Fernandes, Nisha anticipate stiff competition at Kiambu autocross meet

Wayne Fernandes and Nisha Pandya will be looking to take calculated risks in a bid to challenge their race adversaries at Sunday's, 14 November 2021, KCB Guru Nanak Autocross 9 which heads to Twisty Corners racetrack in Kiambu.

The Nairobi based drivers have had a thorough going-over of their machines well in time for the Sikh Union Nairobi-organized round.

Nisha, who is one of the few lady drivers currently racing in the Autocross series in an "Attacker 1" Buggy anticipates stiff opposition from her Two Wheel Turbo opponents but is looking to make the best of her outing.

“I am looking forward to doing a new track which is going to be challenging as always with new tracks and I expect to perform better than my last event. In Nanyuki, I had a few mishaps but I managed to finish the event which was more important for me. I managed to get the machine serviced and it is in top condition ready for action," said Nisha who started autocross racing in 2015.

She will be looking to prevail in a male-dominated world that has the likes of Azaad Manji, Shaz Esmail and Lovejyot Singh among others. "I am eighth in my category and at every event, I have to calculate the difference in time between myself and the other competitors and how fast I can go to get some second off each heat and catch up with some of the guys. The gap in points between eighth and seventh place is huge, having missed three events, and I am just looking at finishing the season," she added.

Fernandes, on the other hand, will be up against Gurraj Singh who currently tops the national Quad Class log. Having skipped two rounds, with a 25-point gap between him and Gurraj and two more rounds left, Fernandes has laid down a strategy to go faster, stay on four wheels and indeed end the race weekend on a high.

“With two legs left, there is not much strategy left. I will just go out there and have fun on the bike while remaining cautious not to do anything silly on the bike. Competing against him has definitely improved my game, he has taught me how to ride faster, improve my timings and he has definitely put up a challenge. His years of experience are more than I would want them to be compared to me and his bike is more powerful so there is just so much I can do. I would like to defend the title and I will do my best to keep the challenge to the last race," said Fernandes.

His Raptor 700 quad bike has a lot that can be tweaked to give him those few more seconds he requires, but the soft-spoken rider reveals it's very expensive to do so. 

He continued, “Hopefully, next season we have more competitors in our class."

This year’s National Autocross championship has been to Eldoret, The Waterfront Karen, Nairobi’s Jamhuri Park for KMSC and VCCCK rounds, Batian View in Nanyuki, Mombasa Cement racetrack in Kilifi and Kasarani WRC racetrack.