Rally hysteria in town

Feb 23, 2001

MBARARA has never seen this before. All hotel rooms are booked, motor bikes and cars have jammed town, ahead of the Mbarara rally.

By Douglas Mazune in Mbarara MBARARA has never seen this before. All hotel rooms are booked, motor bikes and cars have jammed town, ahead of the Mbarara rally. The Mbarara Motor Club organised rally has excited people here with local hero Charles Muhangi being the talk of the town. Local fans on the streets are calling all drivers 'Ekitaguriro' (Muhangi' Subaru Impreza). "Muhangi has the home advantage in every sense, even fans are calling all of us Ekitaguriro," Charlie Lubega wondered. Fans thronged the Horizon Mbarara base to see Lubega, Lumala and Chipper whom their hero was going to compete with. Some local fans were shocked on seeing Lumala and Chipper. "Are these men giving our Africa champion a tough challenge in Kampala, they are still youths, they must have started driving when they were still young," a cross section of fans commented of Lumala and Lubega. Given the excitement here and fans coming in from Kampala there is likely to be a big turnout at super special stage. Apart from the Chipper-Muhangi-Lumala-Lubega contest, others to battle are National Oil sponsored Kuku Ranjit in a Subaru Impreza, Wycliff Bukenya and Dipu Ruparelia are expected to feature prominently as well. Giovanni Storchi who was due to make his maiden appearance in a Lancia Integral pulled out of the rally at the last minute following the death of his mother in law . Cars will be flagged off at Regency Hotel and will go the competitive sections, that start with a super special stage at the Golf Club. They will later go on the long sections. Anelka Gawita and Mitroros of Rwanda had not yet shown up at the scrutineering by press time. Ends

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