Mayers takes final Barbados Rally Club honours

Roger Mayers and regular co-driver Max Ferri carried the Automotive Art/Mix 96.9 FM Ford Escort Cosworth WRC to victory in the Barbados Rally Club's final loose event of the season, the all-stage rally at Kendal, Guinea and Black Bess on Sunday (November 24).
Mayers took the initiative from the start and remained dominant throughout, fastest on every one of the 11 stages run; at each venue, the stage was once twice in each direction, except Guinea, where the final run in the reverse direction was cancelled after the surface had deteriorated significantly.
On the first Guinea stage, Mayers clocked a time of 1m 54.72s, the only driver to break the two-minute barrier; Brian Gill (Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRX) made a good start to lead Group N, second quickest with a time of 2m 00.06s, with arch-rival Barry Gale (Castrol/VIBE Fruit Juices/Simpson Motors/Wurkz Engineering/Mix 96.9FM Mitsubishi Evo VI) less than a second adrift.
In the classes, Lyndsay Farmer and Graham Gittens were sharing driving duties in the latter's Toyota Starlet Turbo and swapping fastest times with Cliff Roett/Rhett Watson (Toyota Starlet), while the anticipated battle in Modified 7 between Edward Corbin/Ian Weekes (Toyota Corolla) and Greg Cozier/Antonio da Silva (Ford Escort Cosworth) was also developing well. During the morning, however, both Roett (broken manifold) and Cozier (suspension damage) were to retire, leaving their adversaries to take the spoils in their respective Groups once the event moved north to the final stages at Black Bess Plantation.
After the morning stages were completed, an hour's transit time was allowed to move the remaining 17 cars north; in addition to the loss of Roett and Cozier, Nick Gill had suffered his first retirement of the season, with a gearbox or axle failure in his production Mazda Lantis, while Neil Armstrong's Toyota Starlet arrived at the lunch break on a breakdown truck, with a new cv joint ready and waiting to be fitted.
On arrival at Black Bess, Mayers reported that he felt "relaxed. I have a one-minute advantage, so I can just enjoy myself." And he did just that, increasing his cushion over the chasing drivers to nearly 90 seconds by the end of the day.
Gale had passed Gill during the morning to lead the Group N battle, finishing the day overall runner-up to Mayers, and Group N winner by six seconds. Gill finished third, with Geoff Noel/Lesley Alleyne (Mitsubishi Evo VI), Richard Roett/Logan Watson (Toyota Celica GT4) and Sean Dowding/Jason Cozier (Mitsubishi Evo V) completing the top six.
Brothers Ian and Robert Warren (Toyota Starlet) flew to an impressive 30-second victory in Modified 6, while Roger Marshall/Bruce Lambert (Toyota Starlet), topped the merged Modified 5 and Production 2 & 3.

Results follow
For further information, contact Robin Bradford (treelogy@sunbeach.net or 422 1829)
BRC web site: www.rallyclub.com

BRC Autozone/LAW Motorsport Championship 2002
Event - Loose All Stage Rally - Kendal, Guinea, Black Bess, November 24, 2002

Overall
1 Roger Mayers/Max Ferri (Automotive Art/Mix 96.9 FM Ford Escort WRC), 20m 45.74s
2 Barry Gale/Ryan Rodriguez 22m 02.40s
3 Brian Gill/Ryan Wood (Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRX), 22m 16.84s
4 Geoffrey Noel/Lesley Alleyne (Napa/Pirelli/AutoZone/Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Evo VI), 22m 45.24s
5 Richard Roett/Logan Watson (Michelin/Esso/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett's Garage Toyota Celica GT4), 22m 51.21s
6 Sean Dowding/Jason Cozier (Globe Finance/NPK Construction/Axis Inc Mitsubishi Evo V), 23m 00.71s
etc
Modified 9 &8 merged
1 Roger Mayers/Max Ferri (Automotive Art/Mix 96.9 FM Ford Escort WRC), 20m 45.74s
2 Richard Roett/Logan Watson (Michelin/Esso/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett's Garage Toyota Celica GT4), 22m 51.21s
3 Sean Dowding/Jason Cozier (Globe Finance/NPK Construction/Axis Inc Mitsubishi Evo V), 23m 00.71s
Production 4
1 Barry Gale/Ryan Rodriguez (Castrol/VIBE Fruit Juices/Simpson Motors/Wurkz Engineering/Mix 96.9FM Mitsubishi Evo VI), 22m 02.40s
2 Brian Gill/Ryan Wood (Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRX), 22m 16.84s
3 Geoffrey Noel/Lesley Alleyne (Napa/Pirelli/AutoZone/Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Evo VI), 22m 45.24s
Open Modified
1 Lindsay Farmer/Graham Gittens (Nassco/Max Meyer/Pro Auto Works/St James Travel/Gunk/Argent Oils Toyota Starlet Turbo), 25m 22.38s
2 Cliff Roett/Rhett Watson (Lucky Horshore/Roett's Garage/Quaker State Toyota Starlet), 28m 52.56s
Modified 7
1 Edward Corbin/Ian Weekes (Corbin's Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla), 23m 53.73s
2 John Corbin/Victor Best (Corbin's Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla), 25m 03.52s
3 Andrew Jones/Stuart White (A P Jones Pharmacy/Simpson Motors/Stratford Properties/Lucozade Ford Escort Mk II), 25m26.97s
4 Reggie Gill/Nathan Harling (SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares Inc Opel Manta), 26m 32.04s
5 Greg Cozier/Antonio da Silva (Carib/Valvoline Oil Ford Escort Cosworth), 27m 52.01s
Modified 6
1 Ian Warren/Robert Warren (Bardhal/Star Mart/Wrigleys Chewing Gum/Halton Graphics Toyota Starlet), 23m 54.28s
2 Neil Barnard/Chris Hoyos (GM/Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/RR Consteel Opel Corsa), 24m 26.57s
3 Kirk Watkins/Josh Read (Sunbeach/Wurkz Engineering/Nassco/Primo/Sikkens/Castrol Toyota Corolla), 25m 54.08s
4 Neil Armstrong/Raymond Thompson (Toyota Starlet), 26m 48.04s
Modified 5, Production 3 & 2 merged
1 Roger Marshall/Bruce Lambert (Photo Finish One Hour Labs/Agfa Film Toyota Starlet), 25m 01.33s
2 Freddie Gale/Kyle Proverbs (Gale's Hatcheries Toyota Starlet), 25m 48.83s
3 Nicholas Gill/Niska Cuke (McEnearney Quality/Genuine Mazda Parts/Toyo Tyres/Carib Mazda Lantis), 32m 49.87s