WINTER RALLY BRINGS CHALLENGING SEASON TO A CLOSE

Rally Club titles to be settled on Sunday

Sunday’s (December 6) Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Winter Rally will bring one of the Club’s most challenging seasons to a close, as the Driver’s and Class Championships are settled. The running order, published at last night’s (Thursday) Briefing Meeting at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association (BCTSA) Clubhouse, Searles, Christ Church, lists 33 crews ready to tackle eight stages in the island’s south-east corner, including a new 3.20-kilometre stage from Stewart’s Hill to Society.
  The Champion Driver, 4wd and 2wd titles are yet to be resolved, while the leading margins in no fewer than four classes are in single figures, meaning the now-traditional enhanced scoring system for the final round – 28 for a win, 23 for second, 20 for third and so on – will play its part in the outcome. Covid Protocols will be in force, as for Sol RB20, with temperature checks, hand sanitizers and masks required.
  In the Champion Driver title chase, SuperModified 1 leader Neil Corbin (Toyota Starlet) has 81 points, four more than Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII), who leads SM2, with Roger Hill (FIA R5 Skoda Fabia) third on 76, ahead of Britain’s Rob Swann (75pts) and Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton (71pts) in their WRC Ford Fiestas. With only two registered crews each in SM1 and WRC, however, Corbin, Panton and Swann will have their potential maximum score compromised.
  Swann leads the 4wd Championship with 79 points, seven ahead of Panton; Hill (59pts) is third, with Andrew Mallalieu and Trinidad & Tobago’s David Coelho tied in fourth on 53 in their Fiesta R5s; Jones has a more comfortable lead in the 2wd standings, 77 points to the 60 of Barry Mayers (SM2 Ford Fiesta), with Corbin third (58pts).
  While the year-end SM2 title can only be won by either Jones or Mayers, a classic battle is in prospect on Sunday, with Josh Read (Toyota Starlet) returning for the first time since sharing the class wins with Mayers in August’s HammerTime20. After winning at Flow KotH, Mayers missed day one of Sol RB20 and then failed to match Jones on day two, giving the Escort driver the upper hand by 17 points, although Mayers would need a DNF from Jones to snatch victory.
  In FIA R5, no fewer than five drivers have a mathematical chance of winning the title, although it would require an unusual outbreak of retirements for either the Turks & Caicos Rally Team’s Paul Horton (54pts) or local driver Sol Esuf (53pts) to win in his Fiesta. Class leader Hill has 76 points, an advantage of nine over Mallalieu and Coelho, with the latter not entered this weekend.
  In the battle of the BimmaCup cars in Clubman 2, the points for which were listed incorrectly in last week’s first Winter Rally preview, points leader Jason Downey can win the title even if he finishes second on Sunday to early-season pace-setter Stuart Garcia. With Natya Soodeen also entered, however, Downey must ensure he doesn’t finish third: he and Garcia would then be tied on points, and the former class champion would deprive Downey of the title having claimed more stage wins, the new-for-2020 first stage of the tie-break procedure. The calculation is simpler in Modified 3, where Ahmed Esuf and David St Hill are tied for the lead in their BMW M3s with 52 points; whichever scores higher on Sunday will become a first-time Barbados Rally Club class-winner.
  Other entries to note include the first appearance this year of reigning Champion Driver Edward Corbin in his Daihatsu Charmant, whose M1 class opposition will include the island debut of Pierre Beswick’s R2-spec Peugeot 208, replacing his former Citroen C2 R2; the TCI teamster was hoping to be released from quarantine in time for the weekend’s events, where he will be driving his new car for the first time.
  The BRC Winter Rally will comprise eight stages, five before and three after a lunch break at the Bushy Park Quarry, which will also be the Service Park for the day. Starting at 10.00am and with cars running at 1-minute intervals, there will be three passes through a 3.60km stage from Bushy Park to Congo Road, with two runs from Stewarts Hill to Society; in the afternoon, the longer stage will run twice in the reverse direction, heading back into Bushy Park, with a final run from Stewarts Hill to Society between the two. The Finish will be at approximately 2.30pm at the Bushy Park Cafeteria.

