‘Flash’ strikes again in Eldoret

• National champion launches defence of his KCB title on a triumphant note

As predicted, Group ‘N’ cars had an edge over the four wheel drives as Kenya National Rally Championship title holder Carl “Flash” Tundo edged out his fierce rival Ian Duncan in Eldoret’s KCB Biashara Banking Rally, the first round of the season, on Sunday.

In the two-wheel-drive category, Munir Khan, co-driven by Sam Jethwa (Toyota Levin), topped the seven-car competition finishing the 130-kilometre race with a cumulative time of one hour and 44.50 seconds.

He beat last season’s pace setter Charles Hinga, navigated by Evans Mwenda (Toyota Levin), to second place in 1.06.1 while the 2008 champion Leonardo Varese and his partner Kagondu Kareithi (Volkswagen Golf) on 1.44.50 were third.

Defending champion Tundo was under immense pressure to earn his worth, and he did not disappoint as he stopped the clock at 1.34.12 just under two minutes ahead of Duncan navigated by Amaar Slatch in a Nissan Patrol (1.36.05) while Tundo’s Dalbit Petroleum team-mate Alastair Cavenagh and Gavin Laurence (Mitsubishi Evo9) came in third in 1.36.33.

Reliability of car

OiLibya’s Baldev Chager and co-driver Raju Sehmi (Subaru Impreza N12) came in fourth in 1.36.53.

Tundo, who was keen to build on last season’s impressive record where he chalked up wins in five of eight rallies, trusted the reliability of his car to go the extra mile in a mind game with Duncan following the withdrawal of the 32-milimetre restrictor (replaced by 33mm) which provides more power to the cars.

Tundo, who is navigated by Tim Jessop, can now relax as the 2010 campaign gets underway having beaten over 36 opponents that registered and started Sunday’s race.

He had his victory effectively sewn up after speedster Lee Rose retired with mechanical problems after the 21.6km Sergoit-Iten stage. Rose picked on Atul Kochhal to read his pace notes after his regular navigator Piers Daykin got held up in Timau.

Spectators and rally officials were able to keep abreast with conditions on the ground thanks to internet service provider partner, I-Way Africa, and transponders fitted by Car Track, who are tracking the event real time online.

This was Tundo’s seventh win. “It was a fast event through quite a bit of traffic on the way. It was actually difficult to gauge the speed if there is more power (in the increased restrictor size) as it pulls a lot more on the top end,” said Tundo.