READ LEADS BARBADOS RALLY CLUB TITLE CHASE

Dropped scores and August ‘bonus’ will play their part

As competitors enjoy the summer break before their next event at the end of the month (August 27), the battle for the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Driver’s and Class Championships is shaping up nicely. With five of eight rounds run, the top five in the Champion Driver standings are covered by just 14 points, a total which falls to nine - and includes some different names - if dropped scores are considered, while the extra points on offer in the next event will add further spice to the title fight.

  As he has done since the start of the season, when his advantage was shared briefly, SuperModified 2 class-leader Josh Read (Sprite / Stihl / Gliptone / Hankook / Weetabix / Chutney’s / Urban Kitchen / Cell Hut / Cockspur Toyota Starlet) leads the standings. Before the year’s two big events, Flow King of the Hill and Sol Rally Barbados 2016, Read had enjoyed a perfect record of class wins and, while he prevailed again at Flow KotH, he finished second in SM2 on both days of Sol RB16 to Roger Mayers.

  Read’s total of 84 points, however, still sees him seven ahead of Jamal Brathwaite (Platinum Motors Collision Repair / Valvoline / Automotive Art / Consumers Guarantee Insurance / Sunoco Fuels / JSB Motorsport / Ellesmere Quarries Honda Civic Type-R) and Neil Corbin (Nassco / Jason Jones / Auto Solutions / Emtage Electric / BG Products & Services / Valvoline Toyota Starlet), the respective leaders of Modified 2 and M1.

  Just two points behind the joint second-place drivers comes Daryl Clarke, who is also two points behind Brathwaite in M2 in the Roberts Manufacturing / Amir’s Chicken / Valvoline / MQI Collision Repair Honda Civic. Another five points adrift, in fifth place, is Mayers, who enjoyed a hugely-competitive tussle with Read in Sol RB16 at the wheel of the Chefette / Digicel / Sol / DHL / Illusion Graphics / Hankook WR Starlet.

  But that is not the whole story; both Clarke and Mayers missed the opening round of the BRC Championship in March so, when dropped scores are taken into account, they have nothing to lose . . . quite literally! Applying the dropped score rule now would move Clarke and Mayers up to first and second in the standings, ahead of Read, and promote Edward Corbin (SM1 Automotive Art / Pro Sales / KlarkOdio / Hilti Daihatsu Charmant) and Andrew Mallalieu (GpN Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza N10) into the top five, Mallalieu the only four-wheel-drive competitor in the top 10.

  In the 2wd Championship, Read leads Mayers by 14 points, with Dane Skeete (Sol / Flow / Automotive Art / Williams Trading Inc Peugeot 306 Maxi) and Neil Corbin a point apart in third and fourth places. In the 4wd standings, Roger Hill (Esso / Nassco / MotorMac / Pennzoil Toyota Corolla WRC) leads with 67 points, 11 ahead of Mallalieu, with Roger Skeete a further point behind in third place in the Sol / Flow / Automotive Art Subaru Impreza WRC S12B.

  An extra ingredient in the mix is the application of the ‘bonus’ points structure to the August event, introduced two years ago. The top three finishers in class and overall (for the 2wd and 4wd championships) earn 25, 22 and 20 points respectively, compared with the regular 20, 17 and 15, with all points-scorers benefitting, right down to 10th place (10 points, compared with eight), so there is a real incentive for drivers to turn out and chase a good result.

BRC Class Championship Positions after round 5:

WRC: 1st Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/MotorMac/Pennzoil Toyota Corolla WRC), 56 points; 2nd Roger Skeete (Sol/Flow/Automotive Art Subaru Impreza WRC S12B), 47pts Group A: 1st Avinash Chatrani (Lenovo/PowerBass/Gunk/iShop/Electric Avenue/Copocabana/Unlabeled Society Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 26pts

