RALLY STARS LET LOOSE ON SUNDAY

Posted on October 16th, 2008.

The running order published today lists 25 crews ready to be ‘let loose’ on Sunday (October 19) as the 2008 Barbados Rally Club switches back from tarmac to gravel for the Club’s penultimate rally of its 51st competition season; the final round will run over the November 1/2 weekend.
Reigning BRC Rally Champion Paul Bourne will start at number one with regular co-driver Start Maloney in the Banks/Texaco/B-Mobile/Pirelli/New-Tech Subaru Impreza WRC S9, one of nine four-wheel-drive cars listed. With three victories in four rounds under their belts, the current points-leaders will be seeking to consolidate their Championship advantage.
Close observers of island motor sport are looking forward to Sunday’s contest, as Bourne is just one of those entered who will be using the event as the start of his preparations for the loose-surface Rally Jamaica in early December. Bourne missed the BRC Gravel Sprint in March, as his new car had not arrived in the island, so will be looking to build on his experience with it on Rally Trinidad.
That said, the two drivers seeded immediately behind him are also using their recently-acquired machinery on a gravel event in anger for the first time – both Roger Hill and and Roger Skeete have upgraded since the start of the year, so Sunday’s event promises some real excitement.
Hill, who has scored in all four qualifying rounds with co-driver Graham Gittens, will see action in the Mobil 1/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC, while Skeete and Robert Simmons will campaign the Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9, which has replaced the Ford Escort WRC in which Skeete won the March Gravel Sprint.
Many fans are hoping that Trevor Manning, a master on the loose, will get the opportunity to shine this weekend in the Shell V-Power/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII; co-driven by Derek Edwards, Manning is still in capable of improving his position in the Rally Championship standings with two events to run.
There will be others, however, concentrating on the two-wheel-drive classes, particularly those in which the power is delivered to the road through the rear wheels. Jonathan Still is another making preparations for Jamaica – he and co-driver Heath Hazell will also be hoping to move the Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Castrol Oils BMW M3 back in the Rally Championship top 10 . . . but there is some new competition.
BRC Chairman Mark Hamilton is returning to action this weekend with a newly-acquired Ford Escort MkII; with backing from McEnearney Quality Inc, Consolidated Finance, Automotive Art and Dunlop, he and co-driver Clive Howell will be hoping for a successful debut for the new car, which will run in SM10.
Of course, Still and Hamilton will also have to deal with the front-wheel-drive Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Swift of Sean Gill and Michael Cummins, while the Castrol Syntec/Lysol/Listerine/Vita Malt/Hennessy/McEnearney Quality Inc Mazda 3 of Nick Gill and Sue Rogers cannot be discounted either.
Competitors are expected to assemble at Searles Factory Yard in Christ Church at 7.00am on Sunday, ready for an 8.30am start. Eight gravel stages are planned, four run in each direction, before the entire field heads for the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium for two short tarmac stages, scheduled for shortly after 3.00pm, following which the event will close with an ‘Expression Session’. While the two stages will count towards the overall results of the BRC Gravel Rally, the Expression Session will not be compulsory – those competitors who chose to participate will be allowed one minute to ‘express themselves’, after which the crowd will decide the winner.
While the recent heavy rains have presented BRC organisers with some headaches, they are determined that the event will run; a course inspection Friday morning was positive, the hot sun of the previous 24 hours having done much to improve conditions.

BRC Gravel Rally – October 19
2008 BRC Rally Championship, round five
Provisional running order

1 Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney (M8-WRC Banks/Texaco/B-Mobile/Pirelli/New-Tech Subaru Impreza WRC S9)
2 Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (M8-WRC Mobil 1/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC)
3 Roger Skeete/Robert Simmons (M8-WRC Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9)
4 Trevor Manning/Derek Edwards (M8-WRC Shell V-Power/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII)
5 Barry Gale/Cherie Edghill (M8-WRC Trident White/Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
6 Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward (M8-A Shell/Hankook Tyres/Gunk/Odyssey Batteries Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
7 Sean Dowding/Jason Cozier (M8-WRC Subaru Impreza WRX STi)
8 Sean Gill/Michael Cummins (SM10 Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Swift)
9 Mark Hamilton/Clive Howell (SM10 McEnearney Quality Inc/Consolidated Finance/Automotive Art/Dunlop Ford Escort MkII)
10 Geoff Noel/Kreigg Yearwood (P4 Globe Finance/Ezone/DeWalt/Automotive Art/Sunbeach Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)
11 Michael Worme/Brian Gibson (P4 Cot Media Group/Details Car Valet Subaru Impreza WRX STi)
12 Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell (SM11 Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Castrol Oils BMW M3)
14 Nick Gill/Sue Rogers (SM11 Castrol Syntec/Lysol/Listerine/Vita Malt/Hennessy/McEnearney Quality Inc Mazda 3)
15 Calvin Briggs/Hulita Brathwaite (SM11 Ford Escort MkII)
16 Adrian Linton/Jonathan Linton (M7 Ravensden/Crane and Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/Morris Straker Construction/Subzero Vauxhall Astra GSi)
17 James Betts/Dean Serrao (SM9 Makita/All Terrain Plus/Star Products/Champion Auto Wrecker/Kendal Sporting/Quik Start Auto Opel Corsa)
18 Daryl Clarke/Russel Brancker (SM9 Mom’s Pasta Products/Area 5 Auto Works/Paintless Dent Removal/Caribbean Surf Network/Chicken Pen Racing Mitsubishi Mirage)
19 Stuart White/Jason O’Neal (SM9 4W’s/Aqua Pur/Flyin’ Fish/Crane & Equipments Toyota Starlet)
20 Neil Corbin/Aaron Kirton (SM9 Nassco Ltd/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet)
21 David Williams/Dario Hoyte (SM9 Chelsea Car Rentals/CaribPak International Couriers/IBox Services/Castrol/Roxy Supermarket/Paintless Dent Removal/Dynamic Limo Services Toyota Starlet)
22 Ryan Wood/Raymond Parris (SM9 4W’s/Aqua Pur/Flyin’ Fish/Crane & Equipments Toyota Starlet)
23 Jeremy Gonsalves/Natasha Farnum (SM9 Makita/All Terrain Plus/Star Products/Champion Auto Wrecker/Kendal Sporting/Quik Start Auto Suzuki Swift GTi)
24 Edward Corbin/Rodney Clarke (M6 Rezults Autoshop/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage
Daihatsu Charmant)
25 Neil Barnard/Barry Hill (P2 Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Ignis Sport)
26 David Brewster/Rashid Phillips (M7 SRG Engineering/Castrol/E W Wood Classic Ltd Peugeot 205GTi)