MORE STAGE RALLIES FOR BRC IN 2003

MORE STAGE RALLIES FOR BRC IN 2003
New annual trophy to commemorate ‘Red Mout Ru’

The Barbados Rally Club (BRC) is shifting the emphasis of its competition programme for 2003 to include more stage rallies, where the skill of the co-driver plays an important part in the outcome, and reduce the number of driver-only speed events.
There was a lively debate on the subject during the club’s Annual General Meeting held at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association clubhouse recently, when a number of competitors expressed concern at the likely increase in the costs of competing, due in large part to the higher insurance costs of rallies compared with speed events.
BRC president John Sealy, however, outlined a number of measures currently being undertaken by the club to limit the insurance costs for competitors; having heard these assurances, the members agreed to reconsider the change in format in a further six months, if the insurance issues had not been successfully addressed.
This paved the way for acceptance of the revised BRC calendar: this features one tarmac speed event (already held at Cherry Tree Hill on Sunday, February 9), two one-day tarmac rallies – the next will be staged on Sunday, March 16 - plus the re-named Texaco Havoline Rally Barbados; the loose season, scheduled to start in August, will include one speed event and three one-day stage rallies.
There have also been significant changes in the club’s management structure, although Antonio Rodriguez was returned unopposed for a further year as BRC chairman. The Texaco Rally organising committee will now also take responsibility for the other tarmac events, while an entirely new committee is to be formed to oversee the loose events. Rodriguez said: “Three new venues have already been suggested, even though the committee is not yet entirely created.”
With five new members joining the management committee, Rodriguez paid tribute to the retiring officers, who included treasurer Beverley Roett. At the start of the meeting, a minute’s silence was observed in memory of her late husband, Richard ‘Red Mout Ru’ Roett, who died in December. In memory of one of the club’s most outstanding characters, a new annual trophy is to be presented, sponsored by NASSCO; the precise citation on the trophy is yet to be confirmed, but Rodriguez explained: “This trophy is not a matter of winners or losers, it is a spirit issue, and Ru displayed that to the highest.”
New committee members include Neil Armstrong – thought to be the youngest BRC committee member in the club’s history – and last year’s BTC Rookie of the Year Lindsay Farmer. In welcoming the newcomers, Rodriguez said: “I am very pleased that more of the younger members of the club are taking an interest in its management; they are the future of both the BRC and motor sport in Barbados, and I look forward to seeing some new ideas emerging in the coming months.”
The BRC’s new management structure is as follows:
Management committee: chairman Antonio Rodriguez, vice-chairman Bruce Lambert, treasurer Garry Clarke, competition secretary Barry Gale, assistant competition secretary Jonathon Still, club secretary Antonio DaSilva, public relations officer Robert Warren, classifications officer Simon Gillmore, assistant classifications officer Clive Howell, equipment & records officer Lindsay Farmer, entertainment officer Neil Armstrong Sub-committee chairmen: vehicle classifications Simon Gillmore, Texaco Rally & tarmac events Barry Gale, loose events Barry Gale, navigational Rally Clive Howell, entertainment Neil Armstrong

For further information, contact Robin Bradford (treelogy@sunbeach.net or 422 1829)