BARNARD LEADS DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP

Thanks to a perfect score over the two weekends of the seventh annual Barbados Rally Carnival in May, Neil Barnard has grasped the overall lead of the Virgin Atlantic Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Driver’s Championship after five of the eight rounds . . . but he will have his work cut out to retain his advantage between now and year-end.
Before the Red Bull International RallySprint (May 19) and Rally Barbados (May 26/27), Production 2 Group leader Barnard had been tied in third place overall in the First Caribbean VISA/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art Suzuki Ignis Sport. He claimed a Group win at the Vaucluse Raceway, however, then led his Group throughout Rally Barbados, each day of which counts as a separate Championship round - he collected two more maximum scores, including all four route bonus points, to give him a total of 76 points.
But Barnard needs to keep an eye over his shoulder, however, as a spread of only five points covers the leading five drivers in the overall standings. Just two points behind is Josh Read, who heads the SuperModified 9 Group in the Automotive Art Toyota Starlet; at year-end, each driver will drop his lowest score and, even taking that into account based on results so far, there would still be a two-point gap between Barnard and Read.
Barnard’s problem is that the smaller-capacity Production classes have not been very well-subscribed this season, which may play into Read’s hands as the season progresses. SM9 has regularly seen up to five competitors, so the Starlet driver is unlikely to find himself merged up into a higher Group, something which has already befallen Barnard once this year.
An excellent contest over the remaining three events is certainly in prospect; just one further point behind behind Read comes SuperModified 11 leader Jonathan Still, who has moved up from fifth following consistent Group-winning performances over Rally Carnival in the Red Bull/Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipment BMW M3.
Only two more points behind, tied in fourth place on 71, are Paul Bourne and Ian Warren. Bourne claimed perfect scores in Modified 8-WRC in the first three events of the season in his BF Goodrich/Plus Subaru Impreza WRC, but Rally Barbados was a different story: although he headed the results sheets on the second day, he fell behind John Powell and Roger Skeete on day one – he also picked up only one route bonus point each day, losing out to the same two drivers, otherwise he might have been ahead of Barnard.
Driving the MQI Collision Repair Centre/Subzero Services Ltd/Details Car Valet Inc Peugeot 206, M6 leader Warren is still playing catch-up, after finishing Group fourth in the season’s opening event, the March Gravel Stages. Even so, that means his lowest score is currently nine points, less than the others in the leading group, which may prove vital at year-end.
There’s a gap of 13 points before sixth-placed Mark Hamilton but, with another three events to go – and the potential to score more than 40 points – anything could yet happen. Hamilton leads SM10 in the Consolidated Finance/McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Escort MkII with a total of 58 points, one ahead of Production 4 leader Neil Armstrong (Shell Helix/Hankook Tires/Soldier Seal Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) – he, in turn, has a one-point advantage over eighth-place Stuart White (Flyin’ Fish/Cloudbase Embroidery/Catch Chocolate/Budex Couriers/Crane & Equipment Toyota Starlet).
The drivers occupying the final two slots in the top 10 are also those vying for supremacy in Modified 7, which is the most hard-fought category in this year’s Driver’s Championship. Early-season leader Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/NASSCO/Nitrous Formula Octane Booster/Nishikoi Fish Foods Toyota Corolla RunX) has slipped to second place, but there are just two points in it. Although he finished second to Greg Cozier on both days of Rally Barbados, it is reigning Overall Champion Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Crane & Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/West Coast Garden Centre/Edwin Clarke Furniture Vauxhall Astra GSi) who currently has the upper hand in M7.
The next round of the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship is the Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint on the evening of Saturday, July 28.

Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship
Positions after round 5

Modified 8-WRC 1st Paul Bourne (BF Goodrich/Plus Subaru Impreza WRC), 71 points; 2nd John Powell - JAM (Intercontinental Shipping/Trinidad Mooring and Launch Services/Toyota Trinidad Toyota Corolla WRC), 40pts; 3rd Roger Skeete (Havoline/Michelin/FB Batteries Ford Escort WRC), 23pts; etc
M8-A 1st Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders Inc/Hankook Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V), 48pts; 2nd Barry Gale (Simpson Motors/Dentyne Ice/VP Racing/Nitrous Formula/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 34pts; 3rd Roger Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), 27pts
Production 4 1st Neil Armstrong (Shell Helix/Hankook/Soldier Seal Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 57pts; 2nd Geoffrey Noel (Ezone/Globe Finance/Weisers/Café Blue/Sign Stop/Summa Graphix/Essco/Autozone/Automotive Art/Sunbeach/Sentry Insurance Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 36pts; 3rd Ryan Hutchinson (Auto Airtronic Services/Simple Green Toyota Celica GT4), 10pts
SuperModified 11 1st Jonathan Still (Red Bull/Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipment BMW M3), 73pts; 2nd Nicholas Gill (Castrol Syntec/Hennessy/Vita Malt/Lysol/Listerine/McEnearney Quality Inc/Mazda Genuine Parts Mazda 3), 40pts; 3rd Andrew Jones (A P Jones Pharmacy/McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Escort MkII), 36pts; etc
SM10 1st Mark Hamilton (Consolidated Finance/McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Escort MkII), 58pts; 2nd Sean Gill (First Caribbean VISA/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art Suzuki Swift), 44pts; 3rd Rohan Hall (RDH Group/AC Delco Ford Escort MkII), 25pts; etc
SM9 1st Josh Read (Automotive Art Toyota Starlet), 74pts; 2nd Stuart White (Flyin’ Fish/Cloudbase Embroidery/Catch Chocolate/Budex Couriers/Crane & Equipment Toyota Starlet), 56pts; 3rd David Williams (Bacassa/Caribpak/Castrol/Ibox/SRG/Roxy Supermarket/Dynamic Limo Toyota Starlet), 28pts; etc
M7 1st Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Crane & Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/West Coast Garden Centre/Edwin Clarke Furniture Vauxhall Astra GSi), 51pts; 2nd Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/NASSCO/Castrol/VP Racing/Barbados Industries Toyota Corolla RunX), 49pts; 3rd Greg Cozier (Citgo/Hyundai Commercial & Industrial Ford Escort RS2000), 42pts; etc
M6 1st Ian Warren (MQI Collision Repair Centre/Subzero Services Ltd/Details Car Valet Inc Peugeot 206), 71pts; 2nd Josh Delmas (Weetabix/Go Motorsport Toyota Corolla GTi), 44pts; 3rd Daryl Clarke (Mom’s Pasta Products/246 Tuning/Area 5 Auto Works Mitsubishi Mirage), 33pts; etc
M5 1st Rhett Watson (Datsun), 6pts
P2 1st Neil Barnard (First Caribbean VISA/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art Suzuki Ignis Sport), 76pts; 2nd Ryan Corbin (Caribtrans/Suntraders Peugeot 106), 13pts

For further information, robin@bradfax.com