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Two new names were added to the Roll of Honour of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) longest-running event at the weekend (June 25/26) when Michael Ward and Warrick Eastmond won the Sol June Safari. After a hard-fought overnight contest through all 11 of the island’s parishes, Ward and Eastmond (Regional Fire and Security Suzuki Jimny) prevailed by just 82 penalty points, the lowest margin of victory since 2011.
Winning driver Ward said: “This is one thing that I can now cross off my bucket list, as I have always hoped to win a June - to be among the big boys is definitely something to treasure.” And his words rang true, as the crews that finished second and third had claimed a total of 20 victories in ‘The June’ between them, while Ward and Eastmond’s success at the weekend brings the number of winners to 71.
The winners finished with a total of 1432 penalties, with Chris Armstrong and six-time winner Wayne Clarke (Toyota Hilux) second on 1514, just 20 ahead of Leslie Alleyne – his seven victories are currently the record - and Chris O’Neal (Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max).
Ward added: “Warrick is a good navigator and has the demeanour to keep me calm - not an easy job sometimes! From the start at Kendal, it was difficult getting into the groove and we made some rookie mistakes, but we corrected that and set out to do our best. We dropped a bit on route two, not sure what caused this, as we felt that we were on route and time. Route three was all BRC navigation – fantastic, we really enjoyed that, although we slipped back again on route four, maybe we were a bit tired.
“The event was really well set – well done to route-setters Phillip McConney, Biddy Barber and Ricky Holder and a special acknowledgement to the marshals who stayed out through the night to make the event such a success.”
Ward and Eastmond won the first of the four routes, from Kendal Plantation to Colleton Plantation, with Ben Norris and Kirk Watkins second in the Birdies Restaurant Ford Ranger, ahead of Ryan Corbin and Dustin Edwards in the Corbin’s Catering Services Ltd Toyota Hilux. Victory on route two, which led the crews towards the Dinner Halt at Shell Warrens, briefly gave Armstrong and Clarke the lead, by just five penalty points; Wayne Manning and Willie Hinds (Courtesy Garage/Windforce Tyres/Black Bess Group ZNA Rich) finished second, just three points adrift of the winners, with Alleyne and O’Neal third.
As the crews worked their way towards Sol Speightstown, St Peter, where the third break came at around 4.00am, Nicholas Lorde and Brett Barber were the route winners in the Konstruk Caribbean Inc/Comfeet/Sam Lorde’s Enterprises Mitsubishi L200 Sportero, ahead of Ward/Eastmond and Norris/Watkins. Twice a winner of The June, Derek Gill won the fourth route, which ran in to the finish at the Vaucluse Raceway, with Andrew Croney his navigator in the Insurance Brokers & Solutions Inc Mitsubishi Pajero; Corbin/Edwards and Alleyne/O’Neal were second and third.
MudDogs Chairman Ricky Holder said: “Congratulations to Mike and Warrick. I am happy to see a different team as the winners, as it shows that Leslie and Chris are not unbeatable, so that shows that there is hope for the others. I must thank our sponsor Sol for its continued support, the competitors for their determination and particularly our marshals for their ongoing commitment, especially on this event, where they had to be awake for the entire night.”
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship – round 2 Sol June Safari, June 25/26
1st Michael Ward/Warrick Eastmond (Regional Fire and Security Suzuki Jimny), 1432 penalties 2nd Chris Armstrong/Wayne Clarke (Toyota Hilux), 1514pens 3rd Leslie Alleyne/Chris O’Neal (Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max), 1534pens 4th Ryan Corbin/Dustin Edwards (Corbin’s Catering Services Ltd Toyota Hilux), 1881pens 5th Derek Gill/Andrew Croney (Insurance Brokers & Solutions Inc Mitsubishi Pajero), 1938pens 6th Ben Norris/Kirk Watkins (Birdies Restaurant Ford Ranger), 2112pens 7th Wayne Manning/Willie Hinds (Courtesy Garage/Windforce Tyres/Black Bess Group ZNA Rich), 2315pens 8th George Mendes/Garry Mendes (G & G Sales & Services Inc Mitsubishi L200 Sportero), 2371pens 9th Nicholas Lorde/Brett Barber (Konstruk Caribbean Inc/Comfeet/Sam Lorde’s Enterprises Mitsubishi L200 Sportero), 2831pens 10th Richard Hinkson/Kevin-Jon Manning (Goodyear Tyres Suzuki Samurai), 2987pens etc
Route 1 – 1st Ward/Eastmond, 356pens; 2nd Norris/Watkins, 468pens; 3rd Corbin/Dustin Edwards, 559pens; 4th Armstrong/Clarke, 593pens; 5th Gill/Croney, 638pens; etc Route 2 – 1st Armstrong/Clarke, 398pens; 2nd W Manning/Hinds, 401pens; 3rd Alleyne/O’Neal, 480pens; 4th Ward/Eastmond, 640pens; 5th Mendes/Mendes, 780pens; etc Route 3 – 1st Lorde/Barber, 28pens; 2nd Ward/Eastmond, 50pens; 3rd Norris/Watkins, 58pens; 4th Corbin/Dustin Edwards, 75pens; 5th Mendes/Mendes, 83pens; etc Route 4 – 1st Gill/Croney, 267pens; 2nd Corbin/Dustin Edwards, 282pens; 3rd Alleyne/O’Neal, 295pens; 4th Lorde/Barber, 331pens; 5th T Manning/Derek Edwards, 349pens; etc
Chefette MudDogs Safari Novice Championship – round 2 1st Hinkson/K-J Manning, 2987pens – 10th overall
Route 1 – 1st Hinkson/K-J Manning, 1298pens – 12th o/a Route 2 – 1st Hinkson/K-J Manning, 1011pens – 7th o/a Route 3 – 1st Hinkson/K-J Manning, 294pens – 13th o/a Route 4 – 1st Hinkson/K-J Manning, 384pens – 7th o/a
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship & Chefette MudDogs Safari Novice Championship Round 3 - September 18 - Chefette September Safari Round 4 - November 13 - Nassco November Safari
