BOURNE v HILL v MANNING v SKEETE

For the first time since the game of World Rally Car musical chairs stopped, the island’s four leading car and driver combinations will come face to face on Sunday (May 3) in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Automotive Art Shakedown Stages. The 10-stage tarmac rally starts the final four weeks of preparations for Sol Rally Barbados 2009, the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport event.
With interest in motor sport running at unprecedented levels, the entry of 49 crews is a record for a National tarmac rally in recent years . . . and island fans are expected to turn out in their thousands to witness the first showdown of the year between Paul Bourne, Roger Hill, Trevor Manning and Roger Skeete.
The only one of the four not to have changed cars since Sol RB08 is Bourne, who starts Sunday’s event at number one, co-driven in the Banks/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Airways Subaru Impreza WRC S9 by Stuart Maloney, with whom he won Rally Barbados in 2007. Sunday’s event is round three of the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship, of which Bourne won the first two rounds, on gravel.
Driving the Esso/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Corolla WRC in which Northern Ireland’s Kris Meeke won Sol RB08, Hill has been Bourne’s closest challenger so far, finishing second, then third, in the first two rounds; unfortunately for Hill, who will have regular co-driver Graham Gittens alongside on Sunday, the BRC Championship’s opening round was shared with the first half of the Motoring Club of Barbados Inc’s (MCBI) double-header in March, not the second . . . where Hill beat Bourne!
Manning did not appear until the BRC Championship’s second round two weeks later, where he split Bourne and Hill in his All-Terrain Plus/Garbage Master/Bess Block Ford Escort WRC, despite having owned the car formerly campaigned by Skeete for precious few days. With further work to be done on his new mount, Manning missed the MCBI Tarmac Sprint at Luke Hill 10 days ago, where his car’s former owner was the man on form. On Sunday, Derek Edwards starts his second season as co-driver to Manning.
Skeete acquired his Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9 from John Powell shortly after Sol RB09 and, after winning the local season’s final gravel rally, then placing second in Rally Jamaica, set about a ground-up rebuild of the car. His victory in the recent MCBI event would indicate the work has been worthwhile, so he is expected to mount a strong challenge, with new co-driver Louis Venezia – winner of Rally Barbados 2003 with Bourne – alongside.
Scrutineering is scheduled for 1.00pm Saturday (May 2) at Automotive Art, Six Roads, St Philip, with the Sunday start at 9.00am from the company’s premises at Welches, St Michael; the event will be contested over 10 stages in the north of the island, with Black Bess the base for service, also the venue for the lunch halt, the finish and a post-event social for competitors, marshals, officials and spectators.

