FAMILY FORTUNES FOR SKEETE FATHER AND SON

Roger Skeete had good cause to celebrate on Saturday evening (July 25), when the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) staged its Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint; not only was he overall and Modified 8-WRC winner in a gripping seventh round of the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s and Class Championships, but son Dane also prevailed in Production 2.
Hundreds of motor sport fans travelled to St Lucy to see nearly 40 drivers tackle one practice run and three officials timed runs; while the floodlit spectator area at Pickerings Plantation was particularly busy, fans lined many other sections of the course, and anticipation was high as Skeete led the field out of the car park at St Lucy’s Parish Church for the practice and first timed runs.
Roger Hill was quickest on the practice run, setting the mark at 2 minutes 39.51 seconds in the Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC. Driving the Michelin/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Warrens Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S12, Skeete was four-tenths off on 2m 39.91s, with Paul Bourne (Banks/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Subaru Impreza WRC S9) third on 2m 40.46s.
The battle would be between these three: on the first official run, the order shuffled, Skeete taking the upper hand on 2m 33.71s, with Hill second (2m 33.94s) and Bourne still third (2m 34.75s). On run two, Hill sliced another 1.8secs from his time, despite which he slipped to third . . . Bourne improved by 3.6 seconds to leapfrog Hill with a time of 2m 31.09s, comfortably quicker than Skeete’s first-run time, but it was not enough. Skeete, too, had found another three seconds, his time of 2m 30.31s giving him the edge by seven-tenths over Bourne, 1.9secs over Hill.
The atmosphere was electric for the final run, the tension magnified as headlights playing across the sky and engine noise are the first warnings that a car is coming; both Hill and Bourne gave it their all . . . Hill improved again, to a time that would have placed him second in run two (2m 30.74s), Bourne did the same, beating Skeete’s second-run time with 2m 30.13s, but ‘The Sheriff’ had them covered: Skeete’s final time of 2m 28.13s was exactly two seconds up on Bourne, so victory was his.
Behind the lead battle, Martin Atwell set some impressive times in Scot Graeme Finlayson’s www.racedandrallied.com Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III RS, which he was sharing for the evening with Michael Worme, whose regular Subaru Impreza was sidelined. Atwell ended the evening fourth, Worme seventh.
While Ian Warren’s Suzuki Swift was the dominant two-wheel-drive car throughout the official runs, and Josh Read set some impressive times in his Toyota Starlet, a tremendous battle for SuperModified 11 raged between the BMW M3s of Jonathan Still and Sammy Cumberbatch. Still had a six-tenths advantage after the practice run, which Cumberbatch reversed on the first official run; on the second run, Still clocked 2m 43.76s, giving him a comfortable margin over Cumberbatch on 2m 46.25s. In a repeat of the overall battle, run three would settle it . . . Cumberbatch improved by almost exactly three seconds to 2m 43.26s, but Still put everything into the final run, stopping the clock at 2m 42.57s, to win by seven-tenths.

BRC Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint – July 25
Provisional results - overall
1st Roger Skeete (M8-WRC Michelin/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Warrens Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S12), 2m 28.13s
2nd Paul Bourne (M8-WRC Banks/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 2m 30.13s
3rd Roger Hill (M8-WRC Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 2m 30.74s
4th Martin Atwell (M8-A www.racedandrallied.com Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III RS), 2m 35.36s
5th Ian Warren (SM10 Shell V-Power/Simpson Motors/Automotive Art Suzuki Swift), 2m 35.84s
6th Barry Gale (M8-WRC Autolink/VP Racing/Bella Beauty Supply/Pro Pac Dog Food Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 2m 38.36s
7th Michael Worme (M8-A www.racedandrallied.com Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III RS), 2m 41.32s
8th Josh Read (SM9 Automotive Art Toyota Starlet), 2m 42.11s
9th Jonathan Still (SM11 Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Little Switzerland BMW M3), 2m 42.57s
10th Sammy Cumberbatch (SM11 Williams Industries/Digicel/F Taylor Associates/Castrol BMW M3), 2m 43.26s
etc

Class results
Modified 8-WRC 1st Skeete; 2nd Bourne; 3rd Hill; etc
Modified 8-A 1st Atwell; 2nd Worme
Production 4 1st Geoff Noel (Globe Finance/DeWalt Tools/Essco/Sunbeach/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 2m 44.60s; 2nd Dean Serrao (Amalgamated Security/Coconut Car Rentals/Lucky Games Inc Subaru Impreza N12), 2m 44.72s; 3rd Harold Morley (Subaru Impreza N14), 2m 48.06s; etc
SuperModified 11 1st Still; 2nd S Cumberbatch; 3rd Owen Cumberbatch (Combo Auto Parts and Service BMW M3), 2m 50.44s
SuperModified 10 1st Warren; 2nd Rhett Watson (The Unknown Entity/MQI Collision Repair Centre/Toshiba/Office Solutions & Supplies/Corbz Workz/Castrol Ford Escort MkI), 2m 47.43s; 3rd Ralph White (Island Safari/Drive-a-Matic/Going Places Travel/Barbados Villa Services Toyota Starlet), 2m 56.56s; etc
SuperModified 9 1st Read; 2nd James Betts (All Terrain Plus/Cellate Caribbean/Makita/Black Bess/Yamaha/Champion Auto/Quik Start Auto/Kendal Sporting Opel Corsa), 2m 47.94s; 3rd Jeremy Gonsalves (Makita/All Terrain Plus/Cellate Caribbean/Star Products/Champion Auto/Kendal Sporting Suzuki Swift GTi), 2m 49.01s; etc
Modified 7 1st Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco/VP Racing/Workz Mechanical Services Toyota Corolla RunX), 3m 00.42s; 2nd John Corbin (Corbins Garage/Klark-Odio/Automotive Art Toyota Corolla), 3m 02.79s; 3rd David Brewster (SRG Engineering/Castrol Peugeot 205GTi), 3m 32.86s
Modified 6 1st Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage/JVM Signage Daihatsu Charmant), 2m 54.38s; 2nd Jamal Brathwaite (AM Electrical Solutions/Arthur Construction/Arthur Lifting and Freighting/Ellesmere Quarries/Chicken Pen Racing/D2 Racing Suspension Mitsubishi Mirage), 2m 59.60s; 3rd Shareef Walcott (Melwani’s/Auto Solutions/Spoons Custom Brokers & Trucking/Klark-Odio/SMS Management Toyota Corolla), 3m 10.48s; etc
Modified 5 1st Sean Cox (Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift), 3m 10.64s; 2nd Rhett D’Andrade (Rent-A-Tool Toyota Starlet), 3m 16.92s
Production 3 1st Sean Field (AM Realty/Ackee Tree/Field Insurance Brokers/Landscapes in Harmony Peugeot 306), 3m 05.07s
Production 2 1st Dane Skeete (Peugeot 106), 3m 05.48s; 2nd Conor Roach (Peugeot 106), 3m 10.57s; 3rd Fabien Clarke (Barbados Business Listings/RCA Tours/Bovell Auto Repair Suzuki Ignis Sport), 3m 27.88s

Media enquiries: e-mail – robin@bradfax.com