Maloney, Yearwood win First Citizens King of the Hill

Stuart Maloney and Kristian Yearwood in their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 won First Citizens King of the Hill (KotH) on Sunday (May 25), the final shakedown before next weekend’s BCIC Rally Barbados (May 30-June 1). While it was their first KotH victory, Roger Mayers and Barry Ward (Toyota WR Starlet) were the top 2wd crew for the fourth consecutive year, extending the driver’s record total of wins to seven.
  Already the only competitor to have won Rally Barbados as a driver (last year) and co-driver (with the late Paul Bourne in 2007), Maloney can now claim the same record for KotH, having won twice with Bourne in 2008 and 2010. And it is the second time that KotH has been won by a Maloney/Yearwood pairing, after Stuart’s nephew Zane became the youngest winner in 2022, with Yearwood’s brother Kreigg the co-driver.
  A record-breaking entry of 121 cars and the event’s return to St Thomas for a four-kilometre stage from Content to Hangman’s Hill brought island fans out in their thousands. Huge numbers gathered around the iconic ‘Vaucluse 90’, where a large covered stand also housed The Rally Experience, and the 90-degree left-hand turn did not disappoint, BMW drivers Ahmed Esuf and Britain’s Tom Stockdale among those thrilling fans with some flamboyant 360-degree spins.
  Maloney (2m 39.20s) set the pace on the first run, 2.16secs ahead of Jamaica’s Kyle Gregg (Ford Fiesta Rally2), with just 3secs covering the next five cars. Britain’s Rob Swann and Maloney’s brother Mark were third and fourth in their Skodas, with four-time KotH winner Jamaica’s Jeff Panton and reigning Rally2 Champion Josh Read sandwiching WRC class-leader Britain’s Kevin Procter (Fiesta S2000T) in their new Fiesta Rally2s.
  The top 10 was completed by last year’s winner Dane Skeete (Subaru Impreza WRC S12), an impressive David Husbands, new to the Rally2 Championship this year in his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, and double European Rally Champion Simon Jean-Joseph, whose growling Porsche 911 GT3 Cup was already proving to be a fan favourite.
  Despite an error on the second run – he was only ninth fastest – Maloney retained the lead. Panton was now second, but still 1.9secs adrift, with a new WRC class leader third, Procter’s nephew Joe Cunningham (Fiesta WRC), just a tenth off Panton’s time and five-hundredths quicker than Skeete in fourth. Gregg and Swann had slipped to fifth and sixth, while two more of the 21 starters in the FIA R5 class, Adam Mallalieu (Fiesta) and Suleman Esuf (Fabia) were now in the top 10, Husbands having dropped down after clouting the scenery at the Dukes crossroads.
  After a poor second run, Gregg clocked 2:37.43 on run three to assume the lead, 1.4secs faster than Maloney’s first-run time, with Skeete also faster, three-tenths adrift in second place and the third different WRC class leader. Panton and Maloney were both within a second of Skeete, with Mallalieu now fifth ahead of Cunningham, while Esuf, who did some grass-cutting on the exit of the 90 on the third run, was replaced in the top 10 by Read, who had executed the same maneouvre on run two.
  With cars running in reverse order of seeding, the result came down to the last few of more than 430 runs that had kept the crowd on their feet for more than six hours. The last car to run, Maloney slashed another 2.6secs off his time to end on 2:35.92, beating Skeete (2:36.84), who had also improved, with Gregg third from his run three time. Mallalieu also bettered his time to finish fourth, three-hundredths off Gregg, with the R5 cars of Panton, Mark Maloney, Esuf and Swann filling the next six places. Cunningham slipped to ninth after an overshoot and spin at the Vaucluse Raceway’s southern hairpin, to finish just ahead of Procter, competing for the 18th time.
  Winner Maloney said: “I would've been annoyed if I pushed and wasn't on the pace. I made a mistake in run two, three others beat me in run three, so I put my best effort in for run four, still within control, to be King of the Hill.”
  Skeete was also happy with the result: “The car ran flawlessly today. We wanted to shake the car down, so we were still tinkering a bit with the setup after we made some component changes. I've had the best luck being number 1 on the road before and would've preferred to win, but I'm happy with where we are.”
  Mindful of last year, when he rolled out of contention on the second run Gregg said: “I'm definitely feeling good with the pace. I didn't push too much in the last run as we wanted to bring it home. Overall, I'm happy with a top three and a decent position on the road. And we are in a much better shape than we were in this time last year.”
  With Jean-Joseph’s Porsche running in the Open Class and therefore not eligible for overall honours, the battle for top 2wd was fought out among the usual suspects. The Rally Club’s reigning 2wd Champion Rhett Watson (BMW M3) was fastest on the first run, six-tenths ahead of Mayers, with Nigel Reece third in his Starlet. Mayers improved by more than 5secs to move ahead on run two, with his brother Barry now second having missed the first run with a fly-by-wire failure in his Fiesta, and Watson third, exactly 1sec covering the three.
  Although Roger improved further on run three, it was Barry who now led with a time of 2:45.02, 1.6secs ahead of his brother, with Watson (2:48.42) and Reece (2:28.90) third and fourth. The top three all went faster on their final run, finishing in the same order, but Watson found more time that the rest, Barry finishing four-tenths behind Roger, with Watson now within a second.
  While happy with the win, Mayers said: “I had an issue with the car idling before the event so I had to resort to an old setup. I had to take some risks in the last run to make up some time as I didn't have a real buffer like I'm accustomed to. So we will do some work in the week to get this right for the weekend to come.”
  The day’s closest margin of victory came in Modified 3, where Wayne Archer won the battle of the BMWs with Jonathan Still by 16 hundredths of a second, with a fine drive from British newcomer Matt Cusens netting him class third another 1sec behind. Also BMW-mounted, Kevin Armstrong maintained his share of the BRC Championship lead with Stuart Maloney with an all-out final run effort to beat Ryan Wood in Clubman 3 by just 0.86secs.
  Kurt Thompson beat brother Mark’s identical Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX to the Modified 4 class win by 1.86secs, splitting the Mayers brothers to finish 15th overall. There were notable performances from Welshman Rupert Lomax (Evo VI), back after a decade, who finished third, and Scottish first-timer Lee Hastings (Impreza) who finished fifth.
  While Chris Hoad beat Allan Kinch in C2 by the unusually large margin of 2.29secs, the next six BimmaCup cars were covered by less than 3secs, then Savio Walcott and Luke Cozier recorded identical times, Walcott earning ninth place having set the time first.
  Alone in the Group N and Historic 2 classes respectively, Ireland’s Larry Doyle (Evo VII) and Scotsman Robin Hamilton (Escort MkI) collected winner’s trophies, while Doyle’s son Aaron (Honda Civic) finished second in C1; first-time English visitor Dan Gibson (Clan Crusader) beat Ireland’s Mick Smith, back with his Sunbeam Imp, in H1.
  While Jean-Joseph claimed Open Class honours and 12th overall, Martin Stockdale and son Tom battled over second place all day in their BMWs, youth eventually prevailing. And there was a great battle for second place in M1 behind local winner Carlos Edwards (Citroen C2R2 MAX) between the Peugeots of Scotland’s Euan Mackay and Richard Stewart, the former less than 1sec ahead at the finish.

