INTERNATIONAL FLAVOUR FOR VALVOLINE RALLY

The Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) 2014 season kicks up a gear on Sunday (April 13) with the Valvoline Rally. Before crews tackle the day’s 10 stages in the north of the island, fans are invited to interact with them at Scrutineering tomorrow (Saturday) at Automotive Art, Welches, between noon and 5.00pm.

The entry list for the second round of the BRC Driver’s and Class Championships includes most of the island’s key players, with a good spread of entries across the most popular classes, plus some unusual driver/co-driver combinations and a little international flavour, to spice up proceedings.

Last year’s winner Roger Skeete (Sol/LIME/Simpson Motors/Michelin/Williams Trading Inc Subaru Impreza WRC S12) is seeded at number one in the running order revealed at last night’s (Thursday) Briefing Meeting at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association (BCTSA) Club House, Searles, Christ Church. With regular co-driver Louis Venezia committed to clashing polo duties, his co-driver will be Stuart Maloney, who suffered an engine failure when he debuted his Peugeot 306 Maxi in the Motoring Club of Barbados Inc’s Spring Blaze 14 last month.

Recently returned from Rally Trinidad, Paul Bourne and Neil Armstrong will start at two and three, each making his island debut for the year. While RT14 winner Armstrong (Monster