By GWEN CHIPASULA –
JASSY Singh was yesterday left frustrated by on-coming cars that messed up his bid to close in on Kenya’s Jaspreet Chatthe, who maintained his African Rally Championship (ARC) lead after winning the Gorilla Mountain rally in Kenya.
The Zambian champion, who broke a gear lever in the eighth stage after enjoying a three second lead over Chatthe, will now need to better the Kenyan in the remaining two legs-Uganda and Madagascar-to have a chance of reclaiming the African title he won in 2013.
Chatthe timed one hour 52 minutes and 15 seconds after the challenging 12 stages ahead of Jassy who clocked one hour 54 minutes and 42 seconds.
Jassy managed to fix his gear lever problem and managed to continue with the race but had to make a stop to assist Rwandan, Giancarlo Davite whose car rolled in stage nine.
The Zambian champion hit out at the route which he said had too many ordinary cars and bikes that caused Giancarlo to roll.
“Sorry guys, almost had it, I lost in the last stage. We found three oncoming cars at different places and we just drove to the end. Didn’t want to risk our lives over a win,” Jassy said from Kigali.
Next up for Jassy will be the Pearl of Africa Uganda rally slated for August 28 to 30 before winding up with the Madagascar International Rally from November 6 to 8.
