KNRC title down to the wire as Karan wins in Machakos

Can lightning strike twice for Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) speedster Karan Patel? Only the Guru Nanak rally results will tell.

Just last month, Karan’s ambitions for a maiden Africa Rally Championship (ARC) went up in flames, even after winning four out of six ARC rounds in Kenya (Equator), Rwanda (Mountain Gorilla), Tanzania and Zambia as Leroy Gomes swooped in and won the championship.

Back home, Karan racked up his sixth win of the season at the RSC Machakos Rally on the weekend but he still finds himself nine points behind Jasmeet Chana who headlines the leaderboard, going into next month’s season-closing race in Voi.

So near yet so far for Karan in ARC title race

Just like the ARC battle with Gomez, Jasmeet has not won any of the KNRC events but has managed podium places in all and had savored a 20-point advantage going into the penultimate round at the expansive Lisa Ranch on the weekend.

“We had a good day in Machakos, managing to win all the six stages including the power stage but the fight is not over yet. We have one more rally to go and we are hoping to get a similar result in Voi so we can secure the championship,” offered Karan.

Karan’s Power Stage win and outright victory saw him rekindle hopes of a maiden KNRC title. His fate, however, is depended on Jasmeet’s finish in Voi. A second-place finish or better for the leader will deny Karan yet another title.

Karan’s navigator Tauseef Khan was all smiles but was left to rue their retirement in Bamba last month which handed Jasmeet all the advantage.

“It has been a good season for us until last month in Bamba where we broke our gearbox. So, we are here in Lisa with one race to go and we are happy for the win.

The stages here were good and more favorable to the R5, quite twisty in a lot of places. But we weren’t pushing too hard as we just wanted to have a good run and ensure we were ahead in the race,” Tauseef said.

Newly crowned ARC Junior champion Hamza Anwar beat Jasmeet to the podium in Machakos for second place.

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Jasmeet maintains that he will fight to the end for his maiden title. “The championship has become a bit tighter now. Let’s see how it goes in Voi. We will be positive. We will fight to the very end. Opening the roads was not a very good idea today. We had a lot of animals which we had to stop for. But then again, that’s rallying.”

Meanwhile, Leonardo Varese and his partner Kigondu Kareithi sealed the Kenya National Division Three and Two-Wheel Drive championship titles following their seventh finish of the season in their Toyota Auris.

The duo finished the penultimate RSC Machakos Rally in the 10th overall position to achieve the feat. They had already amassed an unassailable lead in both championships going into Lisa but only needed one more event to attain the much-needed 75% threshold.

KNRC POINTS AFTER MACHAKOS

1.Jasmeet Chana 209

2. Karan Patel 200

3. Kush Patel 86

4. Leonardo Varese 82

5. Maxine Wahome 74

6. Steve Mwangi 70