NRC race hots up as Mangat narrows gap
Mangat
Masaka- Jas Mangat dominated yesterday’s Day Two of the SMC Challenge Rally, to register his second consecutive win in this year’s National Rally Championship (NRC) and leave the title race evenly poised just before the halfway stage.
Mangat clocked one hour, 48 minutes and one second (1:48:01) to win the two-day Southern Motor Club-organised event, the third of the seven NRC races, held in the districts of Masaka and Rakai.
The win, which followed his triumph at last month’s Kabale Rally, moved him to 200 points and helped close the gap on NRC standings leader Ronald Ssebuguzi to 15 points.
Ssebuguzi finished second in a time of 1:52:35 ahead of reigning NRC champion Arthur Blick Junior (1:57:28).
Blick is, however, still 15 points behind the fast-rising Hassan Alwi whose fourth-place finish in Masaka, moved him in the NRC standings by 50 points, to 135. The quest for the NRC crown returns next month with drivers battling it out in Fort Portal.
SMC RALLY PROVISIONAL RESULTS
1. Jas Mangat/Joseph Kamya (Mitsubishi Evo X) 1:48.01
2. Ronald Sebuguzi/Leon Senyange (Mitsubishi Evo X) 1:54:35
3. Arthur Blick/Unissan Bakunda (Subaru N10) 1:57:28
4. Hassan Alwi/Enock Olinga (Subaru N14) 2:05:19
5. Yasin Nasser/Hussein Mukuye (Subaru N10) 2:06:30
