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Day 3 – Tuesday - Naivasha to
Naivasha.
In keeping with his
incident-packed event so far, VK Vodka Kick Rally driver Steve Perez has
encountered yet more tribulations on the third day of the EASCR…
The suspension problems that
hampered the Chesterfield driver and his co
driver Mike Stuart returned with a vengeance on today’s relatively short leg
which saw the crew head out towards Elementaita and then back to the
Kerio
Valley before returning for the night
halt at Naivasha.
Early in the day, the pair had to
resort to making some impromptu repairs to the troublesome rear beam on their
Datsun 260Z which meant having to use rope to keep the component attached to the
car as they traversed around 100km of the roughest roads in the world in order
to make service.
Once there, further drama was
awaiting when Perez realised that certain members of his service crew were
missing and fearing they had got lost, he made contact only to be told that due
to a hippo taking up residence in the hotel grounds just prior to them leaving,
they had to stay put until the animal could be rounded up, thus making them
late!
The offending part was rectified
and Perez continued on his way, making good progress to end the day in
9th place overall.
“It was frustrating for the beam
to break again but we’re hoping to make some modifications to make it stronger
but driving with a car held together with rope was interesting to say the least!
I thought the lads were joking about the hippo but I had it confirmed by the
hotel security guards so I’ll let them off but the further we go, the more
surreal things get!”
Continuing the nine day epic,
tomorrow sees Steve and Mike leave Naivasha in the morning to head south via
three longer and tougher sections to the night halt in Amboseli where, in the
heart of the game reserve just north of Mount Kilimanjaro, they and their cars
will have a day of rest on Thursday before tacking four more days of relentless
rallying.
Leaderboard after Day Three:
1. Bjorn Waldegård/Mathias
Waldegård, Ford Escort, 5hr 08m 15s
2. Gerard Marcy/Alain Lopes,
Porsche 911, 5hr 12m 45s
3. Frederic Dor/Didier Breton,
Porsche 911, 5hr 22m 06s
4. Stig Blomqvist/Ana Goni,
Ford Escort, 5hr 23m 47s
5. Geoff
Fielding/Preston Ayres, Porsche 911, 5hr 33m 56s
6. John Lloyd/Adrian Cavenagh,
Datsun 240Z, 5hr 42m 05s
7. Ian Duncan/Amaar Slatch,
Ford Mustang, 5hr 42m 15s
8. Steve
Perez/Michael Stuart, Datsun 260Z, 5hr 51m 21s
9. Geoff Bell/Steve Harris,
Datsun 180B, 5hr 52m 51s
10. Jonathan Savage/Quentin
Savage, Datsun 260Z, 5hr 54m 05s
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