Following a muddy experience on the high-altitude Meru terrain, the KCB Kenya National Rally Championship 2019 has now become a two-horse race between perennial rivals Baldev Singh Chager and Carl “Flash” Tundo.

Third overall on the Rallye Sports Club (RSC) organised round saw Chager extend the lead in his quest for a fifth career KNRC title.

All that “The Flying Singh” needs to do, should Tundo claim the remaining two rounds in Eldoret and Guru Nanak, is to finish fourth on both occasions.

The seventh round of the series culminated at the ASK Showground in Meru in the presence of Governor Kiraitu Murungi but not without drama.

Tundo picked a puncture in the opening stage while Chager went off and lost second position to the former.

Still leading

“It’s been a very different rally.We did extremely well in every single stage but in the spectator stage, we got distracted by a police car which was stuck by the side and lost lots of time. In the last stage, we lost power steering. I’m still leading the Championship and that’s obviously the main focus. We have two more events to go so let’s see how it goes,” said Chager.

Tundo said: “We got a puncture in the first section which cost us lots of time and dropped us down to 16th. But then in spectator stage, we managed to get through without getting stuck. We hit the same stone that Manvir rolled on and broke the oil pump. We then ended up in second position. We are happy about that. We are still in the Championship hunt with two events to go.”

Winner Onkar remarked: “We starred off very cautiously and didn’t commit too much as we were worried about the conditions on the road. Towards the end, we made a massive push to maintain the lead as Boldy and Flash were coming for us. It’s now up to Chager and Flash, whoever wins the Championship. We hope to give them a run for their money next season.”

The top three KNRC positions remained unchanged with Chager clinging onto the summit while Tundo and Manvir Baryan stayed in second and third respectively.