TWELVE STAGES FOR BRC WINTER RALLY SUNDAY

The 2009 Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Driver’s and Class Championships reach their conclusion on Sunday (October 25) with the BRC Winter Rally . . . and the island’s fans are expected to turn out in their numbers for the 12-stage event, their last chance this season to see their heroes in action on home soil.
For competitors, there is still much to fight for - the battle for the Driver’s title remains unresolved, with Paul Bourne (Ford Focus WRC) and Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC) separated by just 12 points. Bourne will be hoping for better fortune than last year – he was leading the BRC Rally Championship coming in to the final round, but time taken to repair the power steering of his Subaru Impreza WRC, damaged after an unplanned trip into the canes, lost him the title, which was snatched by Roger Skeete.
Neil Armstrong (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) remains third, but is coming under pressure from Trevor Manning (Ford Escort WRC), now just three points behind; Skeete’s absence from the recent Autumn Gravel Stages dropped him from fourth to sixth in the table, Manning and Geoff Noel (Evo IX) the drivers to benefit. In the Class Championship, Skeete has slipped to fifth in Modified 8-WRC, Barry Gale (Evo VI) and Manning the drivers who have moved up, to lie third and fourth behind Bourne and Hill.
While most of the individual class battles are resolved, it is still not clear who will win the prestigious Overall Class Champion title; six drivers still have a mathematical chance of victory, as 20 points separate Group N leader Noel (185 points) and sixth-placed James Betts (SM9 Opel Corsa) on 165, and there are 21 points still to be scored, including the single route bonus point on Sunday, in fully-subscribed classes.
Behind Noel, Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant) is now second on 177 points, after victory in M6 on the Autumn Gravel Stages moved him ahead of SM11 leader Jonathan Still (BMW M3), who is two points behind; SM10 leader Ian Warren (Suzuki Swift) is fourth on 170, with Bourne fifth on 166.
Elsewhere in the classes, John Corbin (Toyota Corolla) has moved up to second in M7, ahead of Adrian Linton, who has been absent for second half of the season; the Toyota Starlets of Neil Corbin and Stuart White are now tied for third place in SM9; while Dane Skeete (Peugeot 106) has moved to within 10 points of Production 2 leader Fabien Clarke (Suzuki Ignis Sport), who has not been seen in action since July.
Sunday’s event is scheduled to start at 8.30am from Ocean Park, which will also be the venue for scrutineering (from 7.00am) and the service park for stages 1 to 4, then 9 to 12, at Searles; Kendal Plantation Yard will provide service facilities for stages 5 to 8, at Guinea. A social and Prizegiving will follow the event, at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association Clubhouse at Searles. Entries close at 4.00pm on Thursday (October 29), with the Briefing Meeting at 7.00pm the same evening at the BCTSA Clubhouse.

Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship
– after Round 11
* totals shown are calculated less the lowest score

1st Paul Bourne (M8-WRC Banks/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Subaru Impreza WRC S9 & Ford Focus WRC), 141 points
2nd Roger Hill (M8-WRC Esso/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Corolla WRC), 129pts
3rd Neil Armstrong (M8-A Simpson Motors/Hankook/ Shell V-Power/Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 84pts
4th Trevor Manning (M8-WRC All-Terrain Plus/Garbage Master/Bess Block Ford Escort WRC), 81pts
5th Geoffrey Noel (P4 Globe Finance/DeWalt Tools/Essco/Sunbeach/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 73pts
6th Roger Skeete (M8-WRC Michelin/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Warrens Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 72pts
7th Barry Gale (M8-WRC Autolink/VP Racing/Bella Beauty Supply/Pro Pac Dog Food Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 63pts
8th Ian Warren (SM10 Simpson Motors/Shell V-Power Suzuki Swift), 60pts
9th Jonathan Still (SM11 Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Little Switzerland BMW M3), 51pts
10th Harold Morley (P4 Subaru Impreza N14), 39pts
etc

Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
– after Round 11
* totals shown are calculated less the lowest score

Modified 8-WRC: 1st Bourne, 166pts; 2nd Hill, 131pts; 3rd Gale, 99pts; etc
M8-A 1st Armstrong, 127pts; 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, 185pts; 2nd Morley, 133pts; 3rd Dean Serrao (Amalgamated Security/Coconut Car Rentals/Lucky Games Inc Subaru Impreza N12 & Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 96pts; etc
SuperModified 11: 1st Still, 175pts; 2nd Nicholas Gill (SDRR/Glassfibre Products/Castrol/Barb's Bikinis Mazda 3), 86pts; 3rd Sammy Cumberbatch (Williams Industries/Digicel/F Taylor Associates/Castrol BMW M3), 48pts; etc
SM10: 1st Warren, 170pts; 2nd Rhett Watson (The Unknown Entity/MQI Collision Repair Centre/Toshiba/Office Solutions & Supplies/Corbz Workz/Castrol Ford Escort MkI), 138pts; 3rd Cliff Roett (Carters & Co/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett’s Garage/Castrol Toyota Starlet), 73pts; etc
SM9: 1st James Betts (All Terrain Plus/Cellate Caribbean/Makita/Black Bess/Yamaha/Champion Auto/Quik Start Auto/Kendal Sporting Opel Corsa), 165pts; 2nd Josh Read (Automotive Art Toyota Starlet), 141pts; equal 3rd Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet) & Stuart White (3W’s Racing Team/Propac/Crane & Equipments/Flyin’ Fish/Aqua Pur/Catch Chocolates Toyota Starlet) 90pts; etc
M7: 1st Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco/VP Racing Toyota Corolla RunX), 149pts; 2nd John Corbin (Corbins Garage/Klark-Odio/Automotive Art Toyota Corolla), 95pts; 3rd Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Morris Straker Construction/Garbage Gobbler/Crane & Equipments Vauxhall Astra GSi), 87pts; etc
M6: 1st Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage/JVM Signage Daihatsu Charmant), 177pts; 2nd Jamal Brathwaite (AM Electrical Solutions/Arthur Construction/Arthur Lifting and Freighting/Ellesmere Quarries/Chicken Pen Racing/D2 Racing Suspension Mitsubishi Mirage), 105pts; 3rd Danny Williams (Chris’s Workshop/Sunbury Plantation House/Barbados Paragliding Association Ford Fiesta), 76pts; etc
M5: 1st Sean Cox (Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift), 126pts; 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), 55pts; 3rd Conor Roach (Peugeot 106), 12pts

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