ZANE MALONEY WINS FIRST CITIZENS KING OF THE HILL

FIA F3 racer becomes event’s youngest winner on his debut

FIA Formula 3 racer Zane Maloney nailed the all-important dry third run of First Citizens King of the Hill yesterday (Sunday) to become the youngest winner since the event was created by the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) in 2008 as the final shakedown before Sol Rally Barbados. He also led the first-ever clean sweep of the KotH podium by cars from the FIA R5 class, heading home his uncle Stuart and Britain’s Frank Bird, whose father Paul won KotH in 2012 & ’14.
  In his first event with a co-driver - Kreigg Yearwood - 18-year-old Maloney was driving the same Skoda Fabia R5 in which Britain’s Tom Preston won the newly-introduced FIA R5 class at KotH in 2019. It was brought back to the island by Stuart, the first of what is now a three-car Skoda stable, both Stuart and his brother Mark driving the Rally2 versions, Mark finishing 12th overall and sixth in the R5 class yesterday.
  The island’s biggest rallying spectacle since 2019 attracted huge crowds, who gathered from early, even overnight, to bag the best vantage points, of which there were plenty along the freshly-configured course from Content through the Dukes crossroads, then south into the Vaucluse Raceway. Former 2wd winner Rhett Watson warmed the crowd up as Zero Car ahead of the 82-car field, which ran in reverse order of performance.
  The teenager, who is enjoying a long break between rounds three and four of the FIA F3 Championship, trailed in the first run, 22nd overall. Quickest out of the box was Britain’s Rob Swann (Subaru Impreza WRC S12B), with Bird (Ford Fiesta Rally2) second and Dane Skeete third in the Impreza in which he won Sol RB19 and KotH 2020.
  Skeete was faster than Swann on the second run, but rain had fallen so the Englishman’s time was still the best of the day so far, ahead of Bird, Skeete, the two Fiesta S2000Ts of fellow-Brits Kevin Procter and Andy Scott, with five R5 cars packing the top 10 – Mark and Stuart Maloney, the Turks & Caicos Rally Team’s Paul Horton (Fiesta), Roger Hill (Fabia) and Jamaica’s Jeff Panton (Fiesta). With the seventh fastest time on run two, Zane had moved up to 17th overall, so there was still work to do.
  And the work was done on the third run, the only completely dry run of the day, when all but 16 cars recorded their best times. Improving by more than 17secs, Maloney leapt to the top of the timesheets, two-tenths quicker than Stuart, with Bird also improving by 3secs to claim third, eight-tenths behind the older Maloney. Skeete knocked 4secs off his best and Swann might have been expected to do the same, but he pulled off at the Dukes crossroads with a mechanical problem; it put him out for the rest of the day, but he still finished fifth, just over 3ecs covering the top five. Panton moved up to sixth, ahead of Procter and Scott, with Mark Thompson powering his Modified 4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX into ninth ahead of Procter’s nephew Joe Cunningham in another Fiesta 2000T, an impressive result on his first trip to compete on the island.
  Zane said: “The first two runs weren't so good, so it was good to get that third run in and, for the last run, I had some fun putting on a bit of a show for the fans. I'm happy to be the first on the road for the rally; even though it has its disadvantages there should be no delays to my run if something happens down the order. To be honest, I think the F3 stuff has been really helping me a lot so I'll be using all my knowledge of a race car to help me for the rally.”
  He may need it, too, as uncle Stuart said: “I left some on the stage, as there is next weekend's event to come. However, I don't mind not being first on the road next weekend, especially if it is dry, so the road can clean a bit.”
