MALONEY TO RUN IN TEXACO FINALE AT BUSHY PARK

Bushy Park lap record-holder Mark Maloney is among members of the Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) who have accepted an invitation from the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) to take part in the final round of the Texaco BRC Rally Championship at the St Philip venue on Sunday (October 16). Scheduled start time is 9.00am.
With the entry rising in numbers every day – organisers expect in excess of 30 starters - spectators can look forward to a day of hot competition, plus the rare chance to see some of the leading circuit racers in Barbados face off against the country’s front-running rally drivers. On top of that, competition prize-winners will get the chance for a passenger ride at the end of the day.
The event will comprise eight timed runs on a variety of courses; although co-drivers will not be required, the event will be timed in the same way as a rally, with the cumulative times across all eight runs producing the end result. Maloney and his fellow guest drivers will not be able to deprive registered BRC championship contenders of points in the new-for-2005 Texaco championship, but could certainly challenge for the fastest time of the day.
At the wheel of his prodigiously-fast rotary-engined Guinness Mazda RX3, Maloney claimed the circuit record back from Guyana’s Mark Vieira during qualifying for September’s International Race Meet, then lowered it twice again last Sunday (October 9). Although this coming weekend’s event will not concentrate on the standard track layout, Maloney’s intimate knowledge of the course should nevertheless stand him in good stead.
Maloney will be joined by both his brothers: Sean will drive his regular Citgo Racing/Hill & Burke Boards Toyota Starlet, in which he claimed his first pole position at Bushy Park in June, and went on to win two races; Stuart, meanwhile, will use the Paints Plus Peugeot 306 in which their father Doug claimed BARL’s Group 3C Championship last season.

M & M versus M & M & M

Among the BRC regulars intending to keep the fastest time of the day ‘in-house’ will be Rally Barbados winner Roger Mayers (Trivial Pursuit/McEnearney Quality Ford Focus WRC), who enjoys a four-point lead in the Texaco BRC Rally Championship. Like Maloney, he has family alongside him, in the form of younger brother Barry (Trivial Pursuit/Nassco Toyota Starlet), who is fifth in the championship standings, and has finished highest-placed two-wheel-drive car in three of the four rounds so far run.
Also expected to compete is Cliff Roett, who wowed the crowd at Bushy Park last weekend with some determined driving in the DaCosta Mannings Auto Centre/Nassco/Lucky Horsehoe/Thorogood Footwear/Roetts Garage Toyota Starlet. Having qualified second to Maloney in Group 3C, he twice beat him off the start-line, although the Mazda driver reclaimed the advantage after the first corner, Roett finishing second on two occasions. In the final, reversed-grid race, Roett passed Maloney on the last lap to snatch fourth place.
BRC competition secretary Barry Gale said today (Wednesday): “It really looks as though we’re going to bring the curtain down in fine style on the first year of the Texaco BRC Rally Championship. We’re already well into the mid-twenties as far as entries are concerned, and there are still some registered competitors – including me! – doing their level best to sort out little problems with their cars. We have a Friday late-entry deadline to deal just that situation, and I’m expecting the total to be at least 30 entries.”
The entry list for the final round of the Texaco BRC Rally Championship will be published Friday.

Texaco BRC Rally Championship
Positions after four of five rounds – all rounds count
1st Roger Mayers (Trivial Pursuit/McEnearney Quality Ford Focus WRC), 45 points
2nd Trevor Manning (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), 41pts
3rd Roger Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac/Michelin Toyota Celica GT4), 37pts
4th John Powell – JAM (Intercontinental Shipping/Trinidad Mooring & Launch Services Toyota Corolla WRC), 33pts
5th Barry Mayers (Trivial Pursuit/Nassco Toyota Starlet), 28pts
6th equal Jonathan Still (Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Warrens Motors/Crane & Equipment BMW M3) and Geoffrey Noel (Irving Oil/Max Meyer/AutoZone/Mix 96.9/ESSCO/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 22pts
8th equal Sean Gill (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis JWRC) and Sean Dowding (Pro Pac/Globe Finance/Xypex Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V), 17pts
10th Roger Skeete (Havoline/McEnearney Quality/Michelin Ford Focus WRC), 10pts
etc

For further information, robin@bradfax.com