The 2019 Mbarara rally lived up to the true expectations of a season opening event.
However, an accident in the ultimate stage was the blemish on what had been an exciting event.
Jas Mangat/Joseph Kamya had led the rally from the opening stage on day one.
Day two was just as competitive with Mangat and Arthur Blick Jr exchanging stage wins.
Mangat unfortunately hit a motorcycle rider two kilometres into the Bukiro stage. That forced the cancellation of the stage.
A fair judgement was passed allocating the position basing on the stage times before the incident.
By the incident, Mangat and Kamya were leading the event by two minutes, 40seconds.
“Generally the event was fine. The way the routes, timings, organisation all technically looked like a really nice event on paper. So from a driver’s point of view it was a great event,” said Mangat.
“But what we noticed this morning and even Saturday; safety was once again a challenge. This morning it was the same case. We were not even sure whether the safety car went through the stage.
“In the last stage, we were so unfortunate to bump into a boda guy something that was so horrible. We could have avoided this earlier,” he added.
Mangat and Kamya now take an early lead in the championship with 100points.
Arthur Blick Jr was impresseive all the way making some of the event highlights.
Despite suffering mechanical trouble in Sunday’s first stage, the 2015 NRC champion who was pairing yet again with his championship winning codriver Unissan Bakunda eagerly maintained their second position.
Hassan Alwi and Siraj Kyambadde were equally impressive on the weekend maintaining their day one third position to overall in their Subaru Impreza.
Ronald Sebuguzi settled for fourth position while Duncan Mubiru sealed the top five position.
Christakis Fitidis maintained his day one sixth position while Omar Mayanja improved his day one tenth position to seventh overall.
Yasin Nasser gave his Subaru GVB a great outing, finishing in eighth overall. It’s the first finish for the GVB car make in Uganda.
Musa Kabega came in ninth position followed by Fred Busulwa who sealed the top ten finishers.
The Reigning NRC champion Susan Muwonge and Edmond Kyeyune finished in eleventh position.
In the two-wheel category, Godfrey Nsereko started the new class on a high with a victory.
Samuel Watendwa was impressive to finish second overall followed by Charles Ssansa.
21 of the 35 registered crews finished the event.
Andy Musoke, Abdul Kateete, Timothy Gawaya were among the casualties of the event.
The second round of NRC is scheduled for March 8-10 in parts of Mukono.
2019 Mbarara Rally top finishers
1. Jas Mangat/Joseph Kamya 1:10:12
2. Arthur Blick/Unissan Bakunda 1:12:52
3. Hassan Alwi/Siraj Kyambadde 1:13:57
4. Ronald Sebuguzi/Leon Ssenyange 1:15:03
5. Duncan Mubiru/Musa Nsubuga 1:15:05
6. Christakis Fitidis/Ratanaveer Darbaf 1:16:44
7. Omar Mayanja/Hussein Mukuye 1:17:06
8. Yasin Nasser/Ali Katumba 1:17:30
9. Musa Kabega/Rogers Sirwomu 1:18:39
10. Fred Busulwa/Joseph Bongole. 1:19:49
11. Susan Muwonge/Edmond Kyeyune 1:19:49
12. Kepher Walubi/Anthony Mugambwa 1:21:38
It was so impressive