ROACH AND WATSON LEAD VIRGIN ATLANTIC BATTLE

After each scored a class win in last month’s BRC Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint (August 17), Conor Roach and Rhett Watson remain at the head of the field in the hunt for the Champion Driver title in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Championship; they are tied on 120 points at the top of the table after seven rounds.   Roach (Clubman Peugeot 106) and Watson (SuperModified 12 BMW M3) have been class-leaders since the start of the year, each with only one small smudge on an otherwise unblemished record – in Scotiabank King of the Hill, Roach was beaten by Trevor Mapp (Mitsubishi Mirage RS), while Watson finished behind the M3 of Brian Gill on day one of Sol Rally Barbados.   The Championship is decided on the year-end total of class points, with the lowest score dropped . . . at present, Roach’s lowest score is 13 from King of the Hill, Watson’s 17 from Sol RB, which gives Roach a slight edge. Group N leader Geoff Noel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) is their closest rival, third on 115 points, which falls to 102 after his lowest score is dropped.   While there have been some dominant performances this year – Roach and Watson, for instance, lead their respective classes by 44 and 53 points – there remain some tough battles to be resolved. In SM10 Josh Read (Toyota Starlet) leads Ian Warren (Suzuki Swift) by just two points, 109 to 107 – once each drops his lowest score, however, 13 for Read and 11 for Warren, their totals are equal. These two are also fourth and fifth in the Champion Driver table.   In Modified 7, there’s a three-way battle for supremacy, currently led by Paul Horton (Ford Escort), who has represented the Turks & Caicos Islands in Barbados in recent years; he edged ahead with a class win last month, when Edward Corbin (Toyota Corolla RunX) withdrew after a mechanical failure, while early leader Daryl Clarke (Honda Civic) has not scored since the first day of Sol Rally Barbados. Horton has 77 to Corbin’s 76 and Clarke’s 74 and, as they have all failed to score at least once, there is no dropped score to take into account.   Read continues to lead the two-wheel-drive title chase, based on overall results (and with no scores dropped), although Warren cut his lead to four points last month, while WRC-1 class-leader Roger Skeete (Impreza WRC S12) leads Roger Hill (WRC-2 Toyota Corolla WRC) by an increased margin of 23 points in the 4wd Championship.   Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship Provisional positions after round 7:   WRC-1: 1st Roger Skeete (Sol/Michelin/Simpson Motors/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre Subaru Impreza WRC S12), 105pts; 2nd Neil Armstrong (Monster/Sol/Chefette/Digicel/Virgin Atlantic/Gunk/Hankook Tyres/Redline Fuels/Simpson Finance/Simpson Motors Suzuki SX4 WRC), 79pts; 3rd Paul Bourne (Chefette/Banks/LIME/Castrol Ford Focus WRC07), 48pts   WRC-2: 1st Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 101pts; 2nd Dean Serrao (Sugar Ultra Lounge Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 70pts   Group A: 1st Avinash Chatrani (Electric Avenue/iShop Barbados/PowerBass/Formula 1/Sign Station/1 of K Jeans/Niagra Waters Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 66pts   GpN: 1st Geoff Noel (Globe Finance/Kick Energy Drink/Sentry Insurance Brokers/Automotive Art/CIAC Air Conditioners/Mix 96.9FM/Dewalt Tools Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 115pts; 2nd Andrew Mallalieu (Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza N10), 98pts; 3rd Mark Hamilton (CIBC-FCIB/Automotive Art/PowerMaster Batteries/Simpson Motors/Maxi Malta/Eaton’s Jerk Seasoning Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 24pts; etc   SuperModified 12: 1st Rhett Watson (Oreo/Chips Ahoy!