote Tomlinson Ranch near Mount Kenya.

This was Sharpe’s maiden win in the crowd-pleasing "Monster" contraption which has previously had its campaign stymied with unforeseen mechanical problems.

Defending car champion Nish Lakhani settled for second overall. Sharpe, co-driven by Crispin Kennedy at the wheel of the V8 supercharged Platz hybrid machine, clocked 2.50.03hours cumulatively after two days of exhilarating displays.

"We had everything this weekend from technical roads to tricky navigation, plenty of wildlife to keep us on our toes and an enthusiastic organisational team," said Sharpe.

Defending quad champion Anwar savoured his season opening victory but admitted that second-placed Vincent Boulanger was really quick.

"The event was a mix of all sorts of terrain and great fun. I am glad to win for my new sponsors Team JCB-Ganatra. But again, it was a very tough race and quite unfortunate that Vincent suffered electrical problems," said Anwar.

Chantel Young, in her Honda TRS quad, won the Coupe Des Dames for the best lady competitor, while the most meritorious trophy went to bike rider Steve Scot, who finished sixth overall in the bikes class.

Soysambu-based Cholmondeley showed what stuff he is made off when he vanquished all and sundry in the bikes tussle including defending champion Shivam Vinayak who could only manage fourth finish behind second placed Sean Wilcock and Wangai Kimeria.