Jessop, Soni To Fight For Points At KCB Kajiado Rally
Navigators will be fighting with virility for a share of the KCB Mobi Bank KNRC 2013 series points when the premiere event heads to Kajiado, Isinya, Konza and Kimuka this Sunday. KNRC Navigators' defending Champion Tim Jessop is back to take up his familiar position with Carl "Flash" Tundo. During the season ending Guru Nanak Rally last year, Tundo swapped navigators with his father Frank with Jessop partnering the latter and Natasha Di Cangio sitting with his brother Carl.
Back to launch his defence, Jessop in an interview, said he is looking forward to the first rally with great expectations. "Seeing as we had a superb season last year, we will be looking to start off with a podium performance and look forward to some of the drivers in their new machines to try catch us," said Jessop.
Ravi Soni will be navigating Baldev Chager for the first time in the new season. Soni is stepping in to fill the void left behind by Raju Sehmi who has navigated Chager for the last three seasons.
Soni, who previously navigated Randeep S. Lochab, Jas Mangat of Uganda and Hardeep S. Rehsi expressed optimism of the new partnership saying Its will begin this season and hopefully carry on till end of his career. "I'm looking forward to this big break in my rally career. To sit with a former and potential future champion plus sit with such pedigree in a state of the art Evo X will probably have more to say after this weekend once I've sat with the king," said Ravi.
Jessop- who has four KNRC titles and a similar number of Safari Rally wins, under his belt- will start off his defence against Ian Duncan's navigator Amaar Slatch, Ravi Soni and Geoff Mayes of Quentin Mitchell.
Missing in action is Alastair Cavenagh's co-driver Gavin Laurence. Cavenagh is skipping the Kajiado event due to personal commitments. The rally will be flagged off from the Kenya Motor Sport Club "Clubhouse" in South C, Nairobi at 07.00 HRS.
The Ceremonial Finish is from 17:00 HRS at the Kajiado Service Park. Final Scrutineering and Prize Giving will be the Finish venue at Kajiado Service Park.
Meanwhile, Two Wheel Drive contender Dennis Mwenda remains enthusiastic of his fourth outing with his Toyota Sprinter GT. "We have been working on our car tirelessly since the retirement in the Guru Nanak event of 2012 where we broke our shocks and driveshaft. We did test the car over the weekend and are happy with the car's performance and are looking foward to the first rally of the season," said Mwenda.