adminTransearth Rally in Ruwa, just outside Harare on Saturday.
The 50-year-old seasoned campaigner beat a field of seven cars to emerge triumphant in the main class of the Transearth Rally, which was the third round of the 2011 national championship.
In fact, of the seven cars which were flagged off in the main class on Saturday, only three managed to last the distance with Whyte coming home first ahead of fellow top local driver Craig Green. Whyte’s son, Rowan, also did his father proud by finishing third in this race. Rowan had Craig Archenoul as his co-driver and this saw “two Whytes” and “two Archenouls” on the winners’ podium as Craig’s father, Phil, was navigating for the overall winner Jamie Whyte in the same race. While Jamie Whyte, Green and Rowan Whyte managed to pull their cars to the finish line, four other competitors – Richard “Mahobho” Robinson, Stuart Haddon, Chase Attwell and Mohammed Essa of Zambia – were not all that lucky as they all pulled out of the race for different reasons.
Veteran local motor rally driver Robinson was once again left cursing his luck after the engine of his car seized and he found himself on the sidelines.
Haddon’s car had overheating problems while Attwell, who was among the early frontrunners, was hit by gearbox gremlins.
Essa, who was the only foreign entry in this event, also went out with engine problems mid-way through the race and this all paved the way for Jamie Whyte to push his Subaru Impreza to victory in front of scores of spectators who included South Africa-based Zimbabwean motor rally driver Robson Maganezi.
Maganezi traveled from his base at Kempton Park near Johannesburg, South Africa, last week to watch Saturday’s event in Ruwa.
Saturday also saw the introduction of a new class for pick-up trucks during the Transearth Rally and Gary Flack won this section which was sponsored by Toyota Zimbabwe.
Second place went to Shaun Whyte who had his cousin Peter Whyte as his co-driver.
Richard Exton, who was co-driven by Clint Ashdown, came third in the pick-up trucks section which had five starters who all managed to reach the finishing point at Pachoto in Ruwa.
Mike Exton, who was one of the organisers of Saturday’s race, thanked all the participants for making the event a success.
“The event went down well… There were no hiccups and the venue (at Pachoto in Ruwa) was magnificent and its owner, Mr Choto, made us feel at home by providing us with some good food.
“In fact, the event attracted a total of 12 cars – seven for the main class and five for the pick-up trucks section – and we are hoping to have the same number of entries or more for the pick-up trucks at the next national event on September 24 in the Westgate area of Harare,” Mike Exton said.
But the day on Saturday, certainly belonged to Jamie Whyte who stole another victory in a local motor rallying event to boost his confidence ahead of next month’s Kobil Rally of Tanzania in the East African country.
The Kobil Rally of Tanzania, which is set to run from September 2 to 4 in and around Dar es Salaam, is the sixth round of the 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series in which Jamie Whyte is battling for the top Drivers’ crown with fellow Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach.
Jamie Whyte, the winner of the ARC Drivers’ crown in 2009 and 2010, is currently lying second behind Rautenbach in this year’s continental championship race with three more rounds to go in Tanzania, Rwanda and Madagascar.
Online Reporter