BOURNE ON FORM AS MAYERS CRASHES OUT

A true taste of the excitement to come over the weekend of Rally Barbados in June was enjoyed by thousands of enthusiasts at the Barbados Rally Club's (BRC) second one-day Tarmac Rally of the year, centred around the Kendal Plantation Yard, St John, on Sunday (April 27).
Paul ‘Surfer’ Bourne reaffirmed his current strong form with a superb display in the Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRC, winning the event by more than 50 seconds. But it was a hard fight.
By the mid-point of the 12-stage event, Bourne and his two main contenders had each claimed two fastest stage times; it was the best contest of the year so far between Bourne, Trevor Manning (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo V) and Roger Mayers (Automotive Art/Shell Helix Ford Focus WRC), Mayers comprehensively quickest on the last stage before lunch. Roger Skeete failed to make the start, waiting on parts for his Texaco/Michelin/McEnearney Quality/Consolidated Finance/Carib Ford Escort WRC.
But it was all to change in the afternoon, as Bourne was the fastest man through all six stages; Mayers spun into the wall – and retirement – at Malvern corner, while Manning saw he could not match Bourne’s pace on the day. Later, he said: “If you can’t win, look pretty” so, in the final stages of the day ‘Electric Micey’ gave the crowd the sort of entertainment that attracts them to rallying in their thousands. Manning won Modified 8 by 7secs from Roger Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco/Michelin Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), who also struck the Malvern corner wall after getting broad on the dirt, though with less drastic results.
In Group N, the early form was set by former British champion Harold Morley in the Sunbeach Communications Inc Subaru Impreza Sti; after lunch, however, Geoffrey Noel – slowed by some set-up experiments in the morning – came to the fore in the Napa/Pirelli/AutoZone Mitsubishi Evo VI to win the Group by nine seconds. Yet again, gearbox problems forced a disappointed Brian Gill to retire the Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRX.
The Toyota Starlets of Barry Mayers (Automotive Art/Shell Helix) and Cliff Roett (Michelin/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett's Garage) looked set for a good fight – Mayers admitted afterwards that no-one had pushed him so hard this year – but clutch failure put Mayers out. Roett finished an impressive fifth overall, winning the class by nearly half-a-minute from St Elmo Cumberbatch, who battled day-long with Jonathan Still, the two BMWs swapping times stage to stage; a lower ball-joint failure three corners before the end of the rally cost ‘Stillo’ second in class to Mayers, but it had been a strong showing for both BMWs.
Modified 7 was not to be resolved on Sunday, with a protest outstanding; once again, there had been a close contest between Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Corbin's Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla SR) and Greg Cozier (Carib/Valvoline Ford Escort RS2000) with Cozier declared class-winner, despite losing some time after a rubber bush had worked loose.
In Modified 6, Sean Gill (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis) was untroubled on his way to a 20-second win, despite a lurid spin by easy Hall, while team-mate Neil Barnard, now running in Modified 5 in the NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa, enjoyed perhaps the luckiest class win of the day. Some yards before the end of the final stage, Barnard ran out of gas, costing valuable time – when he reached the finish, he extended his hand to congratulate Roger Marshall (Photo Finish One Hour Photo/Agfa Film Toyota Starlet), only to find ‘Marsh’ had spun in that same stage, handing the win to Barnard.
Sunday's event used 12 stages - Stewarts Hill, Wilson Hill to Malvern and Todds to Ellesmere; each was run twice in the morning and afternoon, with the after-lunch runs in the reverse direction.

Provisional result follows
For further information, contact Robin Bradford (treelogy@sunbeach.net or 422 1829)
BRC web site: www.rallyclub.com

BRC Drivers Championship 2003 – round 3
Event – BRC Tarmac Rally, April 27, 2003

Overall
1 Paul Bourne/Louis Venezia (Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRC), 16m 15.28s
2 Trevor Manning/James Betts (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo V), 17m 07.41s
3 Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (Mobil 1/Nassco/Michelin Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), 17m 14.45s
4 Sean Dowding/Jason Cozier (Globe Finance/NPK Construction Mitsubishi Evo V), 17m 28.68s
5 Cliff Roett/Rhett Watson (Michelin/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett's Garage Toyota Starlet), 17m 40.28s
6 Geoffrey Noel/Leslie Alleyne (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo VI), 17m 48.70s
7 Harold Morley/Geoff Goddard (Sunbeach Communications Inc Subaru Impreza), 17m 57.37s
8 Sean Gill/Michael Cummins (Simpson Motors/DaCosta Mannings AutoCentre/Pirelli Suzuki Ignis), 18m 03.06s
9 St Elmo Cumberbatch/Owen Cumberbatch (F Taylor Associates/Michelin/St Elmo Supermarket BMW E36), 18m 08.39s
10 Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell (Nescafe/Phillips Lighting/Sikkens Paints BMW M3), 18m 08.72s
etc

Class winners
Modified 9 (including World Rally Cars)
Bourne/Venezia
Modified 8 (Group A)
Manning/Betts
Production 4 (Group N)
Noel/Alleyne
Open Modified & Production 3 merged
Roett/Watson
Modified 7 *
Greg Cozier/Antonio da Silva (Carib/Valvoline Oil Ford Escort RS2000), 18m 53.24s
* subject to appeal
Modified 6
Gill/Cummins
Modified 5
Neil Barnard/Ryan Rodriguez (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa)