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The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Driver’s Champion of 2009, Geoff Noel, and returnee to the sport Jason Cozier are the joint leaders of this year’s BRC Driver’s Championship after two rounds . . . but there is a long way to go in what promises to be one of the most competitive seasons in recent history.
At the wheel of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in which he also won the Group N title in 2008 & 09, Noel beat new competition in both directions of the technical Ellesmere stage at the Motoring Club of Barbados Inc’s recent double-header (March 13); in each case, his last-run time was the best. Both Mark Hamilton (Evo IX) and Andrew Mallalieu (Subaru Impreza N10) are rally veterans, but the former is re-learning four-wheel-drive – quickly, it seems, as he beat Noel on one run in each direction - while the latter’s last rally was more than a decade ago.
Cozier, most recently remembered as Sean Dowding’s co-driver, admitted he was “still trying to find the groove back” after a seven or eight-year lay-off from competitive driving. His Peugeot 205 was one of five entries in Modified 6 – the day’s most popular class – which also included the last two M6 Champions, Jamal Brathwaite (Mitsubishi Mirage) and Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant). Both were faster than Cozier at some point but, like Noel, it was full commitment on his final runs which did the job.
A major rethink of the BRC’s Championship for 2011 has created a clearer structure: as last year, the Driver’s Champion will still be the Class Champion who has scored the most points against his peers, but there are new four-wheel-drive (4wd) and two-wheel-drive (2wd) Championships. These are based on overall results, each drive-train scoring points only against the others in its own category.
Joint leaders of the new 4wd Championship are Ellesmere first-run winner Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC) and Sean Gill, who gave his Suzuki SX4 WRC a win on its home debut, beating Hill on the second run; they also share the lead in Modified 8-WRC – as the season wears on, competition promises to get hotter.
Hill said: “I was happy to beat Sean on the first set of runs, but I was not hopeful on the return runs, being fast down-hill sections.” Gill was delighted with his day: “Every run in the car, we’re learning more, so to share the honours with Roger is a result.”
The 2wd Championship also has joint leaders, brothers Logan and Rhett Watson in the ex-Jonathan Still BMW M3, who also jointly lead SuperModified 11; third is Cozier, with the SM10 Peugeot 205 of Norman Catwell – another returning for his first full season in some years – placing fourth, ahead of Brathwaite and Corbin.
Seventh is Cliff Roett (SM10 Toyota Starlet), whose encouraging start to the season on race track and rally stage came to an end after he had won the class in the opening run; the top 10 2wd runners are completed by Kyle Catwell (M7 Volkswagen Golf GTI), Sean Field (P3 Peugeot 306) and Turks & Caicos resident Paul Horton (M6 Honda Civic), who hopes to contest the bulk of the 2011 BRC Championship.
Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet) became the first driver to benefit from a further change to the points-scoring rules, which allows competitors who are unable to compete to score two championship points if he or she volunteers to assist in an official capacity.
Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
Provisional positions after round 2:
Modified 8-WRC: 1st equal Sean Gill (Simpson Motors/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art/Chefette Suzuki SX4 WRC) & Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 24 points
Modified 8-A: 1st Avinash Chatrani (Electric Avenue/EA Mobile/Hankook/Solder Seal Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 22pts
Production 4: 1st Geoffrey Noel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 30pts; 2nd Mark Hamilton (First Caribbean International Bank/Consumer Guarantee Insurance/PowerMaster/Simpson Motors/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 26pts; 3rd Andrew Mallalieu (Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza N10), 22pts
SuperModified 11: 1st equal Logan Watson (The Unknown Entity BMW M3) & Rhett Watson (The Unknown Entity BMW M3), 28pts; 3rd Calvin Briggs (Big Gases Ltd/Ultra Lubricants Ford Escort MkII), 22pts
SM10: 1st Norman Catwell (Chicken Pen Racing/Cutters of Barbados Peugeot 205), 26pts; 2nd Ian Warren (Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift Gti), 22pts; 3rd Cliff Roett (Carters & Co/Paulo’s Churasco do Brasil/Nassco/Roett’s Garage Toyota Starlet), 15pts
M7: 1st Kyle Catwell (Carib Beer/Freekz Customz/Ellesmere Quarries/Cutters Of Barbados Volkswagen Golf GTI), 26pts; 2nd John Corbin (Toyota Corolla), 24pts; 3rd
Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco/VP Fuels Toyota Corolla RunX), 13pts
M6 & M5 merged: 1st Jason Cozier (Peugeot 205), 30pts; 2nd equal Jamal Brathwaite (FG Wilson Generators/AM Electrical Solutions/Carib Beer/Meridian Windows and Doors/Chicken Pen Racing/AutoPlus Motors Inc/D2 Suspension/Valvoline Lubricants/Ellesmere Quarries Ltd Mitsubishi Mirage RS) & Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant), 24pts; etc
BRC 4wd Championship
1st equal Gill & Hill, 28pts
3rd Noel, 22pts
4th Hamilton, 20pts
5th Mallalieu, 18pts
6th Chatrani, 16pts
BRC 2wd Championship
1st R Watson, 25pts
2nd L Watson, 23pts
3rd Cozier, 21pts
4th N Catwell, 19pts
5th Brathwaite, 16pts
6th equal E Corbin & Roett, 15pts
8th equal K Catwell and Sean Field (P3 Field Insurance Brokers/Castrol Oil/Ackee Tree/AM Realty Services/Landscapes in Harmony Peugeot 306), 11pts
10th Paul Horton (M6 Sky Rally Sport/H Racing/Java Island Honda Civic), 7pts
etc
For further information:
e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