  Bird, who first visited the island with his family when he was eight, said: “My dad said to me ‘enjoy yourself and put on a good show for the fans’. We had a good time our first time out and had a good result, so I'm happy with P3. The mindset for next week is to keep doing what we've been doing, make no mistakes and be nice, neat and tidy. I've got a few of my dad's genes in me so we'll see, hopefully I can be hot out of the box.”
  Skeete said: “I'm feeling good after the event. The car worked well, as did the team. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a single run without rain or oil on the stage, so I never got to set a good time. I was anticipating the R5s being out front seeing as they have much better traction inside Vaucluse. We have a long week of prep ahead but I’m feeling confident we can be out front come next weekend.”
  After the first two runs, Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII) was ahead of Roger Mayers (Toyota WR Starlet) and Logan Watson (BMW M3) in the battle for top 2wd, just a couple of seconds covering the trioe. Again, it was the third run that settled it, Mayers winning the day, 16th overall, with Jones and Watson separated by just eight-tenths. With Mayers not starting Sol RB22, a close battle between these two is anticipated.
  While the smallest margin of victory had been the overall win, there were other class victories claimed by narrow margins: in M1, Jermin Pope (Honda Civic) beat Edward Corbin’s stunningly re-liveried Daihatsu Charmant by just 0.41s, both knocking on the door of the top 20 in the first run but finishing impressively 24th and 25th overall. In Clubman 1, although previous winner Jason Tull overcame some issues with his Peugeot 106 Rallye S2 that arose early in the day, the door had been opened for KotH newcomer Darren Lashley (Toyota Starlet) to snatch the class win by 1.13s.
  In C2, the best-subscribed class with 13 BimmaCup starters, each of the four runs produced a different winner, in order Sacha Soodeen, Sean Corbin, Ryan Wood and Nick Morley, the Englishman avoiding the heavy rain that fell part-way through the final run thanks to his low start number. But it was ‘Woody’ who prevailed, beating Michael Worme by 1.20s, with Allan Kinch a further tenth behind, all those times from the third run. Stuart Garcia won the BimmaCup Too battle in C3 on the first run, but Greg Cozier assumed the lead on run two, winning the day by 2.38s.
  In M2 Chris Ullyett pedalled his Ford Escort RS2000 to fastest on the first run, six or so seconds ahead of Neil Corbin (Toyota GT86 CS-R3), but Corbin fought back, Ullyett beaten by 1.44s. Britain’s Ian Coulson (Ford Focus) was class fastest on the wet final run, finishing third in class, also thanks to the third run. Tremaine Ford-Catwell’s flamboyantly-driven Daihatsu Charmant was consistently quickest in SM1 for the first three runs, beating the equally sideways Toyota Corolla of returning visitor Simon Nutter to the class win by 1.85s. Neither Nutter nor fellow-Brit Graham Haigh (Ford Escort MkII) tackled the wet final run, in which fastest was another of the UK contingent, Marcel Freling in his Honda-engined MG ZR.
  Three classes were won by British visitors, with Historic 2 the hardest-fought: Sean Kukula was ahead of Chris Shooter in the battle of the MkII Escorts until the third run, when Shooter improved hugely to top the times by 4.75s, while Scotland’s Robin Hamilton (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus) edged Kukula for third by 0.16s. Lyndon Barton won Group B2, his Ford Fiesta R5 needing a couple of tweaks before it can run in the FIA R5 class next weekend; he beat fellow-Brit Andrew Graham’s Land Rover 90TDS, which scored highly on the island crowd-o-meter and finished a respectable 70th. Andrew Costin-Hurley (Ford Puma Cosworth) was on his own in GpB1 after Shawn Eversley retired his Suzuki Swift on the second run.

