Grand Flip Flop

This is not intended to undermine the efforts of the organizer or the competitors. Fact is that what was billed as the Grand Masters Sprint was anything BUT,errrrr..with the possible exception of a Grand Father who won it. Ok, that was grande. 

To start with, the pre-event hype of Ponsiano Lwakataka being locked in a high stakes bet with Shafik Ssemujju was ineffective.  Real sportsmen do not bet on sports. Further, Lwakataka is a giant, Shafik is sold as a baby (the passage of time changes nothing).  Why would a grand master like Lwakataka pick on Ssemujju??  As it happened on the day, Lwakataka was not even paired with Ssemujju in what would be a head-to-head fight.  These are some of the deceptions that do nothing for the image of the sport.

However, a couple of old timers ...oops..Grande Masters were making a re-entry into competition.  Charles Muhangi who has been around was making probably his 2nd appearance in competition this year in his much envied Subaru Impreza N12.  Arthur Blick Jr who last competed in 2004 was however, the big news.  He had just been picked out of retirement by the Amin of the Rwenzori Rally Team to take the place of Edson Mungyereza in their erstwhile not-so-successful Subaru Impreza N10.  Arthur is on course to win his umpteenth motocross championship and would be riding first on the day to defend his lead against Asaf Naten and Maxim Van Pee who was away at school.

The rest of the entry list was the usual competitors led by NRC standings leader Jas Mangat (Subaru Impreza N12) and Ronald Ssebuguzi (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), the only 2 people in with a real chance of winning this year's title.  Other fired up contenders included Christakis Fitidis (Subaru Impreza N12), Susan Muwonge (Subaru Impreza N10), John Consta (Subaru Impreza N8), Lwakataka (Subaru Impreza N8) and Duncan Mubiru (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII).  Edson Mungyereza (Subaru Impreza v.5) also made the start although in the much older car that had not been seen in competition in a while.

No sooner had competition started than the heavens opened up.  The rainstorm was so heavy and powerful, the track was flooded within minutes.  I have written about the passion of rally fans and if there were any doubting thomases, this event proved it.  The controls and timing devices were blown away as well as any flags but everyone stayed put.  This writer got so wet and so cold that he almost bit his own tongue off but no one was moving.  After about 90 minutes the rain stopped and action resumed.  However, it was clear to me that there would be no time to complete the second running of the sprint as scheduled.

Back in July, Mohammed Essa and Jas Mangat had done so well on this track when they showed up with wet gravel tyres.  SO this time, Fitidis and Consta had followed suite even if in the morning when they showed up for the start the weather did not look too gloomy.  They were bang on the money however and the results showed.  Even as some favourites suffered turbo failure (Ssebuguzi) and failure to start (Shafik), many suffered wet weather and despite their efforts on dry gravel tyres, they could not match the speed of the wet-shod group.  Arthur Blick Jr who was expected to be shocked by the speed of the current protagonists was blown totally out of competition by the rain storm and posted 14th fastest on the first run.

On the first run, Fitidis put on a flawless display and showed no hesitation whatsoever on the water logged track.  Jas Mangat who is usually faster, hesitated more than once and the gap between him and the winner became too large to close on the second run.  However, this was not to be as dusk fell and the event had to be abandoned before all cars could make their second run.  The event therefore ended without the usual climax and fan fare of the winner being lifted sky-high by the fans.  Worse, there were no results announced and so, for the second consecutive time for an event held in Lubiri grounds, the results were to be determined in a conference room days later, a situation that can only increase the controversy surrounding motorsport in Uganda.  As I write this, I have read somewhere on Facebook that the results are out (oba where) and the prize giving ceremony will go ahead as planned tomorrow at Mambo Jambo in Mmengo.

Congratulations Mvuama (Grande) Papa on that sweet victory.  Never let the clouds get you down.