Jamie Whyte Scoops Tom Savory Memorial Rally In Monze
 
By Ignatius Mazeko
 
ZIMABWEAN driver and African champion Jamie Whyte yesterday opened up an eight-point lead at the summit of the Zim-Zam Challenge after scooping the 11-stage Tom Savory Memorial Rally the drew nine crews in Monze.
 
Whyte’s triumph was inevitable having led the 174.57km long rally from start to finish to eventually clock one hour nine minutes 10 seconds, a time which was one minute 11 seconds faster than Mohammed Essa in second position.
 
Whyte was co-driven by compatriot and fellow African champion Philip Archenoul in a double African championship winning Castrol Subaru Impreza N10 while another Zimbabwean Greg Stead aided Essa in a Madison Subaru N11.
 
Muna’s chances of a winning the Zim-Zam title suffered a major setback when he cooked the engine of his Madison Subaru N10 in stage four having earlier damaged his gearbox during the super special stage to run the subsequent stages on gear two.
 
The second retirees were Ashish Patel and Mark Terken, whose campaign also ended in earnest after their Heineken Subaru stalled in stage five as the competition gained momentum in front of a huge crowd.
 
In third place with a time of 01:10:38 minutes were Zimbabweans Craig Green and Mike Exton in a Castrol Mitsubishi Evo 4 and were followed by former Zambian champions Paul Monge and Ray Thornicroft who clocked 01:14:04 in a Poncho Subaru N12B.
 
Local driver Ken Mukosa and Nash Chisenga, in a Subaru N8, settled for fourth position on 01:19:33 followed by the father-and-son crew of Azim and Imran Ticklay who timed 01:42:06 in a standard Toyota Landcruiser.
 
Dani Beaini and Adrian Sutherland came home seventh on board a Landcruiser short wheelbase with an overall time of 01:43:49.
 

The Zim-Zam fifth round is the Dave Gordon Rally slated for Chisamba later this month while the finale will for the second successive year be the TT Rally set for Harare in December. – ©ZMSA