BCIC Rally Barbados (May 30-June 1) is a tarmac rally with 22 special stages run on the island’s intricate network of public roads, under road closure orders granted by the Ministry of Transport, Works & Water Resources; First Citizens King of the Hill (May 25), run under a similar arrangement, features four timed runs on a four-kilometre stage, with the results used to seed the running order for the main event.

For media information only. No regulatory value.

For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
www.rallybarbados.net; www.barbadosrallyclub.com
Facebook/BarbadosRallyClub; instagram/@barbadosrallyclub

BCIC-RB25-26a: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 26, 2025

FIRST CITIZENS KING OF THE HILL
Results

Countries (Barbados unless shown): CDN – Canada; ENG – England; FRA – France; IRL – Republic of Ireland; JAM – Jamaica; SCO – Scotland; T&T – Trinidad & Tobago; WAL – Wales

1st Stuart Maloney/Kristian Yearwood (FIA R5 Imagine/M-Jet/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), 2m 35.92s
2nd Dane Skeete/Tyler Mayhew (WRC Automotive Art/C O Williams Sand & Lime/Sol Subaru Impreza WRC S12), + 00.92s
3rd Kyle Gregg – JAM/Kreigg Yearwood (FIA R5 York Investments/BD Gregg/Elevated Home Decor Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 01.51s
4th Adam Mallalieu/Steve McNulty - ENG (FIA R5 Terra Caribbean Ford Fiesta R5), + 01.54s
5th Jeffrey Panton – JAM/Michael Fennell Jnr – JAM (FIA R5 KIG/Ford/Sandals/Two Stacks Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 02.39s
6th Mark Maloney/Justin Maloney (FIA R5 Imagine/M-Jet/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 03.09s
7th Suleman Esuf/Asif Suleman (FIA R5 Express Motors/Munch Hut/Y Esuf Auto Clinic Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 03.24s
8th Rob Swann – ENG/Tom Woodburn - ENG (FIA R5 GO Car Rental/Cygnet Plant/R A Swann Ltd Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 04.18s
9th Joe Cunningham – ENG/Josh Beer - ENG (WRC Procters Coach and Bus Sales/TS UK Ltd Ford Fiesta WRC), + 04.70s
10th Kevin Procter – ENG/Leslie Wray - ENG (WRC Procters Coach and Bus Sales/TS UK Ltd/Swift Signs and Shirts Ford Fiesta S2000T), + 05.50s
etc