Sol Rally Barbados (June 4/5) and First Citizens King of the Hill (May 29) are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrates its 65th Anniversary in 2022; Sol RB22 marks the 15th year of title sponsorship by the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company.

For media information only. No regulatory value.

For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
www.rallybarbados.net; www.barbadosrallyclub.com
Facebook/BarbadosRallyClub; instagram/@barbadosrallyclub

Sol-RB22-22a: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 30, 2022

FIRST CITIZENS KING OF THE HILL
Results

Key to nationalities (competitor from Barbados unless shown): ENG – England; GUY – Guyana; JAM – Jamaica; SCO – Scotland; T&T – Trinidad & Tobago; USA – United States of America; WAL – Wales

1st Zane Maloney/Kreigg Yearwood (FIA R5 Chefette/Frosteez/Automotive Art/Valvoline/Falken Tyres/Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc/Rock Hard Cement/VP Fuels/Bushy Park Skoda Fabia R5), 2m 19.63s
2nd Stuart Maloney/Kristian Yearwood (FIA R5 Rock Hard/VP Fuels/Chevron/Bushy Park/Sign Station Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 00.20s
3rd Frank Bird - ENG/Jack Morton – ENG (FIA R5 Frank Bird Poultry/PBM/Hagar/Alco Ford Fiesta Rally2), +01.06s
4th Dane Skeete/Tyler Mayhew (WRC Sol/CO Williams Sand & Lime/Automotive Art Subaru Impreza WRC S12), + 02.57s
5th Rob Swann – ENG/Darren Garrod – WAL (WRC Elegant Hotels/Blue Sky Luxury/RA Swann Ltd Subaru Impreza WRC S12B), + 03.09s
6th Jeffrey Panton – JAM/Jason Cozier (FIA R5 Rubis/Sandals Resorts/KIG/Birds Nest Spice Blends/Sun Bum Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 04.55s
7th Kevin Procter – ENG/Patrick Walsh - WAL (WRC Procters Coaches/Swift Signs & Shirts/The Reubens Hotel Ford Fiesta S2000T), + 04.59s
8th Andy Scott - SCO/Tom Woodburn - ENG (WRC Rock Oil/Rostrum Sportswear/Billfisher III Ford Fiesta S2000T), + 05.25s
9th Mark Thompson/Kurt Seabra - GUY (M4 Glassesco/Automotive Art/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty Day Spa Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), + 05.53s
10th Joe Cunningham - ENG/Joshua Beer - ENG (WRC Procters Coaches Ford Fiesta S2000T), + 05.77s
etc

