BARBADOS RALLY CLUB PRAISES BRIDGETOWN PORT

  The Barbados Rally Club, organisers of the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International, Sol Rally Barbados (June 1/2) and next Sunday’s Scotiabank King of the Hill, today heaped praise on all concerned within the island’s Bridgetown Port for the expeditious manner in which nearly 30 International rally cars were un-loaded and cleared on Friday (May 17).   The Geest Line freighter Agulhas Stream, which had sailed from Portsmouth on the English south coast 10 days earlier, docked shortly before 8.00am; by the time the Port closed for business at the end of the day, 26 cars and one service barge had been off-loaded, cleared through Customs and were ready for shipment to ‘Rally Central’, the secure storage facility and workshop for International crews, housed this year in the former Banks Brewery at Wildey, St Michael.   Sol RB Rally Office Manager Jeanne Crawford said: “The whole operation went very smoothly, and was completed in record time. I have to say a big thanks to everyone we dealt with on Friday, and also in recent weeks, preparing the necessary documentation, including our own brokers, Codgies Customs Services. Everyone involved, the officials of Barbados Port Inc, the Barbados Customs & Excise Department and Port Security worked brilliantly together to assist in the speedy clearance of the cars.”   A group of Club members also gave up their working day to assist: Jamal Braithwaite, Norman Catwell, Sean Corbin, Dave Crawford, Sean Field, Jeremy Gonsalves, Club Chairman Mark Hamilton, Roger Hill, Clive Howell, Andrew Jones and Ramon Walcott.   Crawford continued: “Thanks to Mark and Dave for great team-work in getting cars off the vessel, and to Clive, Sean, Norman and Roger for staying with me until the last cars were loaded on the wreckers.” After a 15-hour operation of almost military precision, the doors of ‘Rally Central’ were finally closed at around 11.00pm, with the overseas competitors’ cars safe and sound.     RallyFM.net expands its coverage of Sol Rally Barbados   RallyFM.net is significantly stepping up the reach of its coverage of Sol Rally Barbados this year, thanks to a new agreement with iRally, official internet radio station of the European Rally Championship, to rebroadcast the live RallyFM.net output of both Sol RB13 (June 1/2) and Scotiabank King of the Hill (May 26) to its own listeners.   Chris Morford, director of RallyFM.net and a familiar figure at Sol RB, has broadcast news, interviews, live commentary and interim times for listeners worldwide since 2008. RallyFM.net’s offering has steadily increased, with the following options now available to rally fans worldwide: • on a PC or laptop, go to www.rallyfm.net and click on ‘listen live’ • smart phone users can download the free ‘TUNEIN RADIO’ app and search for RallyFM; this app also offers access to a host of worldwide internet radio stations • to listen via iRally, simply download the iRally app - a dedicated radio link will be available to the Barbados broadcast. The iRally app also offers access to video footage and audio reports from rallying worldwide  For Sol RB13, RallyFM.net will also be working in conjunction with island radio station HottFM, full details of which will be revealed shortly.   Barbados briefs: • Mark ‘Duct Tape’ Thompson brings the family name back to island rallying, replacing the Modified 6 Toyota Starlet in which he originally entered with the ex-Mark Hamilton Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Guyana’s Kurt Seabra will co-drive, although they will miss Sunday’s Scotiabank King of the Hill, thanks to the clashing opening round of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship at Jamaica’s Dover Raceway. • Harold Morley has also switched to Group N, with a Subaru Impreza N14 STi, co-driven by Jamaica’s Mark Nelson; his original entry had been for his Porsche GT3 in Group B. • Trevor and Talia Mapp (Mitsubishi Mirage RS) have also switched groups, although their move from M6 to Clubman merely corrects an earlier clerical error.   Sol Rally Barbados 2013 (June 1/2) and Scotiabank King of the Hill (May 26) are organised and promoted by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007; title sponsors are the Sol Group and Scotiabank. Marketing partners are Simpson Motors, LIME, Automotive Art, Banks and Karcher; official partners are the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Barbados Tourism Authority, Tourism Development Corporation, Divi Southwinds Beach Resort, Geest Line and Virgin Atlantic Airways; associate sponsors are Chefette, Field Insurance, Glacial Pure, Little Switzerland, Redline Fuels, Stoute’s Car Rental and West Indies Rum Distillery.   For media information only. No regulatory value.   For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com web sites: www.rallybarbados.net; www.barbadosrallyclub.com