Kenya’s Cavenagh leads muddy and slippery Day 1 as Porsche 911s sweep top 6 positions
RALLYING
Two-time Kenya Champion Alastair Cavenagh driving a Porsche 911 took the overnight lead by 2.12 minutes over former world champion Stig Blomqvist as Day 1 of the Kenya Airways EA Classic Rally 2015 came to a dramatic end at Sarova Whitesands.
Cavenagh had his Day 1 campaign effectively sewn-up when the initial leader Geoff Bell of South Africa suffered engine gremlins in the second section around Gongoni in Kilifi County.
Porsche 911 dominated the top 6 positions on the day 1 leaderboard with Argentine Jorge Perez Compan cracking up seventh place in a Ford Escort RS 1800.
Completing the awesome 1-2-3 Porsche 911 dash was swede Richard Goransson who clocked 70:15 minutes in the two stages run for the day. Another Swede Joakim Roman came in fourth in a time of 71:47 minutes.
But Cavenagh’s lead turned out to be a good consolation to his brother Adrian who had earlier rolled with Britain’s John Lloyd.
Cavenagh’s navigator Gavin Laurence was all smiles as classic cars pulled in to the Sarova nightstop saying their lead after the opening two sections had come as a pleasant surprise.
"It was a very good day. We set off in some reasonable pace-I mean- we were looking after the car. We had no major problems. We only broke the fan-belt about 10kms before the end of section 2 but changed it straight after the TC. We are now going into tomorrow’s (today) leg unfortunately high up the field. We have alwaysperformed quite well in muddy conditions so it came as a surprise when we realised others got problems during the day,” Gavin said.
Day one’s itinerary featured two stages around Ndindiri, Kasava and Gongoni regions. The competitive mileage was however reduced to 163.38 kms following the cancellation of the 68.06km CS3 Sososbora-Kasava stage due to what organisers termed as safety reasons.
After cancellation of CS3, Clerk of the course Richard Lekee released bulletin 9 asking all competitors to travel from Gongoni to Shanzu service where a holding area of 20 minutes was organised.
Following heavy overnight downpour, the 109.13km CS2 stage was rendered wet and slippery with several cars getting stuck in there.
Three times former Kenya champion Carl "Flash" Tundo was in trouble when crossing a river. Sources reaching the rally office at Whitesands said something went through his radiator.
As a result of adverse conditions, service time was extended from 2 to 3 hours to accommodate the muddy situation.
There was plenty of drama in the day with car no 18 of Roger Samuelsson and Robin Friberg rolling 18km into the first section. Englishman John Lloyd also rolled his Ford Escort which is being serviced by Viking Motorsports.
Today the cars head to Amboseli but not until tackling stages in Samburu and Mackinon Road.
TODAY’S ITINERARY(DAY2) first cars
06:58hrs-CS4: Kasava3-Samburu 1 (103.94km)
09:09hrs- CS5: Mackinon Road- Taita Grid (82.25km)
14:52hrs: CS6: Isineti 1-Erimeto (23.50km)
End of Day 1 Results(after CS2)
1. AlastairCavenagh/Gavin Laurence (Porsche 911-Kenya) 96:19
2. Stig Blomqvist/(Porsche 911-SWE) 98:31
3. RichardGoransson/Emil Axelsson (Porsche 911-Sweden) 102:45
4. Joakim Roman/JorgenFornander (Porsche 911-Sweden) 104:55
5. Gregoire De Mevius(Porsche 911-Belgium) 107:52
6. David von Schinkel/Per Bjorkman (Porsche911-Sweden) 112:40
7. Jorge PerezCompanc/Jose Volta (Ford Escort RS 1800-Argentina) 117:9
8. Onkar Rai/BaldevChager (Porsche 911-KEN)117:45
9. Francois Kicq/Andre Leyh (Porsche911-Belgium) 120:45
10. Aslam Khan/ArshadKhan (Porsche 911-Kenya) 121:51
11. MatthaisKahle/Thomas Schunemann (Datsun 260Z-Germany) 122:50E
