Giants fail to dance to Macarena tune in 2000

By Douglas Mazune THE 2000 rally season was all about Charlie Lubega - a one-man show that ended with the youthful driver crowned national champion. Name any top gun -including the elusive 1999 African champion Charles Muhangi - and Lubega has beaten them. The Angenoir and Sportsman sponsored Lubega won his first national championship . He started his campaign with victory in the Caltex rally on his debut in a new Mitsubishi Evo4 and went on to win four other rallies including the Total Pearl of Africa. Top guns Chipper Adams, Karim Hirji, Emma Katto, Muhangi and 1999 champion Moses Lumala all fell to Lubega this year. Lubega who swept five of the six NRC events clinched the national title with the Pearl of Africa to spare -he did not spare it. Lubega only finished second to Katto in Simba Telecom rally, when he (Lubega) drove his powerful but unreliable Toyota Celica ST 185. This season saw the return of Katto after a year's absence-he got off to a bad return when he rolled his Subaru Impreza group N, then he brought his old Toyota Celica ST 185 that he crashed in the 1998 Caltex-he won the rally. In the DFCU rally, Katto excited the rally fraternity when he showed up in a glittering World Rally Championship (WRC) Subaru Impreza he acquired from Karim. Chipper who was dogged by his old model Toyota Supra 'hissing cobra' acquired a powerful Mitsubishi Evo5 through a fundraising drive initiated by Karim and has dominated all sprints since. On Africa Rally Championship (ARC) scene that Katto and Muhangi were involved in illegal turbo trouble, Muhangi handed the title to Zambian Satwant Singh despite winning in Rwanda. A modest Lubega is certainly man of the year , ahead of big talking Katto and Muhangi. 2000 NRC winners January 31: Caltex rally 1.Charlie Lubega 2.Moses Lumala 3.Giovanni Storchi April 1-2: Royal Birthday rally 1.Charlie Lubega 2.Moses Lumala 3.Karim Hirji May 1: Simba Telecom rally 1.Emma Katto 2.Charlie Lubega 3.Kaka Junior July 24: Shell Helix rally 1.Charlie Lubega 2.Emma Katto 3.Kuku Ranjit August 13: DFCU rally 1.Charlie Lubega 2.Moses Lumala 3.Ronald Kamya September 2-3: Pearl of Africa 1.Charlie Lubega 2.Schalk Burger 3.Hannes Cruger Ends.