ACTION-PACKED START TO MOTOR SPORT SEASON

Motorsport fans starved of action for the past three months do not have much longer to wait: the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) 2010 season starts with a packed programme of three events on consecutive weekends, starting with the Spring Gravel Sprint on Saturday, February 27.
The Club, which held its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday (February 16), has confirmed its programme for 2010, which includes a number of subtle changes from recent years. The three primary championships remain the same, however - the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship, the Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship and the BRC Mud Dogs Safari Championship.
The weekend after the Spring Gravel Sprint, the Mud Dogs season starts with the March Safari (Saturday, March 6), with the third round of the Driver’s and Class Championship the following Sunday (March 13).
As in 2009, the Driver’s Championship will be based on overall results in the 10 qualifying rounds; the Class Championship will be based on class results, with individual Class Champions and an Overall Class Champion; for the Mud Dogs, there will again be Safari Champion Navigator, Safari Champion Driver and MudFest Champion Driver titles, with the number of Safaris increased to five, drivers counting their best four scores toward their year-end total.
The points systems will also remain as before: in rallies, the points will be awarded as follows: 1st 20, 2nd 16, 3rd 13, 4th 11, 5th 10, 6th 9, 7th 8, 8th 7, 9th 6, 10th 5, and then 3 for every other overall finisher; in sprints, the scale will be 1st 15, 2nd 12, 3rd 10, 4th 9, 5th 8, 6th 7, 7th 6, 8th 5, 9th 4, 10th 3, and then 1 for every other overall finisher.
The same scale will apply in the Class Championship, except where a class has fewer than three entries – where there are only two entries, the points available will be those for second and third places, where there is only one entry, the points available will be those for third place. There will therefore continue to be no merging of classes.
The Spring Gravel Sprint is to be a double-header, offering competitors who are well-prepared the chance to put some valuable early points on the board; competitors are required to assemble at Ocean Park, Christ Church, by 8.45am for scrutineering, with the event itself slated for a 10.00am start.
There will be a practice run and three official timed runs for each sprint, with the fastest of the three official times counting towards the result; the running order will be determined by class – starting with Modified 8-WRC and working backwards to Production 1. It is anticipated that the event will finish by around 3.00pm.

Following a number of changes voted by the membership at the AGM, the full Barbados Rally Club Committee of Management for 2010 is: Chairman, Geoffrey Noel; Vice-Chairman, Mark Hamilton; Treasurer, Jeanne Crawford; Competition Secretary, Paul Bourne; Assistant Competition Secretary, Leslie Alleyne; Vehicle Classification Officer, Adrian Linton; Secretary, Neil Corbin; Marshal Liaison Officer, Roger Sargeant; Equipment Officer, Paul Allen; Public Relations Officer, Neil Barnard; Entertainment Secretary, Sean Gill.

Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship
Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
Qualifying rounds:
Rounds 1 & 2 - February 27 - BRC Spring Gravel Sprint
Round 3 - March 14 - BRC Spring Gravel Rally
Round 4 - April 25 – BRC Shakedown Stages
Round 5 - May 23 - Shell V-Power King of the Hill
Rounds 6 & 7 - May 29/30 - Sol Rally Barbados
Round 8 - July 24 - BRC Summer Nights Tarmac Rally
Rounds 9 - September 11 - MCBI Tarmac Rally
Round 10 - October 31 - BRC Winter Rally

BRC Mud Dogs Safari Championship
Qualifying rounds:
Mar 6 - ARMAG March Safari
Apr 17 - Mud Dogs April Safari
May 1 - Mud Dogs May Day MudFest
Jun 26/27 - Mud Dogs June Safari
Aug 15 - Mud Dogs August MudFest
Sep 5 - Mud Dogs September Safari
Oct 17 - Mud Dogs October Safari

Autocross events:
Jan 24 - BRC Autocross 1
Mar 28 - BRC Autocross 2
Jul 25 - BRC Autocross 3
Nov 7 - BRC Autocross 4