BOURNE WINS AT PICKERINGS

Posted on July 29th, 2007.

At the wheel of his BF Goodrich/Plus Subaru Impreza WRC, Paul Bourne dominated the time sheets once again on Saturday evening (July 28) when the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) made a successful return to Pickerings in St Lucy for its Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint.
Many hundreds of fans gathered as night fell to enjoy one practice and three timed runs, which ran smoothly in a little over two hours; the rarely-used course features a combination of challenges, offering something for everyone – the rough, winding downhill roads at the start are followed by a tricky hairpin on to the two high-speed sections of the stage, where drivers are really put to the test . . . particularly at night, and particularly when it is slippy, a number of drivers sliding off the course, although with only minor damage.
After a drive-through and the practice run, competition started in earnest with Bourne setting a benchmark time of 2 mins 29.82 secs; Trinidad-based Jamaican John Powell (Stag/Ultra/Intercontinental Shipping/Trinidad Mooring and Launch Services Toyota Corolla WRC) was second on 2m 34.28s, with Roger Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4) third on 2m 40.01s.
Emphasising the mixed character of the course, the leading two-wheel-drive cars completed the top six on the first run - Sean Gill clocked 2m 41.07s in the First Caribbean VISA/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art Suzuki Swift, while Ian Warren (MQI Collision Repair Centre/Subzero Services Ltd/Details Car Valet Inc Peugeot 206) and Jonathan Still (Red Bull/Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipment BMW M3) were both within eight-tenths of his time.
This resulted in some lively conversation at the service area, particularly among the drivers of the remaining four-wheel-drive cars! One of them had problems of his own, however: a computer glitch causing unpredictable behaviour from the front active differential in the Havoline/Michelin/FB Batteries Ford Escort WRC meant that Roger Skeete missed the first official run.
Bourne was fastest again on the second run, despite running the final sections of the course with a punctured right rear tyre; he was more than one second slower, on 2m 31.14s, but still beat Powell (2m 31.73s), Hill (2m 36.05s), Gill (2m 36.91s) and Skeete (2m 36.99s).
The final run would be crucial – indeed, the top 12 drivers all improved once again. While waiting for the times, Bourne said: “I’m certain that I went quicker on that last run than I did on my first, so I should have stayed ahead of John.” Powell, for his part, was enjoying the competition, the entire rear end of his Corolla having been rebuilt since losing a wheel two weeks ago. He said: “The car feels a lot different, and this is the first time I have felt really comfortable in it on tarmac.”
Bourne’s prediction was right: he had lowered his time to 2m 27.76s, to win by nearly two seconds; Powell clocked 2m 29.70s and Skeete 2m 33.01s.
Fourth overall, Hill won Modified 8-A, despite the best efforts of Barry Gale who improved by more than four seconds on his last run in the Dentyne Ice Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI to finish sixth overall. Gill maintained his giant-killing form, finishing fifth to beat Calvin Briggs (Ford Escort MkII) in SuperModified 10, the Group depleted even before the start, when the Watson brothers’ Escort lost all drive.
Warren claimed M6 with seventh overall and Still SM11, finishing eighth. Adrian Linton finished 12th overall and won M7 in the Ravensden Vauxhall Astra GSi.
In SM9, having spun the Automotive Art Toyota Starlet on the first run to place second to Stuart White (Flyin’ Fish/Cloudbase Starlet), Josh Read returned to service with a leaking radiator. He delayed leaving for the second run until he was confident there would be no sitting around on the line, and clocked a time good enough for a Group win (14th overall), and then sat out the last run.

BRC Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint
Saturday, July 28

Results - overall
1st Paul Bourne (M8-WRC BF Goodrich/Plus Subaru Impreza WRC), 2m 27.76s
2nd John Powell - JAM (M8-WRC Stag/Ultra/Intercontinental Shipping/Trinidad Mooring and Launch Services Toyota Corolla WRC), 2m 29.70s
3rd Roger Skeete (M8-WRC Havoline/Michelin/FB Batteries Ford Escort WRC), 2m 33.01s
4th Roger Hill (M8-A Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), 2m 34.06s
5th Sean Gill (SM10 First Caribbean VISA/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art Suzuki Swift), 2m 36.48s
6th Barry Gale (M8-A Simpson Motors/Dentyne Ice/VP Racing/Nitrous Formula/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 2m 36.68s
7th Ian Warren (M6 MQI Collision Repair Centre/Subzero Services Ltd/Details Car Valet Inc Peugeot 206), 2m 36.78s
8th Jonathan Still (SM11 Red Bull/Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipment BMW M3), 2m 37.23s
9th Jason Clermont (SM11 Castrol BMW M3), 2m 43.51s
10th Daryl Clarke (M6 Mom’s Pasta Products/246 Tuning/Area 5 Auto Works Mitsubishi Mirage), 2m 46.62s
etc
Modified 8-WRC 1st Bourne; 2nd Powell; 3rd Skeete
M8-A & Production 4 merged 1st Hill; 2nd Gale; 3rd Kirk Watkins (M8-A Abacus Builders Inc/Hankook Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V), 2m 46.98s; 4th Geoffrey Noel (P4 Ezone/Globe Finance/Weisers/Café Blue/Sign Stop/Summa Graphix/Essco/Autozone/Automotive Art/Sunbeach/Sentry Insurance Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 2m 48.32s
SuperModified 11 1st Still; 2nd Clermont; 3rd Justin Campbell (BMW M3), 3m 15.07s
S10 1st Gill; 2nd Calvin Briggs (Ford Escort MkII), 2m 58.30s
S9 1st Josh Read (Automotive Art Toyota Starlet), 2m 51.50s; 2nd Stuart White (Flyin’ Fish/Cloudbase Embroidery/Catch Chocolate/Budex Couriers/Crane & Equipment Toyota Starlet), 2m 58.47s; 3rd David Williams (Bacassa/Caribpak/Castrol/Ibox/SRG/Roxy Supermarket/Dynamic Limo Toyota Starlet), 3m 02.84s; 4th Allan Maynard (Marshal Trading/Woodworks/Castrol Toyota Starlet), 3m 28.89s
M7 1st Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Crane & Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/West Coast Garden Centre/Edwin Clarke Furniture Vauxhall Astra GSi), 2m 47.49s; 2nd Ron Layne (Pavements & Foundations/SDRR Hydraulics & Spares/General Welding Workshop/L & N Workshop Nissan Sunny), 2m 58.95s; 3rd Simon Gillmore (SRG Engineering/Halton Graphics Peugeot 205GTi), 3m 00.92s
M6 & P2 merged 1st Warren; 2nd Clarke; 3rd Josh Delmas (M6 Weetabix/Go Motorsport Toyota Corolla GTi), 2m 59.71s; 4th Neil Barnard (P2 First Caribbean VISA/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art Suzuki Ignis Sport), 2m 59.78s