Green wins Norton Rally

By Collin Matiza
LOCAL motor racing flyer Craig Green produced another plucky performance as he opened the 2011 motor rally season on a winning note when he swept to victory in the Norton Rally at Norton Country Club outside Harare on Saturday afternoon.
The Norton Rally was the first event of this year’s National Motor Rally Championship series and it attracted a good entry of nine cars.
And in a master class display, Green, the 2009 national champion, who had Mike Exton as his co-driver, drove his Mitsubishi Evo8 to victory in the Norton Rally, beating Zambia’s Mohamed Essa into second place.
Essa, who had Zimbabwean Ray Thornicroft as his navigator, was driving a Subaru Impreza and was followed home by the ebullient Big “Bigs” Chitima who was in a Mitsubishi Evo6.
The young combination of driver Rowan Whyte and navigator Craig Archenoul, who were in a Subaru Impreza, showed great patience to grab an impressive fourth place finish.
This was the first rally finish for Rowan Whyte and Craig Archenoul who only started racing in November last year after they were introduced to the sport by their fathers, African champions Jamie Whyte and Phil Archenoul.
Fifth place went to the ever-improving Laureen Marufu, the only local black female driver who is into motor rallying and was ably assisted by her navigator Clint Ashdown. Marufu and Ashdown were in a Toyota Corolla.
Nine cars were flagged off at Norton Country Club on Saturday morning but only five managed to last the distance and found their way to the finishing point at Sables Motorsport Club in the Eastlea area of Harare.
And leading these five cars home was Green who wagged his tail vigorously and completely dictated matters in an exciting race in which he sent a strong warning to his opponents that he will be the man to beat in this year’s national championship series.
It was another good victory for the local driving genius who quickly put behind the disappointment of losing his national motor rally title to Shaun Whyte last year.
“Craig Green drove exceptionally well. He had a steady drive and he knew what he wanted and was duly rewarded for it,” said Green’s excited co-driver, Exton, after the race.
While it was all smiles for Green and Exton after the race, two-time African motor rally champion Jamie Whyte was left cursing his luck after he pulled out of the race in stage five.
All the various race equations were thrown into disarray after Jamie Whyte, who had his seasoned navigator Phil Archenoul by his side, first crashed his Subaru N10 in the second stage but he managed to regroup and put in some good times.
Sadly for Jamie Whyte, his car later broke a control arm in stage five and he had no choice but to call it a day.
Another top local motor rally driver Chase Attwell was the first casualty of the day, pulling out of the race in stage one after his car developed some mechanical problems. And this opened the way for an intriguing chase in sweltering conditions between Green and Zambia’s Essa.
Essa looked very challenging for a while but the sting in tail that characterises this event struck again when the young Zambian driver ran into a gearbox problem, and Green sneaked through to snatch the first podium place from under his nose.
Three other impressive displays saw third, fourth and fifth places going to Chitima, Rowan Whyte and Marufu.
Chitima, who had Amos Chamunokara as his co-driver,  produced another fine performance which saw scores of his fans going into ecstasies when he brought his Mitsubishi Evo6 home in a credible third place.
This was Chitima’s first first-three podium finish in local motor rallying events.
A little history was also made on Saturday when 21-year-old Rowan Whyte, in his second local motor rally race, came fourth, posting his first rally finish.
Whyte’s father, Jamie, is the reigning African motor rally champion after having won the prestigious title two years in a row in 2009 and 2010 and his son’s remarkable performance was ample compensation for him. Jamie Whyte had dropped out of the race on Saturday in stage five.
A proud father, Jamie, was full of smiles after his son Rowan managed to last the distance on Saturday, with a little help from his 20-year-old navigator Craig Archenoul.
Craig Archenoul is the son of Jamie’s navigator, Phil, and it seems that motor rallying runs in these two families.