RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY!

Officials of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) are working hard on plans to save next Sunday’s (October 22) final round of the Texaco BRC Rally Championship. The recent heavy rains, which have affected all corners of the island, have presented the organising team led by competition secretary Jonathan Still with some challenges.
Vice-chairman Barry Gale explains: “I have been helping Jonathan with this - we had an exciting and challenging route planned using two venues, but the biggest challenges have come even before the event can start! Everyone has been affected to some degree by the weather of the past two weeks, and our route has now been messed up, too.
“We’re going to keep working on finding a venue that is useable, so we opened entries for the event yesterday (Friday). It will still be a rally as originally planned, so there will be co-drivers but, as for the start and finish, we will not be in a position to confirm anything until early in the week.” Entries, which are being accepted at Gale’s Hatcheries and McEnearney Quality Inc, will close at 4.00pm on Wednesday (October 18).
The Texaco BRC Gravel Rally is the fifth and final round of the second annual Texaco BRC Rally Championship and is expected to attract a strong entry, as it will be the last major event of the 2006 season. Much anticipated is the return to action of Trevor Manning in the Simpson Motors/Shell Helix/Automotive Art/VISA/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, which was shipped to the UK shortly after Rally Barbados – although there have been two Motoring Club of Barbados Inc speed events in recent weeks, the car had not arrived back in time for the first one, then Manning himself was off-island for the second.
Manning lies third in the Texaco BRC Rally Championship, despite having only scored points on Rally Barbados, the two days of which constituted separate rounds of the championship; he won Sunday’s route, but finished second on Saturday to the current championship leader, Paul Bourne, giving him a total of 27 points.
Driving the Warrens Motors/Plus Subaru Impreza WRC, Bourne had already won the opening round of the championship, before beating Manning on day one of Rally Barbados, then finishing second on day two; he has 42 points.
Splitting the four-wheel-drive pair at the head of the Texaco standings with a score of 30 points is Adrian Linton in the Ravensden/Crane & Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/West Coast Garden Centre/Edwin Clarke Furniture Vauxhall Astra GSi. Linton, who is currently leading the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship, not only finished the highest-placed two-wheel-drive car in the first two rounds of the Texaco championship, but managed to win the second – the BRC Carnival Warm-up Tarmac Rally - outright!
Ian Warren, driving the Subzero Services/Details Car Valet Inc/McEnearney Quality Collision Repair Centre/Aqua Pur Peugeot 206, lies fourth, with Roger Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco Ltd/Motormac/PPG Toyota Celica GT4) fifth. A shake-up in the standings is likely next Sunday, as just four points cover Manning, Warren, Hill and the two drivers tied in sixth place - Mark Hamilton (Consolidated Finance/McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Escort MkII) and Barry Gale (Dentyne Ice/Simpson Motors/Nishikoi Fish Foods Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI).
Unlike the BRC Driver’s Championship, in which one score from the eight rounds is dropped, all five rounds count toward the Texaco Championship.

Texaco Barbados Rally Club Rally Championship
Positions after four of five rounds

1st Paul Bourne (Warrens Motors/Plus Subaru Impreza WRC), 42 points
2nd Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Crane & Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/West Coast Garden Centre/Edwin Clarke Furniture Vauxhall Astra GSi), 30pts
3rd Trevor Manning (Simpson Motors/Shell Helix/Automotive Art/VISA/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), 27pts
4th Ian Warren (Subzero Services/Details Car Valet Inc/McEnearney Quality Collision Repair Centre/Aqua Pur Peugeot 206GTi), 26pts
5th Roger Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco Ltd/Motormac/PPG Toyota Celica GT4), 25pts
6th Mark Hamilton (Consolidated Finance/McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Escort MkII) & Barry Gale (Dentyne Ice/Simpson Motors/Nishikoi Fish Foods Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 23pts
8th Harold Morley (Warrens Motors/Sunbeach Communications Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 20pts
9th Jonathan Still (Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Warrens Motors/Crane & Equipment/VP Racing BMW M3), 18pts
10th Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders Inc/Planned Maintenance/Aqua Pur Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V), 16pts
etc

For further information, robin@bradfax.com