AZAR ON A WINNING STREAK

After winning the KCB Eldoret Rally a fortnight ago, Azar Anwar is at it again.The 56 year old veteran, driving his son’s Subaru Pick up, won the Car Class category at Ganatra Round 2 Cross-Country Championship in Baringo in 4.31.07hours  as son Shazar Anwar won the Quads Class in 4.45.11hours. The event was sponsored by JCB local dealers Ganatra Plant and Equipment and Lesiolo Grain Handlers Limited who donated Ksh 150,000.

“I wasn’t expecting the win because I was driving to train my novice navigator (James Gachanja). I was talking it easy but my guy caught up so fast and we were moving on well. The rocks were too big for the rally car but luckily, I have the experience of driving cautiuosly on the rocks,” said Azar.

Defending Champion Ian Duncan was back in the groove in Baringo with victory in the Buggies class. Duncan, who had been beaten by Altaf Ganatra in Round 1 action, posted 5.23.48 hours beating Mickey Hughes by a massive 16 minutes gap!

Jim Heather Hayes navigated by Tim Jessop in the twin-seater buggy did not restart Day Two after damaging the front suspension while headed  downhill flat-out.   

Tej Sehmi was the surprise winner of the bikes class capitalizing on Shivam Vinayak’s woes.

Shivam Vinayak rode aggressively on both days but had to contend with taking bogey time the moment his Yamaha 450 bike ran out of fuel on the Day 1.

“I was leading after the first leg on Saturday but unfortunately, my bike is built for motocross so the long distance took toll on me when fuel ran out.”

Shivam restarted 10th place on Sunday, beat all his adversaries, but the excruciating Saturday 1 hour penalty stymied his spirited run.

Rajesh Majani, navigated by Dominic Robello, sung praises of the set up in the Rift Valley Motor & Sports Club (RVM&SC) –organised event as his Range Rover Classic pulled in to Lake Bogoria Hotel.

“It was a fantastic event. The notes were very accurate. Today’s (Sunday) drive was really technical because one of the stages was laden with rocks. Yesterday (Sunday) was a wet race and we had to go through a couple of mud-holes,” said Rajesh.

Altaf Ganatra, winner of the Buggy Class during the Round 1 race in Selenkay, was all smiles after swapping roles to the Car Class with which he navigating Akash Dodhia in his debut in a Wildcat.

“The stages were quite wet at the beginning of Saturday’s Leg 1 so we got lost and lost so much time. The Sunday terrain was very rough with plenty of rocks. This was truly a very tough cross country,” said Altaf.

PROVIONAL RESULTS

MOTORCYCLES

1. Tej Sehmi 4.31.45

2. Shaun Miller 4.33.45

3. Andrew Pleasance 4.35.00

4. Wangai Kimeria 4.35.33

5. Mbabu Muturi 4.49.69

6. Shivam Vinayak 5.05.33

CARS

1. Azar Anwar/James Gachanja (Subaru pickup) 4.31.07

2. Akash Dodhia/Altaf Gantra (Wildcat) 4.40.14

3. Rajesh Maini (Range Rover) 4.42.545.

4. Salim Walimohammed/Sunny Choda (L. Rover) 4.55.17

5. Nish Lakhani (Bowler) 4.48.14

6. Eddy Belcher (Bowler) 5.25.24

7. Simon Sharpe (Platz) 5.32.37

8. Mike Ogwapit/Teeku Patel (Range Rover 3.5L) 6.16.07

 QUAD

1. Shazar Anwar 4.45.11

2.Vincent Boulanger  5.01.37

3. Arataf Vaiani 5.20.33

4. Murage Waigwa 5.23.45

BUGGIES
Ian  Duncan 5.23.48

Mickey Hughes 5.59.33