WRC: 1st Skeete/Mayhew, 2m 22.20s; 2nd Swann - ENG/Garrod – WAL, + 00.52s; 3rd Procter – ENG/Walsh – WAL, + 02.02s; etc
FIA R5: 1st Z Maloney/K Yearwood, 2m 19.63s; 2nd S Maloney/K Yearwood, + 00.20s; 3rd, Bird – ENG/Morton – ENG, + 01.06s; etc
Modified 4: 1st Thompson/Seabra – GUY, 2m 25.16s; 2nd George Sherman - USA/Avinash Chatrani (Tide Cleaners/Subway Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), + 12.74s; 3rd Ian Barclay – SCO/Cameron Barclay – ENG (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), + 22.05s; etc
SuperModified 2: 1st Roger Mayers/Barry Ward (Chefette/Rubis/Frosteez/Hankook/Sign Depot Toyota WR Starlet), 2m 29.39s – 16th overall; 2nd Andrew Jones/Lindsey Pilkington (F) – ENG (Gales Agro products/Kepro Veterinarian Solutions/Southern Surf Beach Apartments/AP Jones Pharmacy/Weetabix/Quality Tyre/VanPur Malt Ford Escort MkII), + 01.84s; 3rd Derek Edwards/Damien Johnson (Arrow Woodworking BMW M3 Compact), + 06.80s; etc
SM1: 1st Tremaine Forde-Catwell/Noah White (Mipa Autocolour/Cheese Autoglass Finish Inc Daihatsu Charmant), 2m 46.28s – 39th o/a; 2nd Simon Nutter – ENG/Fiona Udale (F) - ENG (Scotty's Cheap Car Hire/Coral Mist Beach Hotel/Udale Speciality Foods Toyota Corolla), + 01.85s; 3rd Graham Haigh – ENG/Kari Bates (F) – ENG (G Haigh & Sons/Tanfield Engineering Services Ford Escort MkII), +06.62s; etc
M3: 1st Logan Watson/Andrew Croney (Cargo BGI/Enermax Ltd/Luxe Caribbean Properties/It’s Barbados/Sign Depot/Bajan Pure Water/Stihl/Hankook Tires BMW M3), 2m 32.03s – 19th o/a; 2nd Ian Warren/Robert Warren (Guava Tech/Colour XL/Westlake Tyres/Foxin/Benthams Farm & Garden/Kikks BMW Compact), + 06.43s; 3rd Justin Campbell/Scott Bentham (Republic Bank/Automotive Art/CampsAutoServices/Bushy Park Barbados/Dream Freighting BMW M3), + 14.93s; etc
M2: 1st Neil Corbin/Matthew Staffner (Nassco/J Jason Jones/Stamina Energy/Auto Solutions/Colour XL/Hinos Toyota GT86 CS-R3), 2m 39.09s – 29th o/a; 2nd Chris Ullyett/Chantal Ullyett (F) - CDN (Proj-Rx Inc/Ullyett's Machine Shop/RadComm Ford Escort RS2000), + 01.44s; 3rd Ian Coulson – ENG/Jonathan Haynes - ENG (JD Haynes Car Sales Ford Focus), + 17.37s; etc
M1: 1st Jermin Pope/Aaron Kirton (Glassesco/PEG Farms/Good Time Snacks/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty Day Spa/Automotive Art/Industries Job/C & A Auto Body Repair Honda Civic), 2m 37.15s – 24th o/a; 2nd Edward Corbin/Johnathan Alleyne (Valvoline/Hilti/Cargo BGI Daihatsu Charmant), + 00.41s; 3rd Pierre Clarke/Ezra Gibbs (SDRR Hydrualics/Camp’s Auto Service Honda Civic), + 14.94s; etc
Historic 2: 1st Chris Shooter - ENG/Bev LeGood (F) – ENG (Sparrow Hill Cars Ford Escort MkII), 2m 49.76s – 50th o/a; 2nd Robin Hamilton – SCO/Vanessa Hamilton (F) – SCO (Gleaner Oils & Gas/Robin Hamilton Autos Talbot Sunbeam Lotus), + 04.75s; 3rd Sean Kukula – ENG/Emma Arthur (F) – ENG (Competition Supplies Motorsport Equipment/WOSPerformance Rotating Electrics/Lifeline Fire Systems/Tilton Engineering/Cobra Seats/Odyssey Batteries/DMD Motorsport Ford Escort MkII), + 04.91s; etc
Clubman 3: 1st Greg Cozier/Natasha Farnum (F) (Perkins & Sons Barbados Rum BimmaCup Too), 2m 44.63s – 36th o/a; 2nd Stuart Garcia/Rasheed Smith (Kirba Inc/Smith’s Engineering Works/Four & Twenty Bakery/GuavaTech BimmaCup Too), + 02.38s; 3rd Kevin Armstrong/Karl Bovell (Armstrong Auto/Pet Arts BMW 325i), + 04.36s; etc
C2: 1st Robert Ryan Wood/Miranda Ho (F) – T&T (Carter’s Pitstop/C&A Autobody Repair/Guava Tech/Hilti/West Lake/Medical Massage Specialist BimmaCup), 2m 44.43s – 35th o/a; 2nd Michael Worme/Daniel Small (Katspraddle Sweet Potato Vodka/COT/NautiLime/Autoderm/Ullyett’s Machine Shop/Reno Flip BimmaCup), + 01.20s; 3rd Allan Kinch/Kyle Proverbs (Yorkshire Agricultural Services BimmaCup), + 01.30s; etc
C1: 1st Darren Lashley/Jason Harewood (Hi-Speed Performance Parts/HEL Performance/Lashley’s Auto Garage/Starboy Performance/Shallom Management Services/High Maintenance Detailing Toyota Starlet), 2m 56.73s – 67th o/a; 2nd Jason Tull/Omar Archer (Jay-T's Auto Services/SRG Engineering/Shallom Management Services/BG Products Peugeot 106 Rallye S2), + 01.13s; 3rd Kyle Gill – USA/Ben Kirkbride - USA (Perry Motorsport/adhoc Industries/Chicken Stop Inc Mitsubishi Mirage RS Clone), + 01:09.88s
GpB2: 1st Lyndon Barton - ENG/Simon Hunter - ENG (Kwiktrak (UK) Ltd/Speedline Corse Ford Fiesta R5), 2m 38.65s; 2nd Andrew Graham - ENG/Gavin Neate - WAL (AlliSport Ltd Land Rover 90TDS), + 19.29s
GpB1: 1st Andrew Costin-Hurley - ENG/Rob Brook – ENG (Clubman Motorsport/Earl’s Performance Hoses/KB Tyres/Trumbles Guest House Ford Puma Cosworth), 2m 52.06s;
2nd Shawn Eversley/Ramon Moore (Suzuki Swift), +16.80s

For media information only. No regulatory value.

For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
www.rallybarbados.net; www.barbadosrallyclub.com
Facebook/BarbadosRallyClub; instagram/@barbadosrallyclub