EDWARDS AND CORBIN WIN ARMAG MARCH SAFARI

Dustin Edwards and Ryan Corbin started the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) new Mud Dogs season in the same way they finished the last, repeating their Nassco November Safari victory in last Saturday’s (March 6) ARMAG March Safari, opening round of the 2010 Championship.
They incurred 365 penalties in the Blockman/SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares/Crane & Equipment Toyota Hilux, to win by a margin of 33; second were 2005 Champions Barry Gale and Neil Barnard (Gale’s Agro Products/redlinefuels.com Ford Ranger) with last year’s March Safari winners, Dominic Brooker and Stephen Dear (SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares/Next Generation Electrical/Joe Brooker's Building Toyota Hilux), third, another 20 points behind.
While the recent prolonged dry spell had served to take the ‘Mud’ out of the Mud Dogs, the event was a great success. Mud Dogs Chairman Leslie Alleyne said afterwards: “It was, all in all, a perfect way to start the season. Everyone had high praise for the route setters and the competition was extremely tight . . . just what we want to see.”
The route, set by reigning Champion Navigator and Driver Robert Warren and Darrin White, was concentrated in the north and central parishes; it started from Warleigh Plantation, St Peter, and finished at Chefette, Warrens, after passing through some of the most picturesque parts of the island.
Colin Goodman and Robin Hinds took the upper hand early on, incurring 64 penalties on route one in their Suzuki Samurai; a number of problems on route two, however, including losing a lot of time to a tyre which came off its rim, left them well down the order by the end of the day. With the Championship’s revised regulations allowing competitors to drop one score from the five events, however, all is not lost for this experienced crew.
Edwards and Corbin were just 20 points behind after route one, so were well-placed to take advantage of the early leaders’ misfortune, despite placing only fifth in the evening route. Chris Armstrong and Wayne Clarke were third on both routes, losing third overall to Brooker and Dear by a mere four penalty points . . . certainly, the narrow margins between positions promise an extremely competitive season.
An impressive fourth on route one was the leading Novice crew of Ben Norris and Rhett Watson in the Pitbull Energy Drink/ACE Engineering Land Rover Discovery, who were just four points behind Armstrong and Clarke; second Novice crew at the rest halt were David Brewster and Winston Drakes in the Marks Auto Spares/Champion Auto Wrecker Service Suzuki Samurai, but they dropped out of contention on route two.
Behind them, there was a close battle for third Novice crew - Luke Gittens and Gary Mendes (LG Trading/Lunatics Inc Mitsubishi Pajero iO) were just two points ahead of Adrian Sinckler and Andre Murrell (Suzuki Samurai) at the half-way point.
Norris and Watson maintained their advantage to the finish, beating Gittens and Mendes by 238 points in the Novice class, Mendes also winning both timed driving challenges; Sinckler and Murrell, who had led the Nassco November Safari overall after route one, held on to finish third Novice crew.
In addition to awards for the top three overall and Novice crews, plus the overall route winners, Monday’s (March 8) prizegiving at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association Club House also included an award for the Top Female Competitor: of the encouraging entry of five females, Renata Roett was the winner, navigator for Edson Arthur in his Suzuki Samurai – they finished 11th overall.

ARMAG March Safari – March 6
Mud Dogs BRC Safari Championship, round 1
Results
1st Dustin Edwards/Ryan Corbin (Blockman/SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares/Crane & Equipment Toyota Hilux), 365 penalties
2nd Barry Gale/Neil Barnard (Gale’s Agro Products/redlinefuels.com Ford Ranger), 398pens
3rd Dominic Brooker/Stephen Dear (SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares/Next Generation Electrical/Joe Brooker's Building Toyota Hilux), 418pens
4th Chris Armstrong/Wayne Clarke (Suzuki Samurai), 422pens
5th Damian Brooker/Derek Edwards (SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares/Joe Brooker's Building Toyota Hilux), 526pens
6th Ben Norris/Rhett Watson (Pitbull Energy Drink/ACE Engineering Land Rover Discovery), 716pens
7th Sean Dowding/Kirk Watkins (Axis Inc Isuzu D-max), 765pens
8th Brett Barber/Warren Gollop (Mitsubishi Pajero), 868pens
9th Luke Gittens/Gary Mendes (LG Trading/Lunatics Inc Mitsubishi Pajero iO), 954pens
10th Gregory Dickenson/Peter Bradshaw (Toyota Hilux), 1053pens
etc
Route 1 - 1st Colin Goodman/Robin Hinds (Suzuki Samurai), 64pens; 2nd Edwards/Corbin, 84pens; 3rd Armstrong/Clarke, 158pens; etc
Route 2 - 1st Gale/Barnard, 170pens; 2nd Brooker/Dear, 210pens; 3rd Armstrong/Clarke, 264pens; etc

Novice Class
1st Norris/Watson
2nd Gittens/Mendes
3rd Adrian Sinckler/Andre Murrell (Suzuki Samurai), 1206pens – 13th o/a
4th Matthew Durant/Trina Griffith (Tint Black Foot Flat Land Rover Defender), 1252pens – 14th o/a
5th Anthony King/Dave Sealy (Lee’s Tyre Services/Dynamic Limousine Toyota Hilux), 1521pens – 17th o/a
6th Alexander Kellman/Dwain Clarke (Suzuki Samurai), 1554pens – 19th o/a
etc
Route 1 - 1st Norris/Watson, 162pens; 2 David Brewster/Winston Drakes (Marks Auto Spares/Champion Auto Wrecker Service Suzuki Samurai), 176pens; Gittens/Mendes, 256pens; etc
Route 2 - 1st Norris/Watson, 554pens; 2nd Gittens/Mendes, 698pens; 3rd Alexander Kellman/Dwain Clarke (Suzuki Samurai), 753pens; etc

BRC Mud Dogs Safari Championship
Remaining rounds:
Apr 17 - Chefette April Safari
May 1 - Mud Dogs May Day MudFest
Jun 26/27 - Mud Dogs June Safari
Aug 15 - Mud Dogs August MudFest
Sep 5 - Mud Dogs September Safari
Oct 17 - Mud Dogs October Safari

For further media information, robin@bradfax.com