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All the key players battling for supremacy in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) WTI MudDogs Safari Championship and Chefette MudDogs Safari Novice Championship are entered for Sunday’s (October 16) Nassco October Safari, so a thrilling climax to the season is in prospect.
With three new names on the entry list, to add to those who have already competed this year, the BRC’s off-road arm is also celebrating another successful season. MudDogs Chairman Warren Gollop says: “It hardly seems possibly that we have reached the end of another season, but here we are! I think Sunday should give us a really good send-off for the winter break.
“Nearly 80 drivers and navigators have scored championship points this year and, when you add in the guys who have tackled our practice events, but not yet graduated to a full Safari, we’ve hit one hundred. The level of support that we have from our crews is due reward for our faithful sponsors . . . and I have to say thanks to Nassco for once again sponsoring our final Safari of the season.”
Sunday’s route has been set by Barry Gale and rechecked by Neil Barnard, respectively Champion Driver and Navigator in the 2005 BRC Navigational Championship, also winners of the Shelbury Construction June Safari in 2008. Gale noted: “I have tried to set this to be as enjoyable as possible for both driver and navigator. I am not saying I won't try to trick them, however those tricks will not get them lost . . . just make them wish they had been paying closer attention! The route is about five per cent straight line, 15 per cent BRC and the rest Tulip. The BRC is very straightforward to plot, as I am not a BRC engineer . . . although finding one or two of the BRC roads might be a different story! I wish good luck to all.”
In calculating the final Championship positions, crews will drop their worst score, if they have participated in all five events, which makes for interesting reading coming into the final showdown. Wayne Clarke and Chris Armstrong respectively lead the WTI Navigator and Driver title chases before dropped scores are taken into account, with Dane McConney and Hadley Green atop the Chefette Novice Navigator and Driver tables.
Once dropped scores come into play, however, there is a major reshuffle of the top 10 drivers and navigators - Armstrong (now on 174 points) slips to second, four points behind Leslie Alleyne, who has won two of his three Safaris as a driver and has no score to drop, while Ryan Corbin (another with no score to drop) has 170 and Audley Croney 166. Even with his lowest score subtracted, Clarke still leads the Navigator standings on 174, with Corbin’s navigator Dustin Edwards next up on 170, Jeremy Croney third (166) and Darnley Rayside fourth (164).
Things are more straightforward in the Novice stakes, with no change of order among the leading crews, and with only McConney and Green having a score to drop: once that is done, they lead with 178, from Gary Mendes/Alexander Kellman on 172 and Trina Griffith/Matthew Durant third on 166.
On Sunday, the first crew is scheduled to leave the pits at Bushy Park, St Philip, at 8.01am; the lunch stop-over will be at noon at Chefette, Charles Rowe Bridge, St George and the finish at approximately 4.00pm at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association (BCTSA) Clubhouse, Searles, Christ Church. The Prizegiving will be held at the same venue once results are declared final on Monday (October 17).
Nassco October Safari – October 16
2011 WTI MudDogs Safari Championship, round 5
2011 Chefette MudDogs Safari Novice Championship, round 5
Running order – Chefette Novice class
1 Richard Hinkson/Rasheed Mapp (Suzuki Samurai)
2 Theo Waite/Curtis Grazette (Atlantis Seafood Inc/Betta Computers Suzuki Samurai)
9 Hadley Green/Dane McConney (Hunte Auto Spares/Automotive Art/Scorpion Toyota Hilux)
16 Matthew Durant/Trina Griffith (Suzuki Jimny)
18 Alexander Kellman/Gary Mendes (Isuzu D-Max)
20 Aswad Bannister/Nyere Jones (Toyota Hilux)
23 Joshua Plaza/Rashid Makhuda (tba)
WTI Pro class
3 Judy-Ann Bradshaw/Peter Bradshaw (Land Rover Defender)
4 Mark Western/Robin Hinds (Yardman/Kar Parts Store Nissan Patrol)
5 Ben Norris/Darnley Rayside (Electric Avenue/Pit Bull Energy Drink Land Rover Discovery)
6 Wayne Manning/Kirk Watkins (Aerotec Services Toyota Hilux)
7 Edson Arthur/Renata Roett (Toyota Hilux)
8 Audley Croney/Jeremy Croney (CC Motorsports Suzuki Samurai)
10 Gregory Dickenson/Rorie McConney (Toyota Hilux)
11 Ryan Corbin/Dustin Edwards (Corbin's Catering Services/Mahogany Ridge/Crane & Equipment/SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares Toyota Hilux)
12 Nicolas Lorde/Warrick Eastmond (Niccolls & Edghill Construction/Sam Lorde’s/Comfeet Suzuki Vitara)
13 Biddy Barber/Brett Barber (JE Security/Biddy's Visitor Information/Auto Solutions/Lubriguard Mitsubishi Pajero)
14 Leslie Alleyne/Chris Oneal (Tappard Toyota Hilux)
15 Chris Armstrong/Wayne Clarke (Toyota Hilux)
17 Adrian Sinckler/Andre Murrell (Suzuki Samurai)
19 Michael Ward/Willie Hinds (Country Notions/Maxxis Suzuki Samurai)
21 Sean Mottley/Michelle Oliver (CIBC First Caribbean International Bank Suzuki Vitara)
22 Kerry Renee/Jason Downey (Nissan Frontier)
For further media information, robin@bradfax.com
Web sites: www.barbadosrallyclub.com [2], www.muddogsbarbados.com
