DOWN TO THE WIRE IN RALLY CLUB TITLE CHASE

Final chance to score points in HO2 Construction Winter Rally

There’s all to play in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Driver’s and Class Championships when competitors gather for the season’s finale, the high-scoring HO2 Construction Winter Rally on Sunday, October 27. The Champion Driver, 4wd and 2wd titles are yet to be resolved, while just a handful of points separate the front-runners in SuperModified 2, Modified 3 and M2, so a day of hard-fought competition is on the cards.

As has been the case for the past two seasons, there are no dropped scores to be taken into account and the two-thirds rule no longer applies, which means drivers must be overall finishers to score points. Adding in the enhanced points structure for the final round – a class win will earn 28 points (up from the usual 20), second 23, third 20, down to 10 for 10th place – means drivers will need to be at their best.

In the Champion Driver title chase, M1 leader Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charade) has 105 points, three more than Ian Warren (BimmaCup), who leads Clubman 2, with Jamal Brathwaite (M2 Honda Civic Type-R) and Roger Hill (M4 Toyota Corolla WRC) tied in third place on 95; in the 4wd Championship, Dane Skeete (Subaru Impreza WRC S12B) leads Hill by a margin of 22 points, while fewer than 10 points cover the top four in 2wd, Logan Watson (BMW M3) the current leader.

The three closest-fought class battles include M2, where event sponsor Paul Horton, who represents the Turks & Caicos Islands in his Citroen DS 3 R3 MAX, is just three points adrift of arch-rival Brathwaite, having swapped times and positions all season; in the M3 battle of the BMW M3s, Logan Watson is two points ahead of another TCI Rally Team member, Canada’s Stan Hartling, while SM2 sees Stuart Maloney (Citroen C2) leading Roger Skeete, driving Maloney’s former Peugeot 306 Maxi, by only four points.

Slated for an 8.45am start from Hopewell Plantation in St Thomas, the HO2 Construction Winter Rally will comprise 10 stages, five each before and after a lunch break at Hopewell, which will also be the Service Park for the day. In the morning, three runs through the 4.50-kilometre HO2 Construction Dark Hole stage, running towards Spring Vale, will alternate with two downhill runs of the Java Island Lion Castle stage (4.00km). After lunch, there will be two runs from Spring Vale to Dark Hole, mixed with three through the 3.50km Java Island Apes Hill stage, which will represent a first-time challenge for many competitors.

BRC Class Championship
Positions after round 6:

WRC: 1st Dane Skeete (Sol/CO Williams Sand & Lime/Automotive Art Subaru Impreza WRC S12B), 82 points; 2nd Rob Swann - ENG (Elegant Hotels/Blue Sky Luxury/RA Swann Ltd Subaru Impreza WRC S12B), 28pts
FIA R5: 1st David Coelho – T&T (Subway Ford Fiesta R5), 78pts

Modified 4: 1st Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/Pennzoil/MaxMeyer Paints/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 95pts; 2nd Mark Thompson (Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty/Automotive Art/SLAM 101.1FM Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 75pts; 3rd Avinash Chatrani (Lenovo/PowerBass/Gunk/iShop Barbados/Genius Lynk/Axe Solutions Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 43pts; etc

SuperModified 2: 1st Stuart Maloney (Sign Station/Rock Hard Cement Citroen C2), 50pts; 2nd Roger Skeete (Sol/Automotive Art Peugeot 306 Maxi), 46pts; 3rd Rhett Watson (Chefette/Gliptone/Stihl/Leafy Organics/Gunk/Power King Batteries/Bajan Pure Water/Its Barbados BMW M3), 43pts; etc

SM1: 1st Ryan O Wood (Shonny’s Kitchen/Lucas Oil/Biz Needz Racing/MB Auto City/Bajan Bully/Axalta Paints/Island Guild/LITT Marketing & Events/Exceptional Plumbing Services Toyota Starlet), 74pts; 2nd Philip Moe (Mitasu Oils/Marks Auto Spares/Tropical Sunset Beach Hotel Toyota Corolla), 34pts; 3rd Jeremy Gonsalves (Sign Depot/Guava Tech/Valvoline/Makita/In Gear Auto/John Hardman Engineering Opel Corsa), 32pts; etc

