• Newly-crowned African Rally Championship (ARC) Junior Champion Hamza Anwar- better known to Ugandan fans as 'Problem Child', beat Chana to the podium tussle much to his chagrin.
• Leonardo Varese and his partner Kigondu Kareithi sealed the Kenya National Division Three and Two Wheel Drive championship titles following their seventh finish of the season in their Toyota Auris.
Image: HANDOUT
Karan wins in Machakos to cut Chana’s championship lead to nine points
SAMSON ATEKA
Karan Patel racked up his sixth win of the season at the RSC Machakos Rally to cut Jasmeet Chana’s Kenya National Championship lead to nine points going into next month’s season-closing race in Voi.
Chana savoured a 20-point advantage going into the penultimate round at the expansive Lisa Ranch but Karan’s Power Stage win and outright victory saw him rekindle hopes of a maiden title.
Newly-crowned African Rally Championship (ARC) Junior Champion Hamza Anwar- better known to Ugandan fans as 'Problem Child', beat Chana to the podium tussle much to his chagrin.
This means Chana must finish second during next month’s Guru Nanak Rally if Karan happens to win the Sikh Union-organised season-closer.
Leonardo Varese and his partner Kigondu Kareithi sealed the Kenya National Division Three and Two Wheel Drive championship titles following their seventh finish of the season in their Toyota Auris.
The Sportpesa Racing Team duo finished the penultimate RSC Machakos Rally in 10th position overall to achieve the feat.
They had already amassed an unassailable lead in both championships going into Lisa, but still needed one more event to attain the much-needed 75 per cent threshold.
Karan’s navigator Tauseef Khan was all smiles but was left to rue their retirement in Bamba last month, which handed Chana the advantage.
“It’s been a good season for us until last month in Bamba where we broke our gearbox. With one race to go, we are happy for this win. The stages here were good and more favourable to the R5, quite twisty in a lot of places. But we weren’t pushing too hard as we just wanted to have a good run and ensure we were ahead in the race," Tauseef said.
Anwar said: “We had fun. It’s been a while since we sat with Riyaz (Ismail) since, unfortunately, my regular navigator (Adnan Din) could not make it for the race. All in all, Riyaz did well and we got the car back home with some seat time to boot.”
Chana was left to rue sweeping the black cotton Lisa roads. He said: “The championship has become a bit tighter now. Let’s see how it goes in Voi. But we will be positive. We will still fight to the very end. Opening the roads was not a very good idea today. We had a lot of animals which we had to stop for. But then again, that’s rallying.”
KNRC points after Machakos
1.Jasmeet Chana 209
2. Karan Patel 200
3. Kush Patel 86
4. Leonardo Varese 82
5. Maxine Wahome 74
6. Steve Mwangi 70
Provisional Results -RSC Machakos Rally
1. Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan (Ford Fiesta) 1:42.35.45
2. Hamza Anwar/Riyaz Ismail (EVO10) 1:45.54.64
3. Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana (EVO10) 1:49.49.59
4. Eric Bengi/Absalom Aswani (EVO10) 1:58.21.77
5. Nikhil Sachania/Deep Patel (EVO10) 2:00.01.29
6. Rajveer Thethy/Wayne Fernandes (Subaru) 2:01.08.23
7. Kush Patel/ Mudasar Chaudry (Subaru) 2:02.50.27
8. Shakeel Khan/Steve Mwangi (Ford Escort) 2:05.43.11
9. Steve Mwangi/Dennis Mwenda (Subaru) 2:07.11.02
10. Leo Varese/Kigondu Kareithi (Toyota Auris) 2:14.46.21
11. Edward Maina/Anthony Gichohi (Subaru) 2:17.20.59