adminRally – in Ruwa, just outside Harare.
The rally will start and finish at Windsor Park (Pachoto) in Ruwa on Saturday, and will bring together most of the country’s top motor rally drivers.
In fact, the event is always well supported by top rally stars who pit their skills against each other on the challenging stages in the Ruwa farming area.
The public is welcome to attend and see what rallying is about.
Mike Exton, one of the event’s organisers, said yesterday that one of Zambia’s top drivers, Mohammed Essa, will be coming down to compete in Saturday’s race.
“The Ruwa Transearth Rally is the third round of this year’s national championship and it will start and finish at a new location – Windsor Park (Pachoto).
“Everything is on track and we are likely to have eight local entries and we do have Mohammed Essa from Zambia coming down to take part in this event,” Exton said.
He also said a new category for the pick-up trucks has been added to this year’s Ruwa Transearth Rally and Toyota Zimbabwe have put in US$1 000 for the winners.
“So we hope to receive a lot of support for this new class of motor rallying.
“In fact, I think this is the first time that a prize money has been put on the table for a local motor rally event and this will generate more interest among the competitors,” Exton said.
The Ruwa Transearth Rally will also see reigning African champion Jamie Whyte taking time off from his heavy schedule in the 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series to compete on the local scene.
Whyte, who won the ARC Drivers’ crown for two years on the trot in 2009 and 2010, is currently lying second behind fellow Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach in this year’s continental championship after
five rounds of action in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda.
The 50-year-old seasoned campaigner is set to compete in Saturday’s event in Ruwa after having taken part in the fifth round of this year’s ARC series – the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally – in the East
African country last month. Whyte had a disappointing outing in Uganda where he failed to last the distance in the three-day event, pulling out of the race with gearbox problems with three last stages to go.
At this Saturday’s Ruwa Transearth Rally, Whyte is likely to be joined by a number of fellow top local motor rally drivers who include Craig Green, Big “Bigs” Chitima, Laureen Marufu, Richard “Mahobho” Robinson, Jess Watson and Stuart Haddon.
Online Reporter