GALE DRAWS CLOSER TO RALLY CLUB TITLE

Production 4 class leader Barry Gale (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) has moved one step closer to winning the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Overall Class Championship; with six class wins in the nine rounds so far run, he is now eight points clear of SuperModified 11 leader Mark Hamilton (Ford Escort MkII), who is now the only driver who could deny him the title.
Gale’s latest win came in the Motoring Club of Barbados Inc’s Rally of the Sun & Stars (September 11), bringing his points total to 144 . . . or 132, once his lowest score is dropped. Hamilton has also scored in every round, dropping his lowest score bringing his total in at 124.
With free entry being offered by the BRC to the first 40 competitors to register for the Championship’s final round, the Karcher Winter Rally (October 31), fully-subscribed classes are anticipated, which will help maintain the suspense until the season’s end; if Hamilton were to win a fully-subscribed SM11, he would finish on 144 points, leaving Gale needing 13 points – equivalent to third in class - to stay ahead.
Since missing the season’s first event, an ‘advantage’ at this stage of the season in that he has no low score to drop, SM10 leader Ian Warren (Suzuki Swift) has steadily worked his way up the table; fifth after July’s Karcher Summer Stages, his seventh consecutive class win two weeks ago has now promoted him to third place, which could have been equal second, but for shortage of entries in the class limiting his points haul to 13.
Warren’s promotion comes at the expense of early-season points leader Paul Bourne, who is sitting out the rest of the season now his Ford Focus WRC07 has returned to England, and Modified 7 leader Freddie Gale (Toyota Corolla RunX); Gale senior is now fourth, one point behind Warren, with Bourne fifth on 112.
An impressive sixth is Jamal Brathwaite (Mitsubishi Mirage), who has been engaged in a close-fought battle in the second half of the season in merged M5 & M6; two class wins on Sol Rally Barbados allowed him to draw level with early-season points leader Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant), who scored no points, then he pulled ahead when Corbin again failed to score on the subsequent Karcher Summer Stages.
A class win two weeks ago has not only allowed Corbin to peg back Brathwaite’s advantage from 16 to 12 points, but also moved him up to 10th place in the Overall Class standings; their battle for class honours will go down to the wire.
In the Driver’s Championship, based on overall results, victory in the MCBI event has now moved Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC) ahead of the absent Bourne, although he has remains eight points behind Bourne in M8-WRC in the Class Championship. Roger Skeete (Impreza S12) has moved up to third in both the Driver’s Championship and M8-WRC at the expense of Trinidad-based Jamaican John Powell (Subaru Impreza WRC S12), who did not compete.

Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship
Provisional positions after round 9:
1st Roger Hill (M8-WRC Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 117points
2nd Paul Bourne (M8-WRC Banks/Chefette/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Ford Focus WRC07), 110pts
3rd Roger Skeete (M8-WRC Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Michelin/Warrens Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S12), 92pts
4th John Powell - TDAD (M8-WRC Shell Helix Subaru Impreza WRC S12), 86pts
5th Barry Gale (P4 redlinefuels.com/Autolink/Maxi Malta/Rockstar Energy Drink/Metal Craft Works/Weetabix/Bella Beauty Supply Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 71pts
6th Ian Warren (SM10 Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift), 65pts
7th Geoffrey Noel (P4 Globe Finance Inc/Mix 96.9/Sentry Insurance Brokers/Dewalt Tools/Automotive Art/Ezone Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 51pts
8th Josh Read (SM9 Automotive Art/Baram Services Toyota Starlet), 47pts
9th Mark Hamilton (SM11 PowerMaster Batteries/Consolidated Finance/Valvoline Oil/Kumho Tires Ford Escort MkII), 45pts
10th Dean Serrao (M8-WRC Subaru Impreza WRC S9 & P4 Amalgamated Security Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 39pts
etc

Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
Modified 8-WRC: 1st Bourne, 112pts; 2nd Hill, 104pts *; 3rd Skeete, 89pts; etc
M8-A: 1st Michael Worme (Cot Media Group/Dingolay/Speedline Performance Auto/Ullyetts Machine Shop Service/Slowboy Racing Subaru Impreza STi), 26pts; 2nd Graeme Finlayson - SCO (www.racedandrallied.com Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III RS), 12pts
Production 4: 1st B Gale, 132pts *; 2nd, Noel, 107pts; 3rd Serrao, 64pts; etc
SuperModified 11: 1st Hamilton, 124pts *; 2nd Owen Cumberbatch (Combo Auto Parts and Service BMW M3), 57pts; 3rd Brian Gill (Aqua Pur/Electric Avenue BMW M3), 54pts; etc
SM10: 1st Warren, 121pts; 2nd Eric Allamby (Shelbury Construction/ACT Sand Blasting/Container Services Mitsubishi Lancer), 45pts; 3rd Logan Watson (The Unknown Entity/Corbz Workz/Big John’s Ford Escort MkI), 40pts; etc
SM9: 1st Read, 104pts; 2nd Neil Armstrong (Pit Bull Energy Drink/Hankook/Gunk/Electric Avenue Toyota Starlet), 64pts; 3rd Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet), 60pts; etc
M7: 1st Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/redlinefuels.com/Nassco Toyota Corolla RunX), 120pts *; 2nd John Corbin (Corbins Garage/Klark-Odio/Automotive Art Toyota Corolla), 53pts; 3rd Kyle Catwell (Chicken Pen Racing/Cutters of Barbados/Carib/Freekz Customz/Auto Plus Motors Volkswagen Golf GTI), 47pts; etc
M6 & M5 merged: 1st Jamal Brathwaite (M6 AM Electrical/FG Wilson/Autoplus Motors/Meridian Windows/Chicken Pen Racing/Ellesmere Quarries/D2 Racing Suspension/Avon Products/Cutters of Barbados/Freekz Customz Mitsubishi Mirage RS), 108pts; 2nd Edward Corbin (M6 Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage/JVM Signage Daihatsu Charmant), 96pts; 3rd Sean Cox (M5 Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift), 75pts; etc
P3: 1st Sean T Field (Field Insurance Brokers/Castrol/Ackee Tree/AM Realty Services/Landscapes in Harmony Peugeot 306), 36pts
P2 & P1 merged: 1st Fabien Clarke (P2 Barbados Business Listings/Crimson Jade/RCR Tours/Bovell Auto Repair/Big P Customs Brokers/De Fx-Bar Suzuki Ignis Sport), 78pts; 2nd Conor Roach (P2 Peugeot 106), 16pts; 3rd Miguel Toppin (P1 Toyota Starlet), 13pts
* indicates those totals where the lowest score has been dropped

For further information:
e-mail - robin@bradfax.com