CLEAN RUN AT BUSHY PARK GIVES HILL TITLE

Posted on October 19th, 2005.

After eight events spread across as many months, the 2005 Virgin Atlantic Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Driver’s Championship has been settled by just one point in favour of Roger Hill in the Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac/Michelin Toyota Celica GT4.
The Toyota dealer emerged from last Sunday’s (October 16) final round at Bushy Park with a clean sheet, victory in the Modified 8 Group, plus the two bonus points as Group leader in each of the day’s two routes; dropping his lowest score of 10 left Hill with a total of exactly 100 points.
Although co-drivers were not required last Sunday, Hill’s regular partner Graham Gittens was nevertheless there to support his driver, checking times and keeping a weather eye on other competitors in the Group.
Despite equalling Hill’s performance at Bushy Park, with a win in Modified 7 plus the two route bonus points, once he’d dropped his lowest score of seven, Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Kumho Tyres Toyota Corolla SR) was left with 99 points. And that placed him runner-up in the BRC Driver’s Championship for the third year in a row, reinforcing his reputation as one of the most consistent performers in island motor sport - last year, Corbin finished seven points behind Barry Gale, in 2003 he lost out in a tie-break to Sean Gill.
But Sunday could have been a much worse day for Corbin, who retired from the event with radiator damage, the Corolla leaving Bushy Park aboard a wrecker truck; fortunately, he had finished the day’s fourth run, so met the criteria of having completed two-thirds of the event, remaining eligible for Group position.
Third overall and winner of Modified 9 in the Virgin Atlantic Championship is Trevor Manning (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII); Manning dropped his lowest score of 10 for a end-of-season total of 87 points.
Manning finished Group second to Roger Mayers (Trivial Pursuit McEnearney Quality Ford Focus WRC) last Sunday and shared the route bonus points; even if he had beaten Mayers, however, Manning would not have been able to improve his Championship position. Mayers ends the season eighth overall.
Former BRC Overall Champion Sean Gill missed the weekend’s event, but still claimed fourth overall, and a third successive Modified 6 championship in the Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis.
Despite finishing fourth in Modified Open at Bushy Park, an early rain-affected run leaving him to play catch-up, Jonathan Still has nevertheless finished fifth overall for the second year in a row. The only driver other than Hill, Corbin and Manning to score in all eight rounds, Still also won the Modified Open title in the Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Warrens Motors/Crane & Equipment BMW M3.
Sixth place goes to Geoff Noel (Irving Oil/Max Meyer/AutoZone/Mix 96.9/ESSCO/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), while one of the most impressive performances of last Sunday won the Modified 5 Championship for Brett Clarke. At the wheel of the Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift GTi, Clarke won his Group by the largest margin of the day, and finished seventh overall, snatching the 2005 title in the final event of the season from the absent Wayne Manning.
Behind eighth-placed Mayers, the Virgin Atlantic overall top 10 is completed by Clarke’s team-mate Neil Barnard, who claimed the Production 2 title in the new Suzuki Ignis Sport’s first season, and Derek Roach, who won Production 3 in the Magna/PHD/Dupont/Sargento Cheeses/Warrens Motors MINI Cooper S.
The only Group champion to finish outside the overall top 10 in the final championship standings is the first-time winner of Production 1, Daniel Williams, who finished 20th overall in the Ocean Mist/Chase Midway Clothing/Sunbury Plantation Peugeot 106.

Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship
Final positions
Overall
1st Roger Hill (M8 Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac/Michelin Toyota Celica GT4), 100 points
2nd Edward Corbin (M7 Automotive Art/Kumho Toyota Corolla SR), 99pts
3rd Trevor Manning (M9 Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), 87pts
4th Sean Gill (M6 Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis JWRC), 86pts
5th Jonathan Still (MO Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Warrens Motors/Crane & Equipment BMW M3), 83pts
6th Geoffrey Noel (P4 Irving Oil/Max Meyer/AutoZone/Mix 96.9/ESSCO/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 81pts
7th Brett Clarke (M5 Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift GTi), 74pts
8th Roger Mayers (M9 Trivial Pursuit/McEnearney Quality Ford Focus WRC), 74pts
9th Neil Barnard (P2 Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis Sport), 70pts
10th Derek Roach (P3 Magna/PHD/Dupont/Sargento Cheeses/Warrens Motors MINI Cooper S), 70pts
etc
Modified 9 1st T Manning, 87pts; 2nd R Mayers, 74pts; 3rd John Powell – JAM (Intercontinental Shipping/Trinidad Mooring and Launch Services/Toyota Trinidad Toyota Corolla WRC), 32pts etc
Modified 8 1st Hill, 100pts; 2nd Sean Dowding (Pro Pac/Globe Finance/Xypex Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V), 62pts; 3rd Barry Gale (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Nishikoi Fish Food Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 46pts etc
Production 4 1st Noel, 81pts
Modified Open 1st Still, 83pts; 2nd Barry Mayers (Trivial Pursuit/Nassco Toyota Starlet), 68pts; 3rd Josh Read (Baram Services/ERP Exports/Forever Flowers/D Blades Trophies Toyota Starlet), 48pts etc
Modified 7 1st E Corbin, 99pts; 2nd Roger Marshall (Signia Financial/Western Union/Bill Express Hyundai Accent), 65pts; 3rd John Corbin (Corbin’s Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla), 52pts etc
Modified 6 1st Gill, 86pts; 2nd Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders Inc/Planned Maintenance/Bridgestone Toyota Corolla), 67pts; 3rd Joshua Delmas (Autolink Service Centre/Ideal Agencies Toyota Corolla Gti), 50pts etc
Modified 5 1st Brett Clarke (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift GTi), 74pts; 2nd Wayne Manning (Citgo/Black Bess Quarry/Glassfibre Products Peugeot 205XS), 60pts; 3rd James Betts (Champion Auto/KG Enterprises/Venture Marble/Hankook/Bridgestone/L & N Workshop/Kendall Sporting Opel Corsa GSi), 49pts etc
Production 3 1st Roach, 70pts; 2nd Noel Edwards (CarMax Daihatsu Charade GTti), 28pts; 3rd Tristan Gibbs (Rent-a-Tool/Toyo Tyres/rallynut.com Toyota Starlet Turbo), 17pts etc
Production 2 1st Neil Barnard (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis Sport), 70pts; 2nd Gary Mendez (Toyota Starlet), 27pts; 3rd Carlos Humphrey (Toyota Starlet), 25pts
Production 1 1st Daniel Williams (Ocean Mist/Chase Midway Clothing/Sunbury Plantation Peugeot 106), 47pts