Baldev Chager has taken over the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) lead from Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo incidentally on his 45th birthday.

The ‘Flying Singh’ achieved the scintillating feat with victory in the KCB Nyahururu Rally which took crews through some fast and technical terrain in Laikipia County.

And he did it with bravado, leading the rally from start to finish.

After two rounds of brilliant displays, Chager now moves to the summit of the KNRC log on 56 points against Tundo’s 52.

Tejveer Rai, on his second outing in the VW Polo R5, racked up a career best second overall position, beating Tundo to third.

Tundo was left to rue the two punctures which denied him the chance for back-to-back success after winning the season-opening Guru Nanak event last month.

“It was a tough rally for us, not those good days. We picked a puncture 7kms in the opening stage which put us back on the leaderboard and had another puncture in the third stage but that’s rallying,” said Tundo.

Chager won the first three stages but Tundo bounced back to take the next two, and most importantly the power stage, which earned him three bonus points.

It was double celebration for Chager who had to dash back to Nairobi ostensibly to attend to his daughter’s birthday.

“We had a good recce and our pacenotes worked really well. We had a puncture in the last rally and Flash had two on this event.

I have never won a rally on my birthday which was also my daughter’s birthday. I’m chuffed,” said Chager.

Fourth was Karan Patel who like Tundo picked two punctures and lost time.

Eric Bengi and his partner Peter Mutuma finally made it to the finish after a prolonged period of gremlins and DNFs (Did Not Finish). Driving a new Evo10, Bengi retuned fifth.

The roads in Rumuruti were well marked, graded and had a mix of every thing from flatout sections to twisty, to jumps and rocks.

The first 7kms of the power stage which was the day’s last run were exactly the same as SS1 Ol Maisor stage but at the 7km mark diverted to the left.

Two stages, Ol Maisor and Sosian, were repeated twice after which rally traffic embarked on the power stage attack.

The event featured a competitive distance of 147.96km and 158.32km transport road section. 

Out of the 13 cars which started the Rift Valley Motor Band Sports Club RVMSC organised round, only 10 survived the demanding terrain in Rumuruti.