AUTUMN GRAVEL STAGES TO RUN OFF SUNDAY

As crews prepare man and machine for the penultimate round of the 2009 Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Driver’s and Class Championships – the BRC Autumn Gravel Stages runs off this Sunday (October 18) – many also have a weather eye on the year-end rewards on offer for success in the two championships.
Points are calculated on each driver’s total over the 12 rounds, minus the lowest score (including non-starts and non-finishes); the Driver’s title chase is a straight-forward dash to the line, as both contenders have already accrued a zero for a non-finish - eight points separate Paul Bourne (Ford Focus WRC) and Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC).
And there’s an interesting battle for third place under way – around 40 points back from Hill come Neil Armstrong (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) on 74, Roger Skeete (Subaru Impreza S12) on 72 and Trevor Manning (Ford Escort WRC) on 68; while all are out of reach of the Driver’s title, each could still have an effect on that result this weekend and in the final, the BRC Winter Rally (October 31/November 1).
Things are less clear in the Class Championship, not least because the bonus points awarded to Class-winners at the end of each route (two on Sunday, for instance) also come into play. While each Class Champion-elect is pretty clear in most cases, the chase for the prestigious Overall Class Champion title looks set to go down to the wire.
Just eight points separate first and third, while the sixth-place man is only 20 points behind the leader, with more than 40 points still on offer. Group N leader Geoff Noel (Evo IX) has 163 points, just one ahead of SM11 leader Jonathan Still (BMW M3), with Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant), who leads Modified 6, third, another seven behind. The second group comprises SM11 leader Ian Warren (Suzuki Swift) on 148, with Bourne on 144, then SM9 leader James Betts (Opel Corsa) on 143 . . . there really is all to play for in the two remaining events.
Entries for Sunday’s BRC Autumn Gravel Stages close at 5.00pm tomorrow (Thursday, October 13), with the Briefing Meeting at 7.00pm the same evening at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association Clubhouse at Searles, Christ Church. The nearby Ocean Park car park will be the service area for Sunday’s action, which is slated for a 9.00am start. There will be four stages in the morning, running from Yorkshire to Searles, with a further four in the reverse direction scheduled to start at 13.10pm. A social and Prizegiving will follow the event, back at the BCTSA Clubhouse.

Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship
– after Round 10
* totals shown are calculated less the lowest score

1st Paul Bourne (M8-WRC Banks/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Subaru Impreza WRC S9 & Ford Focus WRC), 121 points
2nd Roger Hill (M8-WRC Esso/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Corolla WRC), 113pts
3rd Neil Armstrong (M8-A Simpson Motors/Hankook/ Shell V-Power/Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 74pts
4th Roger Skeete (M8-WRC Michelin/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Warrens Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 72pts
5th Trevor Manning (M8-WRC All-Terrain Plus/Garbage Master/Bess Block Ford Escort WRC), 68pts
6th Geoffrey Noel (P4 Globe Finance/DeWalt Tools/Essco/Sunbeach/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 64pts
7th Ian Warren (SM10 Simpson Motors/Shell V-Power Suzuki Swift), 60pts
8th Barry Gale (M8-WRC Autolink/VP Racing/Bella Beauty Supply/Pro Pac Dog Food Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 52pts
9th Jonathan Still (SM11 Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Little Switzerland BMW M3), 51pts
10th Cliff Roett (Carters & Co/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett’s Garage/Castrol Toyota Starlet), 35pts
etc

Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
– after Round 10
* totals shown are calculated less the lowest score

Modified 8-WRC: 1st Bourne, 144pts; 2nd Hill, 115pts; 3rd Skeete, 90pts; etc
M8-A 1st Armstrong, 114pts; 2nd Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders/Hankook Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V), 61pts; 3rd Michael Worme (Cot Media Group/Speedline Performance Auto/Dingolay/Details Car Valet Subaru Impreza STi), 49pts; etc
Production 4: 1st Noel, 163pts; 2nd Morley, 117pts; 3rd Dean Serrao (Amalgamated Security/Coconut Car Rentals/Lucky Games Inc Subaru Impreza N12 & Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 82pts; etc
SuperModified 11: 1st Still, 162pts; 2nd Nicholas Gill (SDRR/Glassfibre Products/Castrol/Barb's Bikinis Mazda 3), 68pts; 3rd Sammy Cumberbatch (Williams Industries/Digicel/F Taylor Associates/Castrol BMW M3), 48pts; etc
SM10: 1st Warren, 148pts; 2nd Rhett Watson (The Unknown Entity/MQI Collision Repair Centre/Toshiba/Office Solutions & Supplies/Corbz Workz/Castrol Ford Escort MkI), 119pts; 3rd Roett, 73pts; etc
SM9: 1st James Betts (All Terrain Plus/Cellate Caribbean/Makita/Black Bess/Yamaha/Champion Auto/Quik Start Auto/Kendal Sporting Opel Corsa), 143pts; 2nd Josh Read (Automotive Art Toyota Starlet), 125pts; 3rd Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet), 77pts; etc
M7: 1st Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco/VP Racing Toyota Corolla RunX), 131pts; 2nd Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Morris Straker Construction/Garbage Gobbler/Crane & Equipments Vauxhall Astra GSi), 87pts; 3rd John Corbin (Corbins Garage/Klark-Odio/Automotive Art Toyota Corolla), 82pts; etc
M6: 1st Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage/JVM Signage Daihatsu Charmant), 155pts; 2nd Jamal Brathwaite (AM Electrical Solutions/Arthur Construction/Arthur Lifting and Freighting/Ellesmere Quarries/Chicken Pen Racing/D2 Racing Suspension Mitsubishi Mirage), 89pts; 3rd Danny Williams (Chris’s Workshop/Sunbury Plantation House/Barbados Paragliding Association Ford Fiesta), 76pts; etc
M5: 1st Sean Cox (Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift), 116pts; 2nd Dave Sealy (Lunatics Inc/G & G Sales & Service/L G Trading/Barbados Muffler Centre/Appleby Filling Station/ACT Sand Blasting/Techno Toy Tuning/Fast Lane Model Car Racing Toyota Starlet), 20pts; 3rd Rhett D’Andrade (Rent-A-Tool Toyota Starlet), 10pts
P3: 1st Sean T Field (AM Realty/Ackee Tree/Field Insurance Brokers/Landscapes in Harmony Peugeot 306), 85pts
P2: 1st Fabien Clarke (Barbados Business Listings/RCA Tours/Bovell Auto Repair Suzuki Ignis Sport), 65pts; 2nd Dane Skeete (Peugeot 106), 40pts; 3rd Conor Roach (Peugeot 106), 12pts

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