Modified 3: 1st Logan Watson (Leafy Organics/Cargo BGI/Luxe Caribbean Properties/Stihl/It’s Barbados/Sign Depot/Bajan Pure Water BMW M3), 80pts; 2nd Stan Hartling - CDN (Bambarra Rum BMW M3/Citroen C2 R2 MAX), 78pts; 3rd Peter Thompson (Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty BMW M3 Compact), 60pts; etc

Modified 2: 1st Jamal Brathwaite (Valvoline/Automotive Art/Consumers Guarantee Insurance/Caribbean Auto Glass/TEC Barbados/Stylz Auto Spa/Chicken Pen Racing/JSB Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R), 95pts; 2nd Paul Horton - TCI (Java Island/Sky Motorsports/H Racing/Arbikie Highland Estate Citroen DS 3 R3 MAX), 92pts; 3rd Sam Hartling - CDN (The Hartling Group BMW 318ti Compact), 41pts

M1: 1st Edward Corbin (Valvoline/Hilti/Cargo BGI/Co-Operators General Insurance Daihatsu Charmant), 105pts; 2nd Pierre Beswick – TCI (Grace Bay Car Rentals/Hartling Luxury Resorts/Sky Motorsports Citroen C2 R2 MAX), 75pts; 3rd Shareef Walcott (Lil Griff’s Maintenance & Freighting Services/Melwani’s/Tint Plus/BizNeedz/Dynamic Auto Imports/MC LED Toyota Corolla), 52pts; etc

Historic 2: 1st John Corbin (Valvoline/Hilti/Cargo BGI/Co-Operators General Insurance Toyota Corolla), 80pts; 2nd Wayne Archer (Archers Hall Design Centre/Arrow Construction/Arrow Woodworking/RW Water/D & A Air Conditioning BMW 325), 39pts; 3rd Greg Cozier (Barbados Historic Rally Carnival/Geest Line Ford Escort RS), 15pts

Clubman 2: 1st Ian Warren (West Lake/Benthams Farm & Garden/Guava Tech BimmaCup), 102pts; 2nd Stuart Garcia (Kirba Inc/Intelligent Defence Systems/Zaccios/Four & Twenty Bakery/Smith’s Engineering Works BimmaCup), 86pts; 3rd Allan Kinch (Bajan All the Way! BimmaCup), 60pts; etc

C1: 1st Jason Tull (Jay-T’s/CA Autobody Repairs/Devon Star/Dominus PHD/CST Tyres/Computech Solutions Peugeot 106 Rallye S2), 65pts; 2nd Fabien Clarke (RCR Tours/Bovell Auto Repair Suzuki Ignis Sport), 11pts

GpB: 1st Andrew Jones (Lucozade/AP Jones Pharmacy/Southern Surf Beach Apartments Ford Escort MkII), 90pts; 2nd Calvin Briggs (Massy Realty/Kensington Mall/Flying Bell Racing/The Dome Mall/Sirrom SLD/OS Creations/Tallest 246 Wrecker Services Ford Sierra), 54pts; 3rd Mark Huggins (Mark’s Auto Spares/General Distributors Daihatsu Charmant), 44pts; etc

BRC 4wd Championship: 1st D Skeete, 103pts; 2nd Hill, 81pts; 3rd Coelho, 73pts; 4th M Thompson, 63pts; 5th Chatrani, 36pts; equal 6th Mallalieu & Swann, 32pts; 8th George Sherman - USA (M4 Subway/Zanzibar/Kaizan Sushi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 18pts
BRC 2wd Championship: 1st L Watson, 60pts; equal 2nd Stan Hartling & E Corbin, 53pts; 4th Horton, 51pts; 5th Brathwaite, 49pts; 6th Maloney, 46pts; 7th R Watson, 41pts; 8th Roger Mayers (SM2 Chefette/Rubis/Hankook/Sign Depot Toyota WR Starlet), 35pts; 9th Warren, 32pts; 10th, R Skeete, 30pts; etc

For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
web sites: www.rallybarbados.net; www.barbadosrallyclub.com