McCONNEY AND CRONEY WIN SEASON’S FIRST SAFARI

A winning performance in the first of the two routes on last weekend’s Toyo Tires February Safari gave Suzuki Samurai crew Kenny Croney, the 2004 champion navigator, and Philip McConney the edge in the opening round of the Barbados Rally Club's (BRC) renamed BRC Safari Championship.
They came out on top of the 31 crews who started the first of four events in the 2006 championship, and beat the husband and wife partnership of Leslie and Anna-Lee Alleyne (Suzuki Samurai); their total of 358 penalties resulted in a victory by a margin of 72 penalties.
Despite finishing third, the 2005 BRC Navigational champions, navigator Neil Barnard and driver Barry Gale (Mitsubishi L200), were at the forefront of a large body of competitors who were impressed with the challenge of the season’s opening event. The route was set by Stewart Gill and re-checked by Sean Gill, two of the BRC's leading exponents of the art of navigation and both former winners of the island’s oldest-established motor sport event, the June Rally.
The day after the event, Barnard said: “Yesterday was fantastic - not necessarily for us, though. Stewart Gill's first route was simply brilliant. He had a lot of us making mistakes we simply did not realise we had made.”
Barnard and Gale won route two, with no penalites, but it was not enough to claim overall victory. Gale reflected: “Neil and I had a great second route, it went like clockwork . . . the first route wasn't 100 per cent for us, though - the tricks were fantastic. I’ve got no quarrels with Stewart Gill for that route, it was brilliantly done, with some real skullduggery and tricks to throw everyone into a tailspin.”
The Toyo Tires February Safari was sponsored by McEnearney Quality Inc, from whose premises it started at 8.00am last Sunday (February 12); the route covered approximately 120 kilometres, with a stop-over mid-way through the route at the Sand Dunes restaurant in Belleplaine before the first crew arrived back at the finish at Lord Willoughby’s Tavern at around 5pm.
BRC navigational committee member Lindsay Farmer, who missed the weekend’s event through illness, said: “Everyone has said how terrific the first route was, and the general feeling is that the rally on the whole was great. I’m really grateful to Stewart Gill - pressure of work in the two weeks before the event and lack of a suitable vehicle meant he was short of time. He borrowed my Suzuki Samurai, which runs on Toyo Open Country tyres, two weekends back to back, and got the job done, between having to leave the country frequently on business. That sort of commitment is what helps these events work so well, and all our competitors are grateful.”
The prize-giving was held last Thursday at the BCTSA, Searles. For their respective victories in routes one and two, McConney/Croney (108 pens) and Gale/Barnard (zero penalties) each received vouchers for both navigator and driver to the value of $150 in products and service from McEnearney Quality Inc, presented by Spencer Gill.
Highest-placed female navigator was Anna-Lee Alleyne, while the Sportsmanship Award was presented to Kerry Renee and Winston Drakes, who received free flat services for their vehicles from Autozone Inc; these two were voted by their fellow competitors to be the most deserving, because of their willingness use their Suzuki Samurai to pull vehicles out of a mud hole, even though it delayed them . . . they did it three times, rescuing the similar vehicles of Curtis Greaves/Jamal Brathwaite and Adrian Sinkler/Ansley Edey, also the Maruti Gypsy of Michael Ward and Willie Hinds.
Farmer added: “I’d also like to says thanks to all the land owners, sponsors, and marshals who made the event possible, and a special well done to the Novice winners, Gregory and Anna-Marie Dickenson, who were well deserving of their trophies fropm Neptune Tours.”

Toyo Tires February Safari, February 12
BRC Safari Championship, round 1
Overall top 10
1st Phillip McConney/Kenny Croney (Suzuki Samurai), 358 pens
2nd Leslie Alleyne/Anna-Lee Alleyne (Suzuki Samurai), 430 pens
3rd Barry Gale/Neil Barnard (Mitsubishi L200), 528 pens
4th Derek Gill/ Andrew Croney (Suzuki Samurai), 536 pens
5th Audley Croney/Geoffrey Goddard (Suzuki Samurai), 740 pens
6th Mark Western/Robin Hinds (Suzuki Samurai), 834 pens
7th Paul Marshall/Ian Huston (Mitsubishi L200), 846 pens
8th Michael Ward/Willie Hinds (Maruti Gypsy), 858 pens
9th Ian Warren/Robert Warren (Isuzu), 950 pens
10th Brett Barber/Biddy Barber (Daihatsu Feroza), 1086 pens

Novice top five
1st (11th overall) Gregory Dickenson/Anna-Marie Dickenson (Toyota Hilux), 1102 pens
2nd (13th o/a) Damian Brooker/Dustin Edwards (Toyota Hilux), 1452 pens
3rd (15th o/a) Sean Mottley/Kreigg Yearwood (Suzuki Vitara), 1474 pens
4th (17th o/a) Rory Gray/Michelle Barber (Land Rover Defender 110), 1660 pens
5th (18th o/a) Chris Choat Jr/Justin Inniss (Range Rover Special), 1696 pens

2006 BRC Safari Championship - qualifying rounds:
Round 1 - February 12
Round 2 - June 10/11
Round 3 - August 27
Round 4 - November 12
* drivers will count their scores from all rounds

For further information, robin@bradfax.com