Mangat gets tough foes for Mbarara Pine Rally

Rallying. Drivers will negotiate the CS5-Jomayi section three times as ‘a bonus’ to spectators.

Jas Mangat faces a tough battle as he starts his National Rally Championship (NRC) title defence this weekend.
The reigning champion has over 30 drivers to contend with as the season opens with the Pine Ridge Mbarara Rally.

Title hopefuls Ponsiano Lwakataka, Ronald Ssebuguzi, Chrikitas Fitidis and Shaffik Ssemujju have all signed up for the event scheduled for the western Uganda districts of Masaka, Lwengo, Lyantonde, Kiruhura and Mbarara.

John Consta, Nasser Mutebi and Duncan Mubiru are some of the other drivers that could have a say in proceedings during the two days of action.

Fine course
Fred Wampamba, Arthur Blick Jr, Edson Mungyereza and James Kansiime will also be in the mix.

But Mangant will be particularly wary of Ssebuguzi, who romped to victory at the FMU-CBS Sprint in Lubiri last month. It was his second straight victory after he won the Garuga Sprint last December.

Meanwhile, David Nsobya, the clerk of the course has said 95% of the 471.68km route is in fine shape despite rains experienced in the past few days. The competitive section will cover 180.20km.

“The only bad patch is CS6- Kanyaryehu-Biharwe (14km). But the district administration has tried to fix the culverts which flooded,” he said. “Even without the repairs, the roads are still passable.”

fmusisi@ug.nationmedia.com