LIVE COVERAGE AT SHELL V-POWER KING OF THE HILL

The Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) final shakedown before the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport event, Sol Rally Barbados 2009 (May 29-31), looks set to offer the island’s thousands of motor sport fans a spectacle nearly as good as the ‘main event’, with live coverage all day on the Giant Daylight Screen.
The final running order for Sunday’s (May 24) Shell V-Power King of the Hill, issued in advance of Scrutineering at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium today (May 22), lists 88 entries, nearly 20 more than last year. Cars will run in reverse order of seeding, from Production 2 up to Modified 8-WRC, while the addition of some exhibition runs promises a day to remember.
Shell V-Power King of the Hill is important in more ways than one: it is a points-scoring round of the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s and Class Championships, provides overseas competitors with a chance to shakedown their cars before the following weekend, and the results are key to the seeding process for Sol RB09 . . . so everyone will be in maximum attack mode.
As an additional attraction, Barry Mayers will treat fans to their first sight of his new mid-engined Simpson Motors/Shell V-Power/Chefette/Illusion Graphics/Ignition Plus Suzuki SX4 race car being driven in anger; he will run, untimed, as one of a number of Zero cars, which will also include the striking reincarnation of Neil Armstrong’s Toyota Starlet, the ‘Pitbullet’, sponsored by energy drink Pit Bull. An invitation has also been extended to Roger Mayers and the Ford Focus WRC in which he won Rally Barbados in 2005, before it was converted to a circuit racer.
And that isn’t all that spectators have to look forward to:
+ Merville Lynch Productions will broadcast live coverage on the Giant Daylight Screen of nearly every inch of the action on the three-kilometre stage, from five camera positions
+ live commentary will keep fans up to speed with the latest times
+ nearly 90 cars, contesting one practice and three official timed runs, means something around 360 attacks on the popular St Philip venue
+ the fastest 10 after the first official timed run will be re-seeded in reverse order, then run at the end of the field, building to an explosive climax to an action-packed day

Quality action all through the field

Although the lower-capacity classes in the Sol RB09 field are now less well-supported, there is still quality action. In Modified 6, with two wins to one this year in local events, Edward Corbin is currently ahead, co-driven by Rodney Clarke in the Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage/JVM Signage Daihatsu Charmant.
Whether a last-minute change of co-driver to Shane Emtage will affect the result for the year’s other winner, Danny Williams (Chris’s Workshop/Sunbury Plantation House/Barbados Paragliding Association Ford Fiesta) remains to be seen, but both these crews will need to watch out for Jamal Brathwaite/Talia Mapp (AM Electrical Solutions/Arthur Construction/Arthur Lifting and Freighting/Ellesmere Quarries/Chicken Pen Racing/D2 Racing Suspension Mitsubishi Mirage) and Shareef Walcott/Juan Watts (Melwani’s/Auto Solutions/Spoons Custom Brokers & Trucking/Klark-Odio/SMS Management Toyota Corolla).
Circuit racing fans will certainly be checking the progress of former triple karting Champion Nigel Reece, co-driven by cousin Jonathan Reece, himself a respected surfer, in the Subzero Services/TGM Air Conditioners/Trident International Corporation/Ullyett’s Machine Shop Service/Structural Systems/Preconco Datsun 120Y,.
Despite just four entries, M5 offers a great mix, including two overseas crews, one visiting for the first time. In local events, newcomers Sean and Adam Cox (Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift) have impressed with their solid approach, but they will find Sol RB09 more challenging. The clever money has to be on Scotland’s Kenny Hall, with Dutch co-driver Fenny Wesselink – he’s won twice before in the Suzuki-engined Halltune Garage Opel Corsa – although Irish crew Glenn Campbell and Anthony Concannon might spring a surprise in their Burn Road Trade Sales/Campbell Motorsport Electrics/Motorcare/Agnew Recovery/TorqueTronix Nissan Micra.

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. Marketing partners are Automotive Art, Banks, Digicel, McEnearney Quality, Red Bull and Simpson Motors; official partners are the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Barbados Tourism Authority, Divi Southwinds Beach Resort, Geest Line, Stoute’s Car Rental and Virgin Atlantic; associate sponsors are ARMAG, Caribbean Airlines, Crane & Equipments, Merville Lynch Productions, Little Switzerland, Redline Fuels and Shelbury Construction.

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