CLOSE FINISH FOR VIRGIN ATLANTIC CHAMPIONSHIP

After nine hotly-contested rounds of the 2012 Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Driver’s and Class Championships, fought out since the curtain-raiser in March, the chase for the prestigious Champion Driver title will go down to the wire at the Club’s final event of the season, the BRC Winter Gravel Rally at Black Bess on October 28.
 
With a perfect score in earlier events, Modified 7 leader Daryl Clarke (Honda Civic) was hot favourite to win the title, which is based on each driver’s class total, minus the season’s lowest score. He faltered for the first time at the BRC Autumn Gravel Sprint last month, where he shared class wins in the double-header with Edward Corbin (Toyota Corolla RunX), the first man to beat him all season.
 
Second-placed Neil Corbin (Toyota Starlet) also shared class wins, in M6 with Jamal Brathwaite (Mitsubishi Mirage RS), leaving the gap between the two at three, while Logan Watson (BMW M3) won SuperModified 11 twice to draw to within three points of Corbin and six of Clarke.
 
Before dropped scores are taken into account, Clarke has 156 points, Corbin 153, and Watson 150. All have scored in every round so far, but each has a different lowest score to drop – once these are subtracted, the order remains the same, but the gaps are cut: Clarke has 143, Corbin 142 and Watson 140. The year’s final event promises to be one to remember, as the island’s most prestigious title is contested.
 
As the season draws to a close, two variables remain important: the Overall title is based on class results, with each driver dropping the season’s worst score, while this is also the time of year when some classes are not fully-subscribed – that means fewer than three starters - resulting in a lower points haul for those competitors who do turn out. Tighten your seat belts!

Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
Provisional positions after round 9:

Modified 8-WRC: 1st Paul Bourne (Chefette/LIME/Slam 101/MQI/Banks/Castrol Ford Focus WRC07), 136pts; 2nd Sean Gill (Simpson Motors/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art/Monster Energy Drink Suzuki SX4 WRC), 108pts; 3rd Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 99 points; etc

M8-A: 1st Avinash Chatrani (Electric Avenue/Hankook/Solder Seal Gunk/Niagra Water/Sign Station Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 85pts; 2nd Graeme Finlayson (www.racedandrallied.com Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III), 37pts
Production 4: 1st Geoffrey Noel (Globe Finance/Sentry Insurance Brokers/Cargo Solutions International/Mix 96.9FM/CIAC Air Conditioners Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 133pts; 2nd Andrew Mallalieu (Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza N10), 94pts; 3rd Mark Hamilton (CIBC-FCIB/Simpson Motors/MAXI Malta/PowerMaster/Boston Seasoning/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 88pts

SuperModified 11: 1st Logan Watson (Oreo/Chips Ahoy!/Club Social/Formula1 High Performance Auto Care Products/Liquid Wrench/Sign Depot/The Unknown Entity/In support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3), 150pts; 2nd Stuart Maloney (Automotive Art/Sign Station/Valvoline Peugeot 306 Maxi), 61pts; 3rd Alex Whitehead (AM Electrical Solutions/Sign Station BMW 328i), 54pts; etc

SM10: 1st Neil Armstrong (Chefette/Lubriguard/Hankook Tyres/Nassco/Redline Fuels/ARMAG Rentals Toyota Starlet), 98pts; 2nd Ralph White (Barbados Villa Services/Island Safari/Amsoil Toyota Starlet), 71pts; 3rd Josh Read (Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook/EZone/Weetabix/SDRR/Royal Purple Toyota Starlet), 61pts; etc

SM9: 1st Carlos Edwards (Courts I-Finance/Enermax Toyota Starlet), 107pts; 2nd Allan Maynard (Marshal Trading/Roberts Manufacturing Toyota Starlet), 84pts; 3rd Roger Mayers (Chefette/Digicel/Delaware Dispensary/Illusion Graphics/Barbados Today WR Starlet), 63pts; etc

M7: 1st Daryl Clarke (Ellco Rentals/Mom's Pasta Products/MQI/Roberts Manufacturing Honda Civic), 156pts; 2nd Kyle Catwell (Chicken Pen Racing/Kumho/Valvoline/Mackeson/Ellesmere Quarries Volkswagen Golf GTI), 66pts; 3rd Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Barbados Yellow Pages/JAD Performance/Garbage Gobbler/Innovative Security Solutions Vauxhall Astra SRi), 64pts; etc

M6 & M5 merged: 1st Neil Corbin (M6 Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions/Castrol Toyota Starlet), 153pts; 2nd Jamal Brathwaite (M6 Valvoline/Mackeson/Kumho/Ellesmere Quarries/Codgi’s Customs Brokers/Chicken Pen Racing/AutoPlus Motors Mitsubishi Mirage RS), 96pts; 3rd Wayne Archer (M6 Peugeot 206), 76pts; etc

P2: 1st Fabien Clarke (Barbados Business Listings/RCR Tours/Bovell Auto Repair/Simple Trucking Suzuki Ignis Sport), 59pts

Clubman: 1st Jeremy Croney (ReMax Lifestyles/Sweet Temptations/Sign Station/Gunk Peugeot 206), 136pts; 2nd Shannon Kirton (Ullyett’s Machine Shop/Gomez & Western Services/Field Insurance Brokers/Cartique/Gatorade/Fritolay/Fingerprint Designs Datsun 120Y), 72pts; 3rd David Brewster (SRG Engineering/Castrol/Innovative Security Solutions/Gittens & Co/USG Armstrong/Ceiling & Floor Peugeot 205GTi), 11pts

BRC 4wd Championship: 1st Bourne, 130pts; 2nd Gill, 108pts; 3rd Hill, 93pts; 4th Noel, 89pts; 5th Skeete, 76pts; 6th Mallalieu & Dean Serrao (M8-WRC Sugar Ultra Lounge/Rush Restaurant Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 58pts; 8th Chatrani, 55pts; 9th Hamilton, 36pts; 10th Finlayson, 21pts

BRC 2wd Championship: 1st Watson, 118pts; 2nd Armstrong, 95pts; 3rd Clarke, 92pts; 4th N Corbin, 68pts; 5th Maloney, 50pts; 6th Mayers, 46pts; 7th Brathwaite & Ian Warren (SM10 Automotive Art/Simpson Motors/Degree Suzuki Swift), 41pts; 9th Read, 40pts; 10th Croney, 37pts; etc

For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
web site: www.barbadosrallyclub.com