WARREN AND WHITE TAKE MUD DOGS LEAD

Posted on September 16th, 2009.

With their third top three finish of the season, Robert Warren and Darrin White have moved into the lead of the Navigator and Driver standings in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Mud Dogs Safari Championship. Third in March, the winners in June, they finished second in last Sunday’s (September 13) Regional Fire & Security September Safari to open up a 10-point advantage.
Competing in the Flyin’ Fish/Lucky Locks Nissan Frontier, Warren and White started strongly, winning the event’s first route by a margin of 97 penalties; a less successful afternoon in the island’s central and eastern parishes – they were sixth – resulted in their second-place overall finish, losing out by 49 penalties.
Second in the morning was one of the Club’s most successful navigational rallying crews, Wayne Clarke and Chris Armstrong, in their Toyota Hilux . . . they went on to win the afternoon route, ending the day the overall winners. Their result combined with fourth and eighth places in the earlier events to promote Clarke and Armstrong to third in the Navigator and Driver standings.
Paul Marshall and daughter Tiffany (Mitsubishi L200) finished an impressive third overall, after a consistent performance across the day, third on the morning route, fifth in the afternoon; Tiffany also claimed the trophy for highest-placed female competitor, on a good day for the girls, with three in the top six.
Rallying stalwart Biddy Barber, who had donated the trophy, finished fifth in her Aqua Pur/Castrol/Visitor's Information Daihatsu Feroza with driver Chris O’Neal, while Kirk and Tricia King finished sixth in the K & N Equipment Suzuki Samurai.
Championship leaders before the weekend, Dominic Brooker and Stephen Dear (SDRR Hydraulics/Next Generation Electrical/Joe Brooker's Building Toyota Hilux), winners of the March Safari, finished eighth, slipping to second in the standings, with just the November Safari to come.
Competition was keen in the Novice class, which had attracted eight starters. Adrian Sinckler and Andre Murrell (Suzuki Samurai) emerged on top after the morning route, with 504 penalties, nearly 60 fewer than Anthony King and Dave Sealy (Dynamic Limousine/Maxxis Tire/Lee’s Tyre Shop Toyota Hilux); neither fared so well in the afternoon, however, finishing fourth and fifth novice crew respectively.
Winning crew in the second route, Ben Norris and Rhett Watson (Pitbull Energy Drink/ACE Engineering Land Rover Tomcat) went on to finish highest-placed novices, eighth overall, while the second and third crews were separated by just one penalty point; second were Bryan Collymore and Adrian Jackman on 1461 penalties, third Kyle Proverbs and Daniel Christie on 1462.
Route-setters were Sean Dowding and Kirk Watkins, who are currently fifth in the Driver and Navigator standings; the event included more map-work than has been customary in recent times, an innovation praised by Mud Dogs chairman Leslie Alleyne: “Kirk and Sean did a marvellous job in setting the event and, consequently, everything ran very smoothly. I think that this event has shown that navigation by the map is very much alive, while the new addition of straight-line to the map was received well, despite the difficulty it gave some. Certainly the founders of navigational rallying would be happy with the interest shown by this new generation of ‘rallyist’.
“In congratulating all the awards winners, I must also say thanks to our sponsor, Regional Fire & Security, and all those who came together to make this event the success it was.” The final round of the Championship, the November Safari, is slated for Sunday, November 8.

Regional Fire & Security September Safari – September 13
Mud Dogs BRC Safari Championship, round 3
Results
1st Chris Armstrong/Wayne Clarke (Toyota Hilux), 585 penalties
2nd Darrin White/Robert Warren (Flyin’ Fish/Lucky Locks Nissan Frontier), 634pens
3rd Paul Marshall/Tiffany Marshall (Mitsubishi L200), 731pens
4th Colin Goodman/Robin Hinds (Suzuki Samurai), 916pens
5th Biddy Barber/Chris O’Neal (Aqua Pur/Castrol/Visitor's Information Daihatsu Feroza), 944pens
6th Kirk King/Tricia King (K & N Equipment Suzuki Samurai), 996pens
7th Mike Ward/Willie Hinds (Niccolls & Edghill Construction/EZ Sign Stop Suzuki Samurai), 1013pens
8th Dominic Brooker/Stephen Dear (SDRR Hydraulics/Next Generation Electrical/Joe Brooker's Building Toyota Hilux), 1053pens
9th Ben Norris/Rhett Watson (Pitbull Energy Drink/ACE Engineering Land Rover Tomcat), 1114pens
10th Audley Croney/Jeremy Croney (JCB Excavators Suzuki Samurai), 1119pens
etc
Novice Class
1st Norris/Watson
2nd Bryan Collymore/Adrian Jackman (Owlies Trucking/Williams Tools & Equipment Suzuki Samurai), 1461pens – 13th o/a
3rd Kyle Proverbs/Daniel Christie (Jason Jones & Co/Hankook Tyres/Ellco/Fingerprint Designs/SDRR Hydraulics/Flick Services/Ready Mix/Ready Block Suzuki Samurai), 1462pens – 14th o/a
etc

2009 BRC Mud Dogs Safari Championship
Positions after round three - Navigators:
1st Robert Warren, 174 points
2nd Stephen Dear, 164pts
3rd Wayne Clarke, 160pts
4th Kirk Watkins, 144pts
5th equal Willie Hinds & Tricia King, 134pts
7th Derek Edwards, 130pts
8th Neil Barnard & Warrick Eastmond, 110pts
10th Tiffany Marshall, 106pts
etc
Drivers:
1st Darrin White, 174 points
2nd Dominic Brooker, 164pts
3rd Chris Armstrong, 160pts
4th Paul Marshall, 156pts
5th Sean Dowding, 144pts
6th equal Michael Ward & Kirk King, 134pts
8th Damian Brooker, 130pts
9th Audley Croney, 112pts
10th equal Barry Gale & Nicolas Lorde, 110pts
etc