Immediate former Champion Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo and Leo Varese conquered Thika terrain with verve and vigor as the KCB Micro Banking Rally came to a dramatic close on Sunday.

Varese, who is the reigning 2WD Champion earned his maiden win of the 2009 Formula Two season navigated by Kagondu Kareithi in a VW Golf GTi. Varese clocked 47.24 minutes beating James Kirimi by a 1.7minutes margin.

For Tundo it was a smooth sailing to secure a third consecutive scalp this season amidst EVO 9 craze and stiff opposition posed by Baldev ‘Boldy’  Chager on his Subaru Impreza N12.

But Chager -the defending Kenya Champion- reckoned he will be back in awesome fashion. “Tundo is slowly running away with the lead and it is high time we put him under check,” said Chager.

An exhilarated Chager, however, described the bond with his new navigator  Raju Sehmi  (replacing Farak Yusuf)) “instant and the progress magnificent.”

Behind Tundo was a fierce battle pitting Chager against his Oilibya Racing teammate Azar Anwar. But Chager beat Azar in the closest of margins when he returned his N12 Subaru Impreza N12 back to Makuyu Golf Club finish a second faster.  

Tundo, who had to contend with multiple mechanical gremlins last year, seems to have rediscovered his winning touch. He reckons the performance of his Mitsubishi EVO9 (on it's third outing) should give spectators something to cheer home about.  

“The new car is performing really well.  I m happy that that we have been able to sort out a  umber of teething problems,” said Tundo. The 2WD had its fair share of drama with James Kirimi registering his career best-second overall place in a VW Golf. Kirimi lost 48.31minutes.

Like the common Mitsubishi-Subaru rivalry in the KCB KNRC class, the 2WD was merely a VW Golf affair. The first four positions went to VWs with 2007 champion Jasmeet Chana completing the podium on 50.51minutes and Gurmit Thethy taking 4th place.

Out of 33 entries in the KNRC class, 27 managed the full course while all the eight entrants in 2WD survived the demanding course.

Casualties were Hussein Malik (Subaru), Anwar Pandya (Subaru N10), Kirit Rajput ( Subaru N10) and Robert Gow (Suabru).