Automotive Art Shakedown Stages – Sunday, May 3
Provisional running order

1 Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney (M8-WRC Banks/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Airways Subaru Impreza WRC S9)
2 Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia (M8-WRC Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9)
3 Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (M8-WRC Esso/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Corolla WRC)
4 Trevor Manning/Derek Edwards (M8-WRC All-Terrain Plus/Garbage Master/Bess Block Ford Escort WRC)
5 Barry Gale/Cherie Edghill (M8-WRC Autolink/Bella Beauty Supply/ProPac Dog Food Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
6 Brett Clarke/Garry Clarke (M8-WRC Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
7 Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward (M8-A Hankook/Shell V-Power/Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
8 Kirk Watkins/Ryan Corbin (M8-A Abacus Builders Inc/Hankook Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V)
9 Geoffrey Noel/Kreigg Yearwood (P4 Globe Finance/DeWalt Tools/Essco/Sunbeach/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)
10 Harold Morley/Geoff Goddard (P4 Subaru Impreza N14)
11 Dean Serrao/Ryan Farmer (P4 Subaru Impreza N12)
12 David Williams/Kristian Yearwood (P4 Consolidated Finance/MQI Collision Repair Centre/Mix 96.9FM/Chelsea Car Rentals/Castrol Subaru Impreza WRX STi)
14 Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell (SM11 Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments BMW M3)
15 Nicholas Gill/Sue Rogers (SM11 Mazda 3)
16 Mark Hamilton/Clive Howell (SM11 PowerMaster Batteries/Automotive Art/MQI/Consolidated Finance Ford Escort MkII)
17 Owen Cumberbatch/Kelly-Ann Sandiford (SM11 Combo Auto Parts and Service BMW M3)
18 St Elmo Cumberbatch/Dwayne Forde (SM11 Carib Supply/F Taylor Associates BMW E36)
19 Justin Campbell/Jermin Pope (SM11 Area 5 Auto Works/Cumberbatch Nurseries/Atlantic Computers BMW M3)
20 Ian Warren/Robert Warren (SM10 Simpson Motors/Shell V-Power Suzuki Swift)
21 Andrew Jones/Alan Bayne (SM10 Rexona V8/A P Jones Pharmacy/Southern Surf Hotel Ford Escort MkII)
22 Cliff Roett/Orry Hunte (SM10 Carters General Store/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett’s Garage Toyota Starlet)
23 Rhett Watson/Logan Watson (SM10 The Unknown Entity/MQI Collision Repair Centre/Toshiba/Office Solutions & Supplies/Corbs Workz Ford Escort MkI)
24 Ralph White/Sally Mayers (SM10 Island Safari/Drive-a-Matic/Going Places Travel/Barbados Villa Services Toyota Starlet)
25 Josh Read/Mark Jordan (SM9 Automotive Art Toyota Starlet)
26 James Betts/Josh Delmas (SM9 All Terrain Plus/Makita/Champion Auto/Kendal Sporting/Star Products Opel Corsa)
27 Daryl Clarke/Russell Branker (SM9 Mom’s Pasta Products/Area 5 Auto Works Mitsubishi Mirage)
28 Karl Waterman/Matthew Staffner (SM9 Flyin’ Fish/Crane & Equipments/Aqua Pur/Kerrygold Toyota Starlet)
29 Neil Corbin/Aaron Kirton (SM9 Nassco Ltd/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet)
30 Jeremy Gonsalves/Amanda Corbin (SM9 All Terrain Plus/Makita/Champion Auto/Kendal Sporting/Star Products Suzuki Swift)
31 Ryan Wood/Raymond Parris (SM9 Flyin’ Fish/Crane & Equipments/Aqua Pur/Kerrygold Toyota Starlet)
32 Stuart White/Jason O’Neil (SM9 Flyin’ Fish/Crane & Equipments/Aqua Pur/Kerrygold Toyota Starlet)
33 Jeremy Croney/Allan Maynard (SM9 Toyota Starlet)
34 Adrian Linton/Jackie Linton (M7 Ravensden/Morris Straker Construction/Garbage Gobbler/Crane & Equipment Vauxhall Astra GSi)
35 Greg Cozier/Antonio Da Silva (M7 Hyundai Industrial & Commercial/Citgo Oils Ford Escort RS2000)
36 Freddie Gale/Kyle Proverbs (M7 Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco/VP Racing Toyota Corolla RunX)
37 John Corbin/Owen Proverbs (M7 Corbins Garage/Clark-Odio Toyota Corolla)
38 Kyle Catwell/Justin Harrison (M7 Ellesmere Quarries Ltd/Chicken Pen Racing Team Volkswagen Golf GTI)
39 Ron Greaves/Jamal Brathwaite (M7 Chicken Pen Racing/Ellesmere Quarries Ltd/Dreamworks/McCarthys Garage Honda Civic)
40 David Brewster/Rashid Phillips (M7 SRG Engineering/Castrol Peugeot 205GTi)
41 Edward Corbin/Rodney Clarke (M6 Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage/JVM Signage Daihatsu Charmant)
42 Shareef Walcott/Juan Watts (M6 Melwani’s/Corbins Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla)
43 Danny Williams/Reuben Nelson (M6 Ford Fiesta)
44 Eric Allamby/Zach Heaselgrave (SM10 Shelbury Construction/Container Services/Castrol/ACT Sandblasting Mitsubishi Lancer)
45 George Gabriel/Leslie Evanson (SM9 my11plus.com/El Tigre Catamaran Sailing Cruises/Dreamworks Toyota Starlet)
46 Paul Inniss/Kerry Downes (SM10 246 Tuning/K Woods Boutique/Illusion Graphics Toyota Starlet)
47 Sean Cox/Adam Cox (M5 Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift)
48 Mario Clermont/Robert Tempro (SM11 BMW M3)
49 Sean T Field/Trai Field (P3 AM Realty/Ackee Tree/Field Insurance Brokers/Landscapes in Harmony Peugeot 306)
50 Fabien Clarke/Pierre Lashley (P2 Barbados Business Listings/RCR Tours/Bovell Auto Repair Suzuki Ignis Sport)

Sol Rally Barbados 2009 (May 29-31) and Shell V-Power King of the Hill (May 24) are organised by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2007; title sponsor is the Sol Group, the Caribbean’s largest independent oil company, and both events are rounds of the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s and Class Championships. Associate sponsors include the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association.

Media enquiries: e-mail – robin@bradfax.com