GpN: 1st Andrew Mallalieu (Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza N10), 66pts; 2nd Mark Thompson (Rock Hard Cement/Stag Beer/Automotive Art/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty Day Spa/Valvoline/Slam 101.1FM/Versatile Construction/Glassesco Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 65pts; 3rd David Coelho – TRI (Zanzibar/Kaizan Sushi/VP Fuels/Total Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 60pts SuperModified 3: 1st David St Hill (Solar Wind & Energy Solutions/Liqui Moly/Bimmer Specialist BMW M3), 58pts; 2nd Rhett Watson (Chefette/Carter’s Pitstop/Stihl/Gliptone/GUNK/The Unknown Entity in support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3), 52pts; 3rd Mark Kinch (Jolly Roger/Boom Energy Drink/Pirate’s Cove/Cran Plus Water BMW M3), 47pts; etc

SM2: 1st Josh Read (Sprite/Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook/Weetabix/Chutney’s/Urban Kitchen/Cell Hut/Cockspur Toyota Starlet), 84pts; 2nd Roger Mayers (Chefette/Digicel/Sol/DHL/Illusion Graphics/Hankook WR Starlet), 70pts; 3rd Dane Skeete (Sol/Flow/Automotive Art/Williams Trading Inc Peugeot 306 Maxi), 68pts; etc

SM1: 1st Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Pro Sales/KlarkOdio/Hilti Daihatsu Charmant), 68pts; 2nd Shareef Walcott (Melwani’s/Novus Tech/Castrol/Caribbean Pleasures/Mianect Toyota Corolla), 45pts; 3rd Jeremy Gonsalves (Sign Depot/Makita/Star Products/Valvoline/Yamaha/John Hardman Engineering Opel Corsa), 30pts; etc Modified 2: 1st Jamal Brathwaite (Platinum Motors Collision Repair/Valvoline/Automotive Art/Consumers Guarantee Insurance/JSB Motorsport/Ellesmere Quarries Honda Civic Type-R), 77pts; 2nd Daryl Clarke (Roberts Manufacturing/Amir’s Chicken/Valvoline/MQI Collision Repair Honda Civic), 75pts; 3rd Paul Horton - TCI (M2 Java Island/H Racing/Sky Motorsports Ford Escort MkI), 47pts; etc

M1: 1st Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions/Emtage Electric/BG Products & Services/Valvoline Toyota Starlet), 77pts; 2nd Wayne Archer (Archers Hall Design Centre/RW Water Peugeot 206), 67pts Historic 2: 1st John Corbin (Automotive Art/Pro Sales/KlarkOdio/Hilti Toyota Corolla), 67pts Clubman 2: 1st Paul Inniss (Durex Barbados/Caribbean Villa Chefs/Hugh Auto Body/Drive-A-Matic Car Rentals/Sun General Insurance/JJ Racing Team/East Point Grill/Terasu Restaurant/The Chicken Shop Inc/Rallymaxx Honda Civic), 58pts; 2nd Allan Kinch (Jolly Roger/Boom Energy Drink/Pirate’s Cove/Cran Plus Water BMW 318ti), 45pts

C1: 1st Pierre Clarke (SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares Honda Civic), 63pts; 2nd Jermin Pope (Glassesco/Good time Snacks/NKM/UFO/Niccolls & Edghill Construction/Bio Beauty Day Spa/Tile Express/Slam 101.1FM Honda Civic), 53pts; 3rd Trevor Mapp (JSB Motorsport/A S Autostop/Chicken Pen Racing/Valvoline Mitsubishi Colt Mivec RS), 52pts; etc

GpB: 1st Calvin Briggs (Lucas Oil/Massy Realty Ford Sierra), 11pts

BRC 4wd Championship: 1st Hill, 67pts; 2nd Mallalieu, 56pts; 3rd R Skeete, 55pts; 4th M Thompson, 52pts; 5th Coelho, 50pts; 6th Chatrani, 10pts BRC 2wd Championship: 1st Read, 84pts; 2nd R Mayers, 70pts; 3rd D Skeete, 53pts; 4th N Corbin, 52pts; 5th Andrew Jones (Lucozade/Caribbean Powder Coating Ford Escort MkII), 45pts; 6th Brathwaite, 41pts; 7th Watson, 37pts; 8th Clarke, 35pts; 9th Neil Armstrong (Rubis/Virgin Atlantic/GUNK/Hankook/Sugar Bay Ford Escort MkII), 32pts; 10th St Hill, 29pts; etc

(photo credit Nicholas Bhajan Photography/Caribbean Action Images)