GILL LEADS BARBADOS RALLY CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Former Barbados Rally Club (BRC) champion Sean Gill is again in the driving seat at the half-way point in the club’s 2003 Drivers’ Championship, and he’s got there thanks to a perfect score on the recently-contested Rally Barbados.
Driving the NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis, he dominated the Modified 6 class through the two-day event, collecting the vital route bonus points for leading his class at the end of each of the four routes. Going into Rally Barbados, Gill and Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Corbin’s Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla SR) were tied on 44 points, having already each dropped their lowest score of 100.
But Corbin found the competition tough in Modified 7, to which reigning BRC champion Adrian Linton has switched for the 2003 season; it was Linton who deprived Corbin of the four route bonus points – they shared them two each – so Corbin now has 76 points compared to Gill’s 78.
Third overall is Paul Bourne (Banks/Texaco/Pirelli/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRC) with a score of 69 points, with Roger Hill (Exxon Mobil/Nassco/Michelin/Motor Mac Toyota Celica GT4) fourth on 68 points.
While the top four drivers in the overall table lead their individual class standings by considerable margins – Bourne and Gill, for instance, lead by around 30 points in Modified 9 and Modified 6 respectively - there are very close battles in the remaining four divisions.
One of the most interesting classes to resolve promises to be Production 4, also known as Group N, where four points cover the leading three drivers. Currently ahead reigning champion Barry Gale (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo VI), with 54 points; tied, just four points back on 50, in second place are Harold Morley (Sunbeach Subaru Impreza STi) - the only Group N driver to have scored in all four tarmac events at the start of the season, and therefore dropping his lowest score, five points – and Geoffrey Noel (Citgo/Napa/Pirelli/AutoZone Mitsubishi Evo VI) by four points.
It is close, too, in Modified 5, where early-season leader Roger Marshall (Photo Finish One Hour Photo/Agfa Toyota Starlet) has now lost out to Neil Barnard (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa), thanks to Barnard’s Group win on Rally Barbados; before dropping Marshall’s lowest score, they tied on 52 points, but Marshall slips to second with 47 points.
In Production 3, another early season leader has now been passed following Rally Barbados; Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries Toyota Starlet Turbo) had made the running but now trails Derek Roach (BS & T Motors/Magna Rewards/NP Lubricants/Sargento/Dupont/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Pinehill Juices Mini Cooper S) by 41 points to 43.
The Toyota Starlets of Barry Mayers (Automotive Art/Shell Helix) and Cliff Roett (Michelin/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett’s Garage Toyota Starlet) were tied before Rally Barbados, so Mayers’s Group win moves him ahead 55 points to 44. Jonathan Still is only another five behind though, on 39 points, in the Nescafe/Phillips Lighting/Sikkens Paints BMW M3.
The BRC’s loose surface season is scheduled to start on Sunday, August 24, with a Loose Sprint.

For further information: robin@bradfax.com
BRC web site: www.rallyclub.com

BRC Drivers’ Championship, points after round 4

Overall
1st Sean Gill (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis), 78 pts
2nd Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Corbin’s Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla SR), 76 pts
3rd Paul Bourne (Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRC), 69 pts
4th Roger Hill (Exxon Mobil/Nassco/Michelin/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), 68 pts5th Barry Mayers (Automotive Art/Shell Helix Toyota Starlet), 55 pts
6th Barry Gale (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo VI), 54 pts
7th Neil Barnard (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa), 52 pts
8th equal Harold Morley (Sunbeach Subaru Impreza STi), 50 pts and Geoffrey Noel (Citgo/Napa/Pirelli/AutoZone Mitsubishi Evo VI), 50 pts
10th Neil Armstrong (Nassco/Bridgestone/ProAuto Toyota Starlet), 49 pts

Modified 9
1st Paul Bourne (Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRC), 69 pts
2nd Roger Skeete (Texaco/Michelin/McEnearney Quality/Consolidated Finance/Carib Ford Escort WRC), 32 pts
3rd Roger Mayers (Automotive Art/Shell Helix Ford Focus WRC), 5 pts
Modified 8
1st Roger Hill (Exxon Mobil/Nassco/Michelin/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), 68 pts
2nd Sean Dowding (Pro Pac/Globe Finance/NPK Construction Mitsubishi Evo V), 31 pts
3rd Trevor Manning (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo V), 22 pts
Production 4
1st Barry Gale (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo VI), 54 pts
2nd Harold Morley (Sunbeach Subaru Impreza STi), 50 pts and Geoffrey Noel (Citgo/Napa/Pirelli/AutoZone Mitsubishi Evo VI), 50 pts
Modified Open
1st Barry Mayers (Automotive Art/Shell Helix Toyota Starlet), 55 pts
2nd Cliff Roett (Michelin/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett’s Garage Toyota Starlet), 44 pts
3rd Jonathon Still (Nescafe/Phillips Lighting/Sikkens Paints BMW M3), 39 pts
Modified 7
1st Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Corbin’s Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla SR), 76 pts
2nd Adrian Linton (AutoZone/Crane & Equipment/Williams Trading Inc Vauxhall Astra GTE), 43 pts
3rd John Corbin (Automotive Art/Corbin’s Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla), 34 pts
Modified 6
1st Sean Gill (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis), 78 pts
2nd Neil Armstrong (Nassco/Bridgestone/ProAuto Toyota Starlet), 49 pts
3rd Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders/Castrol/Sikkens Toyota Corolla GTi), 25 pts
Modified 5
1st Neil Barnard (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa), 52 pts
2nd Roger Marshall (Photo Finish One Hour Photo/Agfa Toyota Starlet), 47 pts
3rd Brett Clarke (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Swift), 16 pts
Production 3
1st Derek Roach (BS & T Motors/Magna Rewards/NP Lubricants/Sargento/Dupont/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Pinehill Juices Mini Cooper S), 43 pts
2nd Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries Toyota Starlet), 41 pts
3rd Tricia Gittens (BS & T Motors/Magna Rewards/NP Lubricants/Sargento/Dupont/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Pinehill Juices Mini Cooper S), 5 pts