MAYERS/FERRI WIN ACTION-PACKED RALLY CLUB FINALE

The Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) 2003 Drivers’ Championship reached an action-packed conclusion in Sunday’s (November 16) Loose Stages Rally, won by Roger Mayers and Max Ferri in the Automotive Art/Shell Helix Ford Focus WRC.
In a day full of incident, there were strong performances throughout the field as drivers grasped their final chance of the year to score championship points.
Mayers/Ferri led from the start, in an interrupted morning of activity at the Vaucluse Raceway and the nearby 40 Acres stage in St Thomas – in the end, only four of the planned six stages were run, in part thanks to rain making the Raceway stage extremely slippery. The first retirement was the Toyota Starlet Turbo of Lindsay Farmer/Chad Hadley, who hit a rock hidden in undergrowth on the 40 Acres stage, severely damaging the rear suspension.
At Vaucluse, in very challenging conditions, a number of cars slid off the road, including Jonathan Still’s BMW M3; before he could get the car moving, it was struck a mighty blow by Edward Corbin’s Toyota Corolla on co-driver Heath Hazell’s door. Although both cars were driveable after the impact, Still was to retire with deranged steering. Corbin, however, set to with his service crew and tidied up the car; with co-driver Mark Perkins, he went on to finish an impressive fourth overall and comfortable winner of Modified 7 by 56 seconds.
Sean Dowding/Logan Watson were the closest challengers to Mayers/Ferri, finishing second, a little over one minute adrift, in their ProPac-backed Mitsubishi Evo V. Winner of Modified Open and third overall after a very determined drive was younger brother Barry Mayers, with co-driver Adam Hart, in the Automotive Art/Shell Helix Toyota Starlet. In common with Corbin, he earned cheers and applause from the spectators who turned out at Black Bess Plantation in St Peter for the four stages run during the afternoon.
Another impressive performance came from Neil Barnard and Chris Hoyos, who finished fifth overall in the NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa; with insufficient starters in Modified 5 to constitute a class, they were merged up to Modified 6, in which they beat Neil Armstrong/Ben Armstrong (Toyota Starlet) by nearly nine seconds.
The afternoon casualties included Cliff Roett/Rhett Watson, who had been running in fourth place until succumbing to a suspension problem, while Mikie Hassell/Bruce Wilkie lost a lot of time on what proved to be the final stage of the day after sliding off a fast right-hand turn into a spectator’s parked vehicle. No-one was injured, but the rear of Hassell’s Subaru Impreza WRX suffered some damage and, although he continued, he slipped to an eventual 15th place.
Returning to competition for the first time since Rally Barbados in June, Geoff Noel had a mixed day in the Citgo/AutoZone Mitsubishi Evo VI with co-driver Wayne King; the day started badly when a fuel line pulled loosed during the first stage, but improved as the day went on, the pair finishing second in merged Modified 8 & Production 4.

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

BRC Drivers’ Championship, round 7
BRC Loose Stages Rally, November 16

Results
1st Roger Mayers/Max Ferri (Automotive Art/Shell Helix Ford Focus WRC), 18m 58.92s
2nd Sean Dowding/Logan Watson (Pro Pac/Globe Finance/NPK Construction Mitsubishi Evo V), 20m 06.42s
3rd Barry Mayers/Adam Hart (Automotive Art/Shell Helix Toyota Starlet), 20m 36.03s
4th Edward Corbin/Mark Perkins (Automotive Art/Corbin's Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla SR), 20m 47.82s
5th Neil Barnard/Chris Hoyos (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa), 21m 01.97s
6th Neil Armstrong/Ben Armstrong (Nassco/Bridgestone/ProAuto Toyota Starlet), 21m 10.59s
7th Kirk Watkins/Josh Read (Abacus Builders/Castrol/Sikkens Toyota Corolla GTi), 21m 14.28s
8th Nicholas Gill/Mark Thompson (McEnearney Quality/Genuine Mazda Parts/Toyo Tyres/Carib Mazda Lantis), 21m 28.66s
9th Wayne Manning/Willie Hinds (Telling Caribbean Ford Escort), 21m 30.95s
10th James Betts/Adam Alleyne (Champion Auto Toyota Corolla GTi), 21m 43.89s
etc

Group winners
Modified 9
Mayers/Ferri
Modified 8 & Production 4
Dowding/Watson
Modified Open
Mayers/Hart
Modified 7
Corbin/Perkins
Modified 6 & Modified 5
Barnard/Hoyos