Burger wins ARC race

By Douglas Mazune SOUTH African Schalk Burger yesterday won the TOTAL Rwanda Fraternity rally to take the 2001 Africa Rally Championship (ARC) with two rallies to spare. Burger bagged maximum 10 points to take his ARC tally to 40 points, 21 points clear of Zimbabwean Hannes Cruger who did not compete in the event and therefore now has no chance of catching up. The South African, in a Subaru Impreza Group N, has dethroned eight-time Africa champion Zambian Satwant Singh with the Petro Pearl Uganda and Caltex Equator Kenya rallies in hand. It is the fourth year in a row that Subaru wins the Africa title. He clocked five hours 23.41 minutes beating Burundian Rudi Catenhede (Golf GIT) into second position by eight minutes while local hero Tonny Zagene came third. Nathalie Cox, the only lady in the rally that had 15 drivers, finished fourth just under one minute behind Zagene. On the stage, Nathalie in a Toyota Corolla mounted pressure in a bid to squeeze into third position but fell short of achieving it by 42 seconds. Godfrey Katende in a Ford Escort model 1978, the only Ugandan driver who showed up for the event, reached Kigali late, when cars were about to be flagged off and was consequently ruled out of the race. Top five finishers: Schalk Burger 5:23.41 Rudi Catenhede 5:31.24 Tonny Zagene 6:05.35 Nathalie Cox 6:06.15 Giesene 6:09.32 ARC points after 5 rounds: Schalk Burger 40pts Hannes Cruger 19pts Richard Himmel 8pts John Llyod 6pts E. Louren 6pts ends