History has repeated itself. In 2016, UMOSPOC crew of Godfrey Lubega aka Tallman navigated by Justin Mungoma were patient for months till the senate declared them winners of the 2016 UMOSPOC Kabalega rally.
The same was in the 2024 SMC Challenge rally in Kyotera April 13-14,2024,when Nasser Mutebi was letter handed victory after three days in Waiting.
Mutebi,the 2010 National rally champion navigated by Steven Bunya in Mitsubishi Evo9, had finished second behind Mbarara rally winner Jas Mangat, but Mangat was penalised for outside assistance in stage six.
So, his exclusion by the event stewards among those who finished the rally, handed Mutebi victory ending his 13 year Jinx without testing victory of an event.
According to the stewards, they found sufficient evidence of outside assistance through following the chronological order of how events unfolded in TC 6, up to the time of his arrival at service park.
With the change in the results Jonas Kansiime who finished third in that rally is top of the national Rally championship table, with 93 points, followed by Equity Bank sponsored Mustapha Mukasa with 86 points.
Mangat is in fifth position with 60 points he scored after winning the Mbarara rally which was the open leg of the seven rounds of the NRC calendar.
The SMC rally which was the second leg of the NRC had its challenges including the timing system which should be addressed before the Pearl of Africa Rally in may 10-12 in the districts of Jinja and Buikwe.
The SMC Challenge rally was the second leg of the NRC and 10 out of 25 drivers finished the two-day event that had 119.35km of 137.43km of the entire rally covered after canceling the power stage.
The SMC Challenge helped the crews to prepare and fine tune their machines ahead of the Pearl of Rally next month May 10-12 in Jinja which doubles as the third leg of NRC and the opening leg of the Africa Rally Champion.
SMC Challenge rally final results
1.Nasser Mutebi 1:39:06.9
2.Moustapha Mukasa 1:42:56.6
3.Jonas Kansiime 1:46:43.4
4.Didas Matsiko 1:52:16.4
5.Isaac Ssozi 1:52:17.4
6. Fred Busulwa 1:57:06.1
7. Faisal Kayira 1:58:16.2
8.Edward 1:58:30.0
9. Julius Ssemambo 2:01:38.61
10. Hajji Amir Kavuma 2:08:30.8
Top five on NRC Standings:
Jonas Kansiime 93points
Moustapha Mukasa 86
Didas Matsiko 75.5
Isaac Ssozi 68
Jas Mangat 60
END.
I think ,this was a good decision if motorsport is to develop and also building confidence in the people being managed.