‘LAST CHANCE SALOON’ FOR RALLY CLUB COMPETITORS

Posted on October 30th, 2008.

Twenty-eight crews drive into the ‘last chance saloon’ this weekend (November 1 & 2) as the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Virgin Atlantic RallySport Championship reaches its conclusion with an event new to the Club’s calendar, the BRC Winter Rally; this gravel event comprises 12 stages split into three routes, one on Saturday evening and two on Sunday.
The Saturday start is slated for 6.00pm, following scrutineering in the Searles Factory Yard - four stages will be run in Searles. On Sunday, the rally will restart at 9.00am, with four stages in Guinea comprising the second route; after the lunch halt in the Searles Factory Yard at around mid-day, the final route will use the Searles stage, but running in the reverse direction to Saturday.
Paul Bourne starts at number one in the Banks/Texaco/B-Mobile/Pirelli/New-Tech Subaru Impreza WRC S9, one of nine four-wheel-drive cars on the running order; with regular co-driver Stuart Maloney out of the island defending national honour in the final round of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship at the South Dakota Circuit in Guyana, Bourne will have Mark Kinch alongside him.
Bourne has already put the BRC Rally Championship title out of reach of the opposition, but can still be caught in the battle for Modified 8-WRC in the Virgin Atlantic Championship; he has a nine-point advantage over Roger Skeete, who will have Robert Simmons on the notes as usual in the Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9.
Skeete starts at number three behind Roger Hill and Graham Gittens in the Mobil 1/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC; since acquiring the car shortly after Sol Rally Barbados, Hill has been growing more confident with each outing, and has been edging closer to the Subaru opposition – in the recent BRC Gravel Rally, he split Bourne and Skeete on three of the eight Searles stages and might have finished second, but for a disappointing showing at the ‘dexterity-style’ stages which concluded that event.
SuperModified 11 is also to be settled this weekend, as Nick Gill (Castrol Syntec/Lysol/Listerine/Vita Malt/Hennessy/McEnearney Quality Inc Mazda 3) and Jonathan Still (Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Castrol Oils BMW M3) do battle for the last time this year. Two weeks ago, Gill ended the day seven seconds ahead, but they had shared fastest stage times equally – four each on the loose, one each at the Gymnasium dexterity; there is all to play for this weekend.
In SM9, current points leader Josh Read (Automotive Art Toyota Starlet) is returning to action after failing to score in the second part of the Motoring Club of Barbados Inc’s Sailor Gully double-header last month, then missing the BRC Gravel Rally two weeks ago. His absence has allowed James Betts (Makita/All Terrain Plus/Star Products/Champion Auto Wrecker/Kendal Sporting/Quik Start Auto Opel Corsa) to reduce his lead to just 16 points, so a further good Group battle is in prospect. Betts is another with a change of co-driver, to team-mate Jeremy Gonsalves, whose own regular co-driver, BARL racer Natasha Farnum, is also in action in Guyana this weekend.
Modified 7 is looking healthier again after a low entry last time out - Ron and Giselle Layne are back in action in their SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares Inc/Pavements & Foundations Nissan Sunny, as are Freddie Gale and Kyle Proverbs in the Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco/Trident White/VP Racing Toyota Corolla RunX. Group leader Adrian Linton is yet another competing with a different co-driver – in his case, he is keeping it in the family, sister-in-law Alecia having her first outing in the Ravensden/Crane and Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/Morris Straker Construction/Subzero Vauxhall Astra GSi.
Other familiar names returning to competition include Adam Alleyne, who will co-drive for Neil Corbin in the Nassco Ltd/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet and Lindsay Farmer, who will be guiding Neil Barnard through the day in the Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Ignis Sport.
The BRC Winter Rally will finish at the BCTSA Club House with a social, during which the Club will be showing some of the European television coverage of Sol Rally Barbados 2008, which has featured on stations including Men & Motors, Motors TV and Sky Sports; all are invited.

BRC Winter Rally – November 1/2
2008 BRC Rally Championship, round six
Running order

1 Paul Bourne/Mark Kinch (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 Jason Clermont/Mario Clermont (SM11 Linda’s Disco BMW M3)
16 Adrian Linton/Alecia Linton (M7 Ravensden/Crane and Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/Morris Straker Construction/Subzero Vauxhall Astra GSi)
17 Freddie Gale/Kyle Proverbs (M7 Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco/Trident White/VP Racing Toyota Corolla RunX)
18 John Corbin/Owen Proverbs (M7 Corbins Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla)
19 Ron Layne/Giselle Layne (M7 SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares Inc/Pavements & Foundations Nissan Sunny)
20 James Betts/Jeremy Gonsalves (SM9 Makita/All Terrain Plus/Star Products/Champion Auto Wrecker/Kendal Sporting/Quik Start Auto Opel Corsa)
21 Josh Read/Mark Jordan (SM9 Automotive Art Toyota Starlet)
22 Ryan Wood/Raymond Parris (SM9 4W’s/Aqua Pur/Flyin’ Fish/Crane & Equipments Toyota Starlet)
23 Stuart White/Jason O’Neal (SM9 4W’s/Aqua Pur/Flyin’ Fish/Crane & Equipments Toyota Starlet)
24 Neil Corbin/Adam Alleyne (SM9 Nassco Ltd/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet)
25 David Williams/Dario Hoyte (SM9 Chelsea Car Rentals/CaribPak International Couriers/IBox Services/Castrol/Roxy Supermarket/Paintless Dent Removal/Dynamic Limo Services Toyota Starlet)
26 Allan Maynard/Eric Allamby (SM9 Marshal Trading/El Tigre Catamaran Cruises/Surfside Wellness Centre/Woodworks/Lubriguard Lubricants/SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares Inc/Gliptone Johnson Toyota Starlet)
27 Edward Corbin/Rodney Clarke (M6 Rezults Autoshop/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage Daihatsu Charmant)
28 Danny Williams/Reuben Nelson (M6 Sunbury House/Neptune Tours/Barbados Paragliding Association Ford Fiesta)
29 Neil Barnard/Lindsay Farmer (P2 Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Ignis Sport)