Mubiru is Mbarara king
Mubiru is cheered on by fans as he powered his car to victory in Mbarara yesterday. Photo by JB Ssenkubuge
What you need to know:
The driver, popularly know as Kikankane, has now set his sights on the National Rally Championship.
KAMPALA- Duncan ‘Kikankane’ Mubiru got a perfect start to the season as he won the Mbarara Rally for the second time in a row yesterday.
Co-driven by Musa Nsubuga, Mubiru cloked one hour, 29 minutes and 58 seconds.
He beat second-placed Fred Wampamba by over two minutes. Now Mubiru hopes he can wade through the season with similar consistency and go ahead to lift the National Rally Championship (NRC) title.
“I am delighted to set the pace but I hope I can maintain this standard,” Mubiru said. “I could have won with a bigger margin but Pole Pole (Wilbert) slowed me down in the last section.”
Despite the gap between him and the winner, Wampamba was delighted with his second-place showing. “I have been away from the sport for some time so second position is good enough for me. This gives me hope to do well for the rest of the season,” Wampamba said.
Arthur Blick Junior completed the podium, taking third place in 1:33:33. NRC defending champion, Ronald Ssebuguzi (1:34:19), finished fourth but was content with his display having competed in an unfamiliar car.
“My objective was to finish the event in a respectable position,” Ssebuguzi said.” He added: “I had to drive carefully to bring back the car in good shape.” Ssebuguzi hired the car from Shafik Ssemujju.
Kuku Ranjit and his navigator Sayed Kadri, who were returning to the sport after a nine-year sabbatical, finished seventh in 1:40:48.
Twenty seven cars were flagged off on Saturday in Masaka but only 18 lasted the distance.
Desh Kananaru, Omar Mayanja and Musa Kabega were some of the big names that dropped out of the event, which had a total of 368.30km. The next event on the NRC calendar is the Jinja Rally slated for the Easter weekend.