WRC: 1st Skeete, 2m 36.84s; 2nd Cunningham - ENG, + 03.78s; 3rd Procter - ENG, + 04.58s; etc
FIA R5: 1st S Maloney; 2nd Gregg – JAM; 3rd Mallalieu; etc
Modified 4: 1st Kurt Thompson/Adam Straker (Glassesco/Bio Beauty Day Spa/NKM Clothing/Realtors Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 2m 43.25s – 15th overall; 2nd Mark Thompson/Ron Greaves (Glassesco/Bio Beauty Day Spa/NKM Clothing/Realtors Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), + 01.86s; 3rd Rupert Lomax - WAL/Andy Darlington – WAL (AJC Contractors/Dig-it Plant Hire/AMS Mitsubishi/SMS Rally Services/Southern Palms Beach Club/Ellesmere Quarries/Proflex/Chicken Pen Racing/Bod Storage/Conwy Motorsport Engineering Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), + 06.26s; etc
Group N: 1st Larry Doyle – IRL/Tommy Doyle - IRL (Roto Spiral Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII), 3m 05.25s – 64th o/a
SuperModified 2: 1st Roger Mayers/Barry Ward (Chefette/Frosteez/Kooyman/Sign Depot/Hankook/BSC-Essex Freight Toyota WR Starlet), 2m 43.04s – 14th o/a; 2nd Barry Mayers/Josh Mayers (Chefette/Frosteez/Kooyman/Sign Depot/Hankook/BSC-Essex Freight Ford Fiesta), + 00.40s; 3rd Rhett Watson/Andrew Croney (Chefette/Frosteez/Cargo BGI/Gliptone/Sthil/Hankook/Motul Racing Oils/Bajan Pure Water BMW M3), + 01.29s; etc
SM1: 1st Edward Corbin/Johnathan Alleyne (Valvoline/Pro-Sales/Bearded Hogs BBQ/Hilti/Bajan Pure Daihatsu Charmant), 2m 54.13s – 36th o/a; 2nd Roger Jordan/Che Vaughan (Lucas Oils/Shipsurebb Toyota Starlet), + 09.79s; 3rd Darren Lashley/Jason Harewood (Prestigious Wheels/DKK Industrial Supplies/Hi-Speed Performance/AEC Motorsport Connections/Starboy Performance/Prime Garage 246 Toyota Starlet), + 12.41s; etc
M3: 1st Wayne Archer/Castara Waterman (F) (Archers Hall Design Center/Total Sourcing & Supply/Arrow Woodworking/Arrow Construction BMW), 2m 57.09s – 41st o/a; 2nd Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell (New York Pizza/Suga Apple Swimwear/Inogro/Bajan Pure/Quality Tyre/Weddings by Malissa BMW M3), + 00.16s; 3rd Matt Cusens - ENG/Stephen Bell (CM Customs/JDM Garage/SWE Electrics/CEF/Logs n Coal/Zamans Restaurant Newquay/Watergate Bay/Colourworx/Hutton Hire/Autoworx/CDA BMW M3), + 01.24s; etc
M2: 1st Neil Corbin/Matthew Staffner (Nassco/Stamina Energy/ColourXL/Auto Solutions/Pressout Performance Toyota GT86 CS-R3), 2m 51.06s – 31st o/a; 2nd Chris Ullyett/Chantal Ullyett (F) - CDN (Proj-Rx/Canadian Life Sciences and Technology Park/Purelinc Clean Rooms/Radcomm Systems/Ullyett's Machine Shop Ford Escort Cosworth RS2000), + 06.97s; 3rd Sean Corbin/Emily Kinch (F) (Super S/Carters Pitstop/FOXIN/Bajan Pure Water/First Step Security/Westlake/GuavaTech/Gunk/Fabblast Barbados/M&M Tuning BMW 318ti Compact), + 08.96s; etc