BRC Winter Rally - Sunday, December 6
Final running order at December 4:

1 Rob Swann – ENG/Sean Gill (WRC Blue Sky Luxury/Elegant Hotels/raswann.co.uk Ford Fiesta WRC)
2 Jeffrey Panton – JAM/Jason Cozier (WRC Rubis/Sandals/KIG Ford Fiesta WRC)
3 Andrew Mallalieu/Geoff Goddard (FIA R5 Terra Caribbean Ford Fiesta R5)
4 Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (FIA R5 Esso/MaxMeyer Paints/Motormac/DJ’s Skoda Fabia R5)
5 Stuart Maloney/Justin Maloney (FIA R5 VP Fuels/Chevron/Bushy Park Barbados/Rock Hard Cement/Sign station Skoda Fabia R5)
6 Barry Mayers/Ben Norris - ENG (SM2 Chefette/Rubis/Quality Tyre/Sign Depot Ford Fiesta)
7 Suleman Esuf/Asif Suleman (FIA R5 Express Imports/SY Adam & Son/Prosales/Y Esuf Auto Clinic Ford Fiesta R5)
8 Andrew Jones/Lindsey Pilkington (F) – ENG (SM2 Herr’s Chips/Gales Agro/Southern Surf Beach Apartments/AP Jones Pharmacy Ford Escort MkII)
9 Josh Read/Anderson Goddard (SM2 Weetabix Toyota Starlet)
10 Rhett Watson/Bradley Weekes (SM2 Chefette/Stihl/Gliptone/Gunk/Bajan Pure Water/It’s Barbados/Hankook Tyres/Power King Batteries BMW M3)
11 Paul Horton - TCI/Matt Edwards - WAL (FIA R5 Java Island/HO2 Construction/Sky Motorsports Ford Fiesta R5)
12 Avinash Chatrani/Andrew Skeete (M4 Lenovo/Axe Solutions/Gunk/iShop Barbados/Sign Station /Genius Lynk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
14 Logan Watson/Andrew Croney (M3 Cargo BGI/Leafy Organics/It’s Barbados/Luxe Caribbean Properties/Stihl/Bajan Pure Water BMW M3)
15 Neil Corbin/Matthew Staffner (SM1 Nassco/H Jason Jones/Emtage Electric/Auto Solutions/Valvoline Toyota Starlet)
16 Adrian Linton/Kyle Catwell (SM2 Ravensden/JAD Performance/Helping Hands Foundation Vauxhall Astra VXR)
17 Jamal Brathwaite/Dwayne Forde (M2 Java Island/Consumers Guaranteed Insurance/Automotive Art/Valvoline/Caribbean Auto Glass/809 Design Associates /TEC Barbados/Stylez Auto Spa/Ellsemere Quarries/Chicken Pen Racing Honda Civic Type-R)
18 Edward Corbin/Jonathan Alleyne (M1 Automotive Art/Hilti/Cargo BGI Daihatsu Charmant)
19 Ahmed Esuf/Bibi Suleman (F) (M3 Express Imports Inc/Y Esuf Auto Clinic/Prosales/Premier Diamonds BMW M3)
20 David St Hill/Ian Grimes (M3 Tropical Touch/St Hill & Sons Garage BMW M3)
21 Kurt Thompson/Adam Straker (M3 Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty/King Ocean Shipping BMW M3 Compact)
22 Jason Harewood/Jenna Forde (F) (SM1 Mitasu Oils/Starboy Performance/Image Vault/Mark Auto Spares Toyota Starlet)
23 Ryan O Wood/Ria Walcott (F) (SM1 MB Auto City/BizNeedz Racing/Lucas Oil/Shonny’s Kitchen Toyota Starlet)
24 Pierre Beswick – TCI/Leslie Evanson (F) (M1 Peugeot 208)
25 Pierre Clarke/Kareem Gaskin (M1 SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares Honda Civic)
26 Jermin Pope/Aaron Kirton (M1 Glassesco/NKM Clothing Honda Civic)
27 Shawn Eversley/Darren Lashley (GpB CA Autobody Repairs/Track Batteries/Big Gases/SE Performance Suzuki Swift GTI)
28 Stuart Garcia/Rasheed Smith (C2 Kirba Inc/Smith’s Engineering Works/GuavaTech BimmaCup)
29 Jason Downey/Kristina Pinto (F) (C2 BimmaCup)
30 Kevin Wiggins/Keenan Barker (SM1 Johnson Auto/Zak Auto Parts Toyota Starlet)
31 Jason Tull/Hugo Greaves (C1 Devon Star/Dominus PHD/Jay-T’s Auto Services/CA Autobody Repairs/Redline Performance Imports/CST Tyres Peugeot 106 Rallye S2)
32 Natya Soodeen (F)/Justin Sisnett (C2 BimmaCup)
33 Gary Mendes/Shawn Brathwaite (M2 G & G Sales & Service Inc/Lunatics Inc/Dreamauto Kustomz/Blvck Diamond Kustomz/Big Guys Catering/Barbados Muffler Center/Neil’s Bistro/Wyndham Toyota Corolla)
34 Harold Morley - ENG/Stephen Bell (H2 Spectrum X Porsche 911RS)

For media information only. No regulatory value.

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Web site: www.barbadosrallyclub.com