Green wins Westgate Rally

to victory in the Westgate Rally in Harare on Saturday.
Green (46), the 2010 national champion who had veteran navigator Colin Schreiber as his co-pilot in a Mitsubishi Evo8, won the 10-stage rally despite struggling the whole day with some gear problems.

He took the first podium place ahead Zambia’s Mohammed Essa while promising young driver Rowan Whyte came third ahead of Gary Flack who was in a pick-up truck.
Rowan Whyte is the son of two-time African motor rally champion Jamie Whyte who opted to miss Saturday’s Westgate Rally.
Interestingly, Rowan Whyte, once again had Craig Archenoul, the son of Jamie Whyte’s longtime co-pilot Phil, as his navigator.

This is the second consecutive time that Rowan Whyte and Craig Archenoul have managed to last the distance in a local motor rallying event after they came third in the Transearth Rally which was held in Ruwa on August 20.

On Saturday, Rowan Whyte outshone experienced campaigner Big “Bigs” Chitima who retired towards the end of the rally due to some mechanical fault.
Top local female driver Laureen Marufu also had a problem with her Toyota Corolla which hit a dip midway through the rally, resulting in her navigator Bronwyn Pussell injuring her back.
Pussell, the wife of one of the country’s top motor rally drivers Ronnie, was subsequently forced to pull out of the race and Marufu had to “hire” a replacement for her in Phil Archenoul. Although Marufu and her “substitute” navigator Phil Archenoul later finished the race, she was not classified as a finisher.

Another local top driver Chitima was also left cursing his luck after he retired on stage nine after his car had an electrical fault.
His car’s shock absorbers were also badly damaged during this race.
But it was a different story for Saturday’s overall winner Green who managed to shepherd his Mitsubishi Evo8 to the finish line despite struggling the whole day with gear problems.

Green fought for first place with Zambia’s Essa who could have come home first ahead of him had he not had a puncture during the race and this cost him (Essa) a good six minutes. The Westgate Rally was the fourth round of the 2011 national championship series. It also acted as the fourth round of the Zim-Zam Rally series which brings together top motor rally drivers from Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The fifth round of the national championship series – the Jialing Rally – will be held on November 19 at the home of local motorsport – Donnybrook.
Mike Exton, the chairman of the local motor rally organising committee, said yesterday that they were also likely to use the old routes along Harare’s Enterprise Road for the Jialing Rally.
“We have routes there near the old Enterprise Sports Club which we haven’t used for about eight years now and we are likely to revive them for the Jialing Rally,” Exton said.