Rally Rewind - EMC Kabale Rally 2016 : Part 4 – Action CS 1-3

33 cars passed pre-event technical checks at Stabex petrol station along the Kabale-Mbarara highway and while almost 1 in 4 of the entrants had cancelled their participation, this did not dilute the competition and quality at the top end of the start list.  Following the results of round1 in Mbarara – Ronald Ssebuguzi/Ssenyange would be first car on the road followed by Christakis Fitidis/Nzamwita and Godfrey Lubega/Justin Mungoma who were the only 3 among the top 5 finishers to enter this rally.   The rest would then fall in according to seeding criteria: Arthur Blick/Unissan, Jas Mangat/J Kamya, Duncan Mubiru/Bashir Mbogo, Omar Mayanja/Ernest, Desh Kananura/Moses Matovu, 

The late risers would have missed the first loop of 3 stages totalling 42 kms as these had been completed before breakfast utensils had been cleared out at the White horse inn. And perhaps Nothing says “without much ado” in Uganda rallying like driving out of Rally HQ and arriving at the start of your first stage before the next car is flagged off behind you.

Not entirely surprising Mangat/Kamya drew first blood by winning the first pass over Bunyonyi in 7.22. Desh/Matovu did not wait to show home-ground advantage by posting second fastest and only 4s slower.  The two were followed by Duncan Mubiru who was 3^rd fastest on his very first stage in the new car – and Hassan Alwi a close 4^th, Omar Mayanja a distant 5^th and Arthur Blick in 6^th.  The competition would become more intense in the long Kitagata stage where Desh would equal Jas stage winning time of 20:05.  Duncan and Hassan were not too far off in 3^rd and 4^th while Arthur had beaten Omar by a slim margin of 5s to emerge 5^th on the stage.  

A bigger surprise would be in the super special where the form book would be overturned with Hassan Alwi going fastest followed by Geoffrey Nsamba and Musa Kabega.  Hassan’s fellow rookie and erstwhile rival in Mbarara Rauf Essa had retired in Bunyonyi  where he rested his Evo X upside down over a latrine adjacent to the FF.  The overall standings for the top 6 would remain the same with only Arthur Blick taking 5^th from Omar.  Still, there was tight competition between drivers with only 4s between Jas and Desh, 6s between Duncan and Hassan, 9s between Arthur and Omar while there was less than 20s between Sebuguzi,  Fitidis, Pole Pole and Nsamba rounding off the top 10.  
Continues in Part 5 - Action CS 4-6