Blick scaled his best heights in motorsport by winning both the Enduro and National Rally Championship titles. Photo by JB Ssenkubuge
Kampala. The motorsport calendar ended in November but the season was all about one man – Arthur Blick Jr who won his maiden NRC title with two events to spare.
Blick Jr, who drove with Unisan Bakunda in Shell Helix-sponsored Subaru N10, not only won the NRC but added the Enduro title to become the first person to achieve the feat in a single season.
Blick Jr gives credits to the man in heaven, God, for giving him the opportunity to add another colourful chapter to his illustrious sporting career.
Blick Jr, 39, won three events; the Jinja Rally, CMC Rally and Mountain of the Moon before finishing third in Mbarara and the Pearl.
Despite being crowned champion, Blick Jr was honest enough to admit that it was after the Jinja event that he realised that he can after all go all the way and win the title.
“Winning my first event gave me a lot of belief,” he said. “After that we won the next two including the much contested Mountain of the Moon. It was the hat-trick for me as well.”
Blick Jr’s biggest challenge was the Pearl Rally in Mubende when he drove two sections with only two gears.
“When I look back to my season, this was event where I needed luck. I drove 34km in the competitive section in only the second gear plus the transport section.”
Blick Jr dedicated his win to the late Riyaz Kurji and his fallen uncle Paddy Blick, who inspired him as well as Moses Lumala, a two-time national champion who backed him from the start of the season. Blick also credits rally veterans Chipper Adams, Karim Hirji and Jimmy Ssematimba for support in his career.
“Kurji was a true sportsman who sponsored events as well as drivers,” he noted, before making special mentions of his sponsors Shell and his family. Apart from Blick Jr winning the title, Uganda for the first time hosted the Confederations of African Countries in Motorsports (CACMS) meeting at Serena Hotel Kampala which was attended by Jean Todt, the FIA president.
He appealed to African countries to use the current conducive conditions in the world body to appeal for funding to develop the sport.
However it was not a glowing report on the gender side with ladies not enjoying a strong representation in the season, four years after Susan Muwonge became the first lady to win the National Rally Championship crown.
Muwonge had a busy academic schedule that couldn’t allow her to compete with consistence while Leilla Mayanja is shopping for a new car for the coming season.
fmusisi@ug.nationmedia.com
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