Blow by Blow - 2019 SMC Masaka Rally - Part One: Etera nga N’ettonya (It should rain often)

Previously on Blow by Blow “….In Mukono…attrition in the tea and sugar estates as Yasin emerges and Sebuguzi wins to go top of the standings…..

The third round of the 2019 Uganda national rally championship is slated for 12^th -14^th March 2019 in Masaka and Kyotera.  It’s a traditional route with competitive sections on public roads closed to the public during the running of the rally.  It’s also very familiar in the sense that most of the stages have been used before.  Action starts in the Kako Spectator Stage that was first used last year.  It is a double-circuit with easy access from Masaka town and will be the base of all the action on Saturday.  The following day the rally goes onto the Kyotera road taking in stages at Kagezi, Kalisizo (Lufula), Kasasa, Kalunumu and Mayanja.

Last year it was a murky affair.  As soon as the start marshal said go at the start of the first stage in Kyabakuza, the skies opened up, pounding the stages and the drivers negotiating them to pulp.  Perhaps this was the spanner in the works that enabled Ponsiano Lwakataka, in an older car and just returning from a long layover, to take the lead and hold onto to win.

This year the southern motor club organised event comes on the back of a virtual drought spell.  Taking place a fortnight earlier than the last edition, rains are expected but so far not enough to cook up the grime and replicate the conditions of 2018.  If the rain comes, Jas Mangat will likely bounce back in dominant fashion and many will place their bets on Omar Mayanja.  If it remains dry, Yasin Nasser who finished second in Mukono last month and 6^th overall in 2016 is a current crowd and outsider favourite for another upset.  While fellow Subaru drivers Hassan Alwi and Duncan Mubiru cannot be counted out, Championship leader Ronald Sebuguzi and Shell V-power  team mate Arthur Blick Jr are still odds on favourites for podium positions. 

Whilst it was a new car that was expected from the returning PiliPili team of Jas and Jo, it was the old trusty Evo X that had undergone a complete rebuild and was looking pristine when it appeared for scrutineering at Shell Buddu in Masaka.   For this third round, there were therefore no unknown quantities with respect to competitors and their equipment.  While a change of weather was expected, last year’s event had taken place in similarly wet conditions and drivers were well familiar with them – or were they??!!!

After a clear Friday night, the rains came in right on cue as cars were gathering for the ceremonial start at Garden Courts Hotel and did not stop until the venue for the spectator stage was drenched.  Cars took to the track in reverse seeding order putting 2WD and newbie drivers in the worst conditions that contemporary competitors have ever seen.  In the dry this track would serve up plumes of dust to the fans as drivers enjoyed the sweeping hairpins and 450 degree spins over the roundabouts.  Due to absence of drainage and camber, in the wet, the track retains water and loose top soil making for a mud bath party that is fun to watch on tv much less to be a part of.

 

It should rain often so we know how the drivers’ hearts square up for the mud.  That said, there was no way of driving this right, ballsy certainly wasn’t faster.  Whichever way you took it, you suffered massive under-steer or over-steer – both of which would have the car facing everywhere but where you wanted it to go and serving up comedy gold for both spectators and competitors.  Clean Lines Racing’s co driver Hussein found the whole thing amusing but while he maintained a silence between pace note calls, the onboard camera showed him teething and on the verge of delivering a big belly of laughter.  I asked him about it much later on whatsapp.

[15/04/2019, 20:50:15] Omario: Kati wali oseka ki mu kaseerezi?! (What was so funny during that slippery run?)

[15/04/2019, 21:52:25] Hussein: Hehehehehehe, the way the car was moving …as  if walking on tiles nga bayiye ko soapy water

When the clocks stopped, the surprise was not that later runners and higher seeded drivers had posted faster times under a drying surface, it was the margins by which they did so.  The gap between top seed Jas Mangat and Ronald Ssebuguzi who had taken to the track just 15 minutes earlier was 28 seconds over a competitive distance of under 3 kms. And if you think that was outrageous, consider that between Jas and Clean Lines Racing Omar and Hussein driving a similar model of car – was 112 seconds.

At 4 pm the second run got underway.  The track was still drying and getting faster which provided a second opportunity for later runners to increase their advantage over this short distance.  Jas came in 1m03s faster than his record on the first run but this time only 6s faster than closest challenger Sebuguzi who slashed his own record by 1m25s.  Everyone clocked a better time but the gaps in the provisional  classification became wider.  At the end of the day, Sebuguzi trailed Mangat by 35s as Fitidis placed third ahead of Hassan Alwi Jr in fourth and Ponsiano Lwakataka in fifth.  In sixth was Kepher Walubi followed by Duncan Mubiru who had brought his Subaru Impreza GVB back following the much talked about performance of Yasin Nasser in a similar car 4 weeks before.   Yasin Nasser was in 8^th followed by Susan Muwonge while Arthur Blick Jr sealed off the top ten positions.

Next on Blow by Blow “…the longest stage of the rally, and the season so far, was supposed to start at 6:38 am but it was still dark.  Under the start order rotation system, last year’s championships 3^rd overall Jas would take pole”