Top drivers Baldev Chager, Amit Pandya and teenage driver Tejas Hirani will lead the onslaught during tomorrow’s national autocross championship round five at Juja Farm.
John Kanyali in a fast-paced action during a past off-road action
Chager, the 2008 Kenya national rally champion, will race the crowd pulling chopped up Subaru N10 in the open class category.
A host of new and established buggy keen to curve a niche in the discipline including Safaricom sponsored crew of Asad Anwar, driving a Masserati Dakar rally buggy, Aslam Khan, Mike Mwangi, Captain Kiki Onyonka and waita Thuo. The event has been sponsored by Safaricom Paybill and Safaricom Business.
Inspire drivers
Ben Muchemi, the Rallye Sports Club (RSC) chairman, however, said a change of venue to Juja will offer drivers a good change of scenario.
“It will offer the challenge drivers are not used to in Jamhuri park. This will inspire more drivers to compete and I believe it will be worth the effort,” he said.
Onkar Rai and Chager are expected to share the crowd-pleasing and blindingly- fast Subaru.
Drivers are earning points by competing in the 2WD Turbo, 2WD Non-Turbo, 4WD Turbo and the Open classes.
“I’m just trying to get some seat time and at the same time have a lot of fun! Speed-wise, we all know how quick our car is, reliability hasn’t been an issue this far,” said Chager.
Confident Anish, the leader of the 4WD Turbo Class Anish Chouhan (Subaru N10) is bubbling with confidence and looking forward to yet another good fight with Asad Khan.
A cliffhanger contest in the third meeting at the Portland quarry in Athi River saw Anish beat Asad to second position. “The preparations are going well at the moment. There are no adjustments to the car. The game plan this Sunday is to drive flatout, as I want to maintain my championship lead in the 4WD class,” said Anish.
Consistency
Chager has maintained speed and consistency this season which makes him one of the hottest contenders for the Open Class. He is yet to drop a single points in the event.
Besides Chager, others to watch in the Open Class are Onkar and John Kanyali in the ex-Simon Sharpe’s Platz Hybrid.
The 2WD non turbo is expected to feature the likes of runaway leader Hirani, Sachin Choda in his Rage Buggy, Sammy Nyorri in a 2WD Toyota Vitz and Gurmeet Mehta who is also expected to enter a “Rage”.
2WD turbo class is anticipated to feature the likes of Pandya, who tops this category, Amit Bhatt and Bobby Sehmy and Hardeep Rehsi.
2WD Turbo driver Amit Bhatt will be taking part this weekend’s Autocross 5. Amit’s buggy has been prepared by Suvi Racing and it’s all systems go. “We just got a few minor adjustments to be made. I’m looking forward to getting back in the seat again and have a great day out with the rest of the autocross family,” said Bhatt.
The Standard
