HARAKA MAMAS' ITCHING TO REV SATURDAY'S KCB RALLY

Although no one has an idea what’s up the sleeves of ‘Haraka Mamas’- that will definitely be known during this weekend’s KCB Micro Banking Rally in Nyeri. Asked what rally enthusiasts should expect of this enthusiastic all-female crew, Nesbitt hinted of a more experienced team of ladies that would do its best and finish all rallies this year. Haraka Mamas - comprising of Joan Nesbitt and Dr Tamara K. Jones- haven’t had big upgrades in the off season other than just repainting their two wheel drive Toyota Tercel whose engine is basically the same.

Nesbitt is excited that the Rallies Commission of Kenya Motor Sport Federation has implemented changes into the 2WD front effective 2012. From now henceforth, the 2WD class entrants will tackle the whole KNRC mileage as opposed to the maximum 80 Kilometer total which will now be used by novices in the Clubman Rally Championship. “Yes, we like the changes. It is going to be more challenging since we have never gone those many rounds before and we feel like we have upgraded to the next level- we just have to wait and see,” said Nesbitt.

Nesbitt says she will approach the 2012 season in a more level headed manner. “We now have at least a year of rallying under our belt. We have learnt some major lessons; I believe this is going to be an interesting year. We want to keep finishing and keep the car on the road.” “It’s going to be great fun to see more women in the sport because now its going to be even more competitive and the stakes are going to get higher. We're really looking forward to this, its going to put our  skills to the test. We really enjoyed Eldoret Rally the most last season. The roads there were great and we were happy with our finish. We had a great time in the Guru Nanak. It kept us on our toes, we rhymed together beautifully, unfortunately, in Safari Rally we were really getting into it, the car was perfect and were so in psyche but luck was not on our side and ended up rolling the car,” recalled Nesbitt.

Nebitt reveals that their roll in the Safari has taught them to drive with more caution especially when approaching jumps and also not to take straight fast roads for granted. But when Haraka Mamas didn’t finish Mombasa it was undeniably the moment they hit a rock bottom. “We were just about 5kilometers to the finish and that was literally a low blow.” Nesbitt and her navigator, Tamara, get along so well. “Tami (Tamara) and I spend a lot of time together and we call each other every day and it’s mostly of thoughts on our rally strategy. Over the weekends, we meet up and its rally talk, again.

Tami is looking forward to this season as we both have learnt a lot last year and we both hope to put all our practice sessions into this years rally.”