MUDDOGS SEASON SETTLED AT NASSCO SAFARI

Tie-break titles for Driver Alleyne & Navigator Croney

Leslie Alleyne has won a record sixth consecutive Drivers crown in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship, which was settled at the Nassco November Safari last Sunday (November 11). Andrew Croney is the Champion Navigator for the second time, having won the title as a Novice in 2006, while the Club’s tie-break rules were needed to resolve both titles after a hotly-contested season in which established driver-navigator partnerships were broken up on more than one occasion.

Alleyne’s Navigator during his recent run of success in the Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max has been Chris O'Neal, who was unavailable last weekend, which resulted in a one-off partnership with Wayne Clarke, whose regular Driver Chris Armstrong was also absent. Alleyne and Clarke shared nine Championship titles between them before the weekend – now 10, including’s Alleyne’s latest – and added a victory in Sunday’s event to their impressive list of achievements.

At the Prizegiving on Tuesday night (November 13), Nassco’s Thomas Hill presented the trophies, along with a number of Toyota giveaways, including caps, cooler bags, pens and umbrellas. Looking back on the Safari, Alleyne said: “We had an enjoyable day. The event was very well set and the first route was certainly the more tricky, while torrents of rain made conditions for both competitors and marshals very challenging. I had a suspicion that we had done well in route one, but we had difficulty in two spots in route two, more than 20 minutes late each time. I think our combined experience and, once again, a flawlessly-working vehicle helped us recover without losing too much ground. It shows how important it is to remain focused right to the very end. Both Chris’s were missed this weekend and we look forward to them being back in 2019!”

In his first full season competing in the unusual Honda Pioneer last year, Croney and Driver Jean-Marc Cozier missed winning the Championship by just two points, despite winning two rounds and finishing second in two more. They started 2018 with victory in March, but finished ninth in April; when Cozier was unavailable in June, Ben Moore drove the Honda to third place, Croney and Cozier then joining forces to set the September Safari; setting an event earns a points score equal to the crew’s best result of the year. Croney finished second on Sunday, less than 100 penalties shy of the winners, along with Chris Armstrong’s son David in a Shelbury Construction-supported Toyota Hilux.

The tie-break rules were required as Alleyne and Croney each ended the season level on points, once the lowest scores had been dropped, respectively with Driver Ryan Corbin and Navigator Dustin Edwards (Corbins Catering Services/Mahogany Ridge Toyota Hilux), Champions in 2010 before they switched seats. Tie-breaks are resolved by calculating the average difference in penalties on events which both crews contested: Alleyne’s average margin over Corbin was a little over 1,000 points, while Croney was ahead of Edwards by just over 500 points.

There was some consolation for Cozier, too. Despite starting only two events this year, he claimed a 100 percent win rate in the five Driver Challenges across the March and April Safaris, building up a sufficient lead to win the Shelbury Construction Trophy. Stephen Mayers and Chris Armstrong finished second and third at year-end, while Dave Lowe won the sole Driver Challenge in last Sunday’s event.

While Class B attracted a growing following, with 24 participants during the year, the requirement to complete a minimum of four events was fulfilled by only two regular crews: Damien Johnson and Justin Lynch (Dre Tuned Toyota Hilux) were Champion Driver and Navigator respectively, beating Richard Hinkson and Kevin-Jon Manning (Windforce Tyres Suzuki Samurai). In the absence of both those crews on Sunday, Class B was won by John Pinto and Adam Hunte who finished sixth overall in the Structural Systems/Amsoil GMC Sonoma.

Sunday’s final Safari of the season was set by Willie Hinds and Wayne Manning, who have finished third and fifth respectively in year-end Driver and Navigator standings. The route led crews from an early start at Edgecumbe Plantation in St Philip via the Lunch Halt at Chefette Charles Rowe Bridge, St George, to the Finish at the Country View Bar & Grill, Market Hill in the same parish, where Tuesday’s Prizegiving was also held.

MudDogs Chairman Ricky Holder said: “I would like to thank Nassco Ltd, our Sponsor for this final event, as well as all of our sponsors throughout the year. I am pleased that we had some newcomers on Sunday, but the level of navigation set by the route setters for the deciding round was not really for first-timers, so I do applaud them for making the effort. Our average this year was about 15 competitors per event and I am hoping that this will continue to grow next year. As usual, I had a lot of fun marshalling and wish to thank all of the marshals and challenge co-ordinators for the valuable time that they give. Also to the route setters, especially Warrick Eastmond for introducing some new forms of navigation to make the sport more interesting.”

Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship - round 5

Nassco November Safari, November 11

1st Leslie Alleyne/Wayne Clarke (Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max), 1292 penalties
2nd David Armstrong/Andrew Croney (Shelbury Construction Toyota Hilux), 1383pens
3rd Ryan Corbin/Dustin Edwards (Corbins Catering Services/Mahogany Ridge Toyota Hilux), 1525pens
4th Stephen Mayers/David Reece (Toyota Hilux), 1714pens
5th Christopher King/Warrick Eastmond (Nissan Frontier), 2208pens
6th John Pinto/Adam Hunte (Structural Systems/Amsoil GMC Sonoma), 3325pens
7th Kai Prescod/Kristina Pinto (Ford Ranger), 4669pens
8th Dave Lowe/Vaughndeen Harper (Suzuki Vitara), 8750pens
9th Zeko Springer/Kerry Renne (Suzuki Vitara), 8770pens
10th Kemar Walcott/Marlon Lavia (Suzuki Vitara), 10,136pens
etc

Route 1: 1st Alleyne/Clarke, 824pens; 2nd Armstrong/Croney, 959pens; 3rd Corbin/Edwards, 1243pens; 4th Mayers/Reece, 1250pens; 5th King/Eastmond, 1688pens; etc
Route 2: 1st Corbin/Edwards, 282pens; 2nd Armstrong/Croney, 424pens; 3rd Mayers/Reece, 464pens; 4th Alleyne/Clarke, 468pens; 5th King/Eastmond, 520pens; etc

Class B
1st J Pinto/Hunte, 3325pens
2nd Prescod/K Pinto, 4669pens
3rd Lowe/Harper, 8750pens
4th Springer/Renne, 8770pens
5th Walcott/Lavia, 10,136pens
Route 1: 1st J Pinto/Hunte, 2799pens; 2nd Prescod/K Pinto, 3585pens; 3rd Lowe/Harper, 5050pens; 4th Springer/Renne, 5070pens; 5th Walcott/Lavia, 5336pens
Route 2: 1st J Pinto/Hunte, 526pens; 2nd Prescod/K Pinto, 1084pens; equal 3rd Lowe/Harper & Springer/Renne, 3700pens; 5th Walcott/Lavia, 4800pens

Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship
Final Points, after round 5 (* tie-break rules applied to decide results)
Overall (Driver): 1st Alleyne, * 234 points; 2nd Corbin, * 234pts; 3rd Willie Hinds (Black Bess Group Suzuki Samurai), 212pts; 4th Chris Armstrong (Toyota Hilux), 206pts; 5th Mayers, 198pts; 6th Damien Johnson (Dre Tuned Toyota Hilux), 194pts; 7th Richard Hinkson (Windforce Tyres Suzuki Samurai), 182pts; 8th J Pinto, 178pts; 9th Yosuf Patel (Aquarius Faucets/ToolCraft/Goodyear Tyres Mitsubishi L200), 133pts
(Navigator): 1st Croney (Country View Bar/Market Hill Farms/Westside Security Services Honda Pioneer & Shelbury Construction Toyota Hilux), * 234 points; 2nd Edwards, * 234pts; 3rd Chris O'Neal (Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max), * 230pts; 4th Clarke (Toyota Hilux & Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max), * 230pts; 5th Wayne Manning (Black Bess Group Suzuki Samurai), 212pts; 6th Reece, 198pts; 7th Justin Lynch (Dre Tuned Toyota Hilux), 194pts; 8th Kevin-Jon Manning (Windforce Tyres Suzuki Samurai), 182pts; 9th Eastmond, 165pts

Class B (Driver): 1st Johnson, 236 points; 2nd Hinkson, 228pts; 3rd J Pinto, 226pts; 4th Y Patel, 171pts (Navigator): 1st Lynch, 236pts; 2nd K-J Manning, 228pts
Shelbury Construction Trophy
Final points, after round 5
1st Jean-Marc Cozier (Country View Bar/Market Hill Farms/Westside Security Services Honda Pioneer) 35 points; 2nd Mayers 26pts; 3rd C Armstrong 22pts; 4th Willie Hinds (Black Bess Construction Suzuki Samurai) 17pts; 5th Johnson 16pts; etc

For media information only. No regulatory value.

For further media information, robin@bradfax.com
Websites: www.barbadosrallyclub.com, www.muddogsbarbados.com