/Armstrong Agencies/Power King Batteries/Unknown Entity/Hankook Tyres/SpringBoard Marketing Platforms/In Support of Little Pink Gift  BMW M3), 120pts; 2nd Martin Atwell (Ullyett's Machine Shop BMW M3), 67pts; 3rd Trevor Manning (Ritz/Club Social/Armstrong Agencies/Power King Batteries/Unknown Entity/Hankook Tyres/SpringBoard Marketing Platforms/In Support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3), 64pts; etc   SM11: 1st Andrew Jones (Lucozade/AP Jones Pharmacy Ford Escort MkII), 103pts; 2nd Eric Allamby (Shelbury Construction/Blakey’s/This & That Bajan/Scrap Man Recycling/Castrol/SDRR Hydraulics/Redline Racing Fuels/MC Buccaneer/Goodyear Tyres Toyota Corolla), 60pts; 3rd Dane Skeete (Rubis/Williams Trading Inc Peugeot 306 Maxi), 48pts   SM10: 1st Josh Read (Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook/SDRR/Weetabix/Royal Purple/EZone/Coffee Bean Toyota Starlet), 109pts; 2nd Ian Warren (Simpson Motors/Automotive Art Suzuki Swift), 107pts; 3rd Roger Mayers (Chefette/Digicel/Pennzoil/Illusion Graphics/Hankook WR Starlet), 69pts; etc   SM9: 1st Rhett D’Andrade (Rent-A-Tool Daihatsu Charmant), 64pts; 2nd Mark Kinch (Toyota Starlet), 37pts; 3rd Carlos Edwards (I-Finance/Courts Barbados/Enermax Toyota Starlet), 32pts; etc   M7: 1st Paul Horton (Sky Motorsports/Java Island/H Racing/Precision Racing Ford Escort MkI), 77pts; 2nd Edward Corbin (Valvoline/Automotive ArtProsales/Klarkodio/Corbins Garage Toyota Corolla RunX), 76pts; 3rd Daryl Clarke (Amir’s Fresh Chicken/Ellco/Mum’s Pasta/P & N Hardware/Robert’s Manufacturing Honda Civic), 74pts; etc   M6 & M5: 1st Neil Corbin (M6 Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions/Castrol/Emtage Electrical Toyota Starlet), 85pts; 2nd Sean Cox (M5 Simpson Motors/Gliptone/Johnsen’s Suzuki Swift Gti), 56pts; 3rd Wayne Archer (M6 Archers Hall Design Centre/Diamonds International/Calvin Alkins Customs Services Peugeot 206), 45pts; etc   Clubman: 1st Conor Roach (Chattel House Realty Peugeot 106), 120pts; 2nd Jeremy Croney (Warren’s Lubricants/SRG Engineering/Sign Station/Sweet Temptations Peugeot 206), 76pts; 3rd Trevor Mapp (Valvoline Lubricants/ Automotive Art/Mackeson Stoute/Ellesmere Quarries/Chicken Pen Racing/Freekz Customz/Codgi's Customs Brokers Mitsubishi Mirage RS), 73pts; etc   Historic: 1st Stuart White (Lucky Locks BMW 325), 59pts; 2nd John Corbin (Valvoline/Automotive Art/Prosales/Klarkodio/Corbins Garage Toyota Corolla), 11pts   Group B: 1st Duane Johnson (Johnson’s Autos/Williams Tools/Cyrus Chickens/Dalls Catering/Castrol/Third Lane Performance/AS Auto Stop Inc/Sandy Thelius/Illusion Graphics/AG Agencies Ltd/Odoll’s Aluminium Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo), 46pts; 2nd Geoffrey Ullyett (Ullyett's Machine Shop/Algae-X/MG America Datsun 200Y), 37pts; 3rd Randy Reid (Double A Transport & Wrecker Service BMW 320i), 30pts   BRC 4wd Championship: 1st Skeete, 112pts; 2nd Hill, 89pts; 3rd Noel, 73pts; 4th Armstrong, 64pts; 5th Serrao, 63pts; 6th Mallalieu, 54pts; 7th Chatrani, 51pts; 8th Bourne, 50pts; 9th, Hamilton, 21pts; 10th Harold Morley (GpN Ontrac Telematics Inc Subaru Impreza N13 STi), 10pts   BRC 2wd Championship: 1st Read, 106pts; 2nd Warren, 102pts; 3rd Watson, 71pts; 4th Mayers, 66pts; 5th Jones, 46pts; 6th N Corbin, 41pts; 7th Atwell & Brian Gill (SM12 Coca Cola BMW M3), 38pts; 9th Manning, 35pts; equal 10th Brett Clarke (SM10 Williams Trading Inc/Western Union/Lucky Horseshoe Citroen C2) & E Corbin, 29pts; etc   For media information only. No regulatory value.   For further media information, robin@bradfax.com Web site: www.barbadosrallyclub.com