BOURNE RETAINS RALLY CROWN

With a full house of eight fastest stage times in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) final rally of the season last Sunday (October 21), Paul ‘Surfer’ Bourne confirmed his position as champion-elect of the 2007 Texaco BRC Rally Championship; he ends the year with 70 points, more than 30 ahead of his closest rival, to retain the title he won for the first time last year.
At the wheel of the BF Goodrich/Plus Subaru Impreza WRC, Bourne and co-driver Stuart Maloney ended the season in much the same way as it had begun – back in March, they won the first of the Championship’s five rounds, the March Gravel Stages, since when Bourne has faltered only once, on day one of Rally Barbados, when he finished third to John Powell and Roger Skeete.
Trinidad-based Jamaican Powell finishes second in the Championship, despite scoring points in only three of the five rounds in his ex-works Toyota Corolla WRC, with Jonathan Still third (just two points behind Powell) and highest-placed two-wheel-drive car. The championship rewards drivers based on overall finishing positions, with no fewer than 25 finishing in the top 10 during the season.
From the start at Searles Factory Yard, Sunday’s Texaco BRC Gravel Rally was action-packed, with drivers trying their hardest on the last chance to collect Championship points in the 2007 season; Bourne’s closest challenger was Skeete, ‘The Sheriff’ fastest on seven of the eight stages, beaten once (thanks to some minor damage) by Roger Hill. With Ian Griffith co-driving in the Havoline/Michelin/FB Batteries Ford Escort WRC, Skeete finished just under 59 seconds adrift of Bourne.
Hill and Graham Gittens (Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4) finished third – they were second-fastest on stage 6, less than 2secs behind Bourne - with Harold Morley and Geoff Goddard fourth, after a tidy drive in the ex-John Powell Group N Subaru Impreza.
Neil Armstrong and Barry Ward (Shell Helix/Hankook/Soldier Seal Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) had been the early leaders of Group N – fastest on all the morning’s four stages, and third overall – but an off-stage excursion cost them the win, although they did reappear in the top 10 times on the final stage.
Their demise assisted Geoff Noel and Kriegg Yearwood (Ezone/Globe Finance/Weisers/Café Blue/Sign Stop/Summa Graphix/Essco/Autozone/Automotive Art/Sunbeach/Sentry Insurance Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) on their way to fifth overall, while the top six was completed by Sean Dowding and Jason Cozier in only their second outing in Dowding’s recently-acquired Subaru Impreza.
The rest of the top 10 was filled with the highest-placed two-wheel-drive cars, led by the remarkable Ian Warren, co-driven by Matthew Staffner in the MQI Collision Repair Centre/Subzero Services Ltd/Details Car Valet Inc Peugeot 206; never out of the top 10 all day and as high as sixth on stage 3, Warren was less than 5secs behind Dowding at the finish and within 10secs of Noel.
The rear-wheel-drive crew followed, perhaps a reflection of the conditions and the stage format. Still and Heath Hazell (Red Bull/Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipment BMW M3) finished eighth, with Andrew Jones and Mark Thompson (A P Jones Pharmacy/McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Escort MkII) ninth. Among the day’s most impressive performances was that of Rhett Watson and Sean Corbin (The Unknown Entity/New Media Advertising/Toshiba/Office Solutions & Systems Ford Escort MkI); that Escort will celebrate its 40th birthday next year, but it still managed to edge into the top 10 on three of the day’s eight stages.
The highest-placed female competitor was Jamie Marsh, co-driving for Geoffrey Ullyett (Ullyetts Machine Shop Service/Sikkens/Champion/Crane & Equipment/Goodyear/Nissan 200Y), another who managed to force an ageing car well into the top 10 on more than one occasion during the day.
The event concluded with a Prize-giving, which brought the Club’s rally season to an enjoyable end; as BRC PR Neil Barnard remarked afterwards: “There was an absolutely fantastic atmosphere at the BCTSA after the rally. All marshals, competitors and some spectators gathered for the Prize-giving, and it was brilliant to have everyone together - much cheering and congratulations all around. A true club atmosphere.”
The BRC’s 50th Anniversary season concludes with the final round of the BRC Safari Championship (November 11), shortly followed by the Annual Awards Ceremony (November 24).

Texaco BRC Gravel Rally
Texaco BRC Rally Championship, final round
Provisional results

1st Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney (BF Goodrich/Plus Subaru Impreza WRC), 33m 07.06s
2nd Roger Skeete/Ian Griffith (Havoline/Michelin/FB Batteries Ford Escort WRC), 34m 05.40s
3rd Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), 35m 32.20s
4th Harold Morley/Geoffrey Goddard (Subaru Impreza), 36m 05.01s
5th Geoffrey Noel/Kreigg Yearwood (Ezone/Globe Finance/Weisers/Café Blue/Sign Stop/Summa Graphix/Essco/Autozone/Automotive Art/Sunbeach/Sentry Insurance Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 37m 08.56s
6th Sean Dowding/Jason Cozier (Subaru Impreza), 37m 12.93s
7th Ian Warren/Matthew Staffner (MQI Collision Repair Centre/Subzero Services Ltd/Details Car Valet Inc Peugeot 206), 37m 17.62s
8th Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell (Red Bull/Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipment BMW M3), 38m 18.83s
9th Andrew Jones/Mark Thompson (A P Jones Pharmacy/McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Escort MkII), 38m 23.92s
10th Rhett Watson/Sean Corbin (The Unknown Entity/New Media Advertising/Toshiba/Office Solutions & Systems Ford Escort MkI), 38m 24.66s
etc

Texaco BRC Rally Championship
Final positions

1st - Paul Bourne, 70 points
2nd - John Powell, 39pts
3rd - Jonathan Still, 37pts
4th - Roger Skeete, 34pts
5th – Roger Hill, 19pts
6th - Geoff Noel, 18pts
7th - Sean Gill, 17pts
8th - Mark Hamilton, 16pts *
9th - Ian Warren, 16pts *
10th - Barry Gale, 14pts
etc
* tie-break decided on better overall finishing position

For further information, robin@bradfax.com