M1: 1st Carlos Edwards/Jacob Richards (Enermax/Milwaukee/Meukow Cognac/Barrel House/Sign Depot Citroen C2R2 MAX), 3m 04.25s – 60th o/a; 2nd Euan Mackay – SCO/Stuart McLaren - SCO (Macbeth Joinery/Viking Offshore/Gunn Mechanical Services/TG Motorphoto/Highland Environmental Solutions/EAL Electrical/Inglis Mechanical Services/Southern Surf Beach Apartments Peugeot 106 Rallye), + 04.90s; 3rd Richard Stewart – SCO/Carin Tait-Logan (F) - SCO (Autoshop.co.uk Peugeot 208 Rally4), + 05.86s; etc
Historic 2: 1st Robin Hamilton – SCO/Vanessa Hamilton (F)– SCO (Gleaner Oil & Gas Ford Escort MkI), 3m 14.51s – 91st o/a
H1: 1st Dan Gibson - ENG/Dan Morefield - ENG (Blowing House Garage/Demon Tweeks Clan Crusader), 3m 34.89s – 112th o/a; 2nd Mick Smith – IRL/Charlotte Mcglashan (F) - ENG (Rentokil/Barbados Rum Cakes Sunbeam Imp), + 06.83s
Clubman 3: 1st Kevin Armstrong/Kareem Gaskin (DS Vroom/Armstrong Auto BMW 325i), 3m 04.25s – 61st o/a; 2nd Robert Ryan Wood/Tristan Mapp (Carters Pitstop/Blue Waters/Caribbean LED Lighting/Hilti/Westlake/Sitemasters/C & A Autobody Repairs/Perkins & Son BimmaCup Too), + 00.86s; 3rd Kamal Quimby/Alex Barrow (Fusionz Auto World/Wilkinson Equipment & Rentals/Mally's Trucking/M&M Engineering Services/Soldierman Trucking & Wrecker Services Trucking BMW), + 15.40s; etc
C2: 1st Chris Hoad/Allan Alkins – T&T (Subway/Dasani water/ANSA Merchant Bank/LubeX - Smart Choice/Westlake/GuavaTech/E-travel Services/Color XL BimmaCup), 3m 05.68s – 65th o/a; 2nd Allan Kinch/Kyle Proverbs (Savvy on the Bay/Yorkshire Agricultural/Tranquility Cruises/GuavaTech/ColourXL BimmaCup), + 02.29s; 3rd David-Anthony Balgobin/Elijah Marshall (DKK Industrial Supplies/Da-Shem-Rae BimmaCup), + 02.40s; etc
C1: 1st Kyle Gill/Gerard Gill (Expressionism/Executive Auto Centre/Adhoc Industries/Chicken Stop Mitsubishi Mirage RS Clone), 3m 15.25s – 96th o/a; 2nd Aaron Doyle – IRL/Tommy Brennan – IRL (Roto Spiral Ltd Honda Civic), + 08.55s; 3rd Shawn Brathwaite/Johnathan King (C1 Executive Air Ltd/Homeomart Barbados Toyota Corolla), + 18.69s
Open Class: 1st Simon Jean-Joseph – FRA/Patrick Pivato – FRA (Valvoline Porsche 911 GT3 Cup), 2m 42.54s – 12th o/a; 2nd Tom Stockdale – ENG/Neil Chambers – ENG (Canems Engine Management/Sherwood Construction Services/Drive-A-Matic BMW Compact 3V6), + 12.48s; 3rd Martin Stockdale – ENG/Michael Chandler – ENG (Divi Southwinds Beach Resort/Drive-A-Matic/Canems Engine Management BMW 1M Coupe), + 20.02s

For media information only. No regulatory value.