By Douglas Mazune

THE Easter and Western Challenge rallies have been dropped from next year’s National Rally Championship calendar.

The two events organised by Uganda Motor Club (UMC) and Mbarara Motor Club (MMC) respectively, lacked sponsors.

UMC, United Motorsport Club (UMOSPOC), Motorsport Africa Club (MOSAC) and MMC are left with one event each. The spacious calendar has been reduced from eight to six NRC events.

Federation of Motorsport Clubs of Uganda (FMU) will organise the Pearl of Africa Uganda rally while the third round of the NRC series due in June will be taken up by any club that secures sponsorship.

The championship will start with the UMOSPOC organised Alpha rally in February and will end with the Castrol-Mogas Independence rally in October.

NRC events and the three sprints will also count towards the newly introduced Two Wheel Drive (2WD) championship.

2005 NRC calendar:
Feb 25-27: Alpha rally
March 25-27: Mbarara Motor Club (MMC) rally
June 3-5: Third NRC round (yet to be allocated)
July 1-3: MOSAC rally
Sept 9-11: Pearl of Africa rally
Oct 14-16: Castrol-Mogas Independence rally