MANNING DOMINATES AT BLACK BESS

Trevor 'Electric Micey' Manning blasted back to the front of the local motor sport scene on Sunday (February 20) with a dominant performance in the opening round of the Virgin Atlantic Barbados Rally Club Driver's Championship.
At the wheel of the Shell/Courts/Automotive Art/Garbage Master Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, Manning set the pace from the start of the BRC Gravel Sprint at the Black Bess Plantation in St Peter; his first-run time of 3min 01.816sec was more than 10 seconds quicker than that of any of his rivals . . . and he improved with every run.
Roger Mayers broke a CV joint on the drive-through which preceded the start of the competition, and was side-lined for the first official run. Mayers had won twice at the popular venue in the past two years, and was carrying start number 1 on the Trivial Pursuit Ford Focus WRC . . . but he was not to claim a third victory.
Despite charging hard in his two timed runs, and achieving a time seven-tenths better than Manning's first-run time, 'Micey' improved steadily, to end the day the only driver to break the three-minute barrier with a well-judged 2m 59.519s, 1.5secs better than Mayers.
Roger Hill, who won last October's BRC Loose Rally, which included the Black Bess stage, finished third, in the Mobil 1/Nassco/Michelin/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4. Hill also won the Modified 8 class, beating Sean Dowding (Globe Finance Mitsubishi Evo V) - he finished fourth overall - and his own regular co-driver, Graham Gittens, who shared the Celica for the day.
Sean Gill not only won Modified 6 in the Shell/Courts/Automotive Art Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis JWRC, but also performed an impressive giant-killing act, finishing fifth overall, ahead of a number of cars from higher classes.
Among those he out-ran were sixth-placed Harold Morley in the four-wheel-drive Sunbeach Communications Inc Subaru Impreza WRC and Mark Hamilton (McEnearney Quality Inc/Consolidated Finance/Automotive Art Ford Escort MkII), who finished seventh overall and won the Modified Open class.
Neil Armstrong (Bridgestone/Lubriguard/Nassco/Proauto Toyota Starlet) finished second to Gill in Modified 6, albeit more than six seconds adrift, but will have been well satisfied to finish ahead of the thundering Philips Lighting/Castrol/Crane & Equipment BMW M3 of Jonathan Still.
Manning's regular co-driver James Betts made it a winning debut in the Champion Auto Wrecker Services/Kendall Sporting/KG Enterprises/Hankook Tyres/Venture Marble Opel Corsa GSi, which had already won at Black Bess in the hands of its former owner, Neil Barnard; in winning the merged Modified 5 and Production 3 class, Betts beat Micey's brother Wayne (Black Bess Quarry Peugeot 205GTi).
Reigning Modified 7 champion Edward Corbin started his title defence in fine style, with victory in the Automotive Art/Kumho-backed Toyota Corolla SR and 11th place overall.

BRC Gravel Sprint, February 20
Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver's Championship, round 1
Overall results
1st Trevor Manning (M9 Shell/Courts/Automotive Art/Garbage Master Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), 2m 59.519s
2nd Roger Mayers (M9 Trivial Pursuit Ford Focus WRC), 3m 01.110s
3rd Roger Hill (M8 Mobil 1/Nassco/Michelin/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), 3m 09.151s
4th Sean Dowding (M8 Globe Finance Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V), 3m 10.166s
5th Sean Gill (M6 Shell/Courts/Automotive Art Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis JWRC), 3m 14.526s
6th Harold Morley (M9 Sunbeach Communications Inc Subaru Impreza WRC), 3m 14.889s
7th Mark Hamilton (MO McEnearney Quality Inc/Consolidated Finance/Automotive Art Ford Escort MkII), 3m 20.143s
8th Neil Armstrong (M6 Bridgestone/Lubriguard/Nassco/Proauto Toyota Starlet), 3m 21.036s
9th Jonathan Still (MO Philips Lighting/Castrol/Crane & Equipment BMW M3), 3m 21.651s
10th James Betts (M5 Champion Auto Wrecker Services/Kendall Sporting/KG Enterprises/Hankook Tyres/Venture Marble Opel Corsa GSi), 3m 23.346s
Class winners
Modified 9 Manning; Modified 8 Hill; Modified Open Hamilton; Modified 7 Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Kumho Tyres Toyota Corolla SR); Modified 6 Gill; Modified 5 & Production 3 merged Betts

For further information, robin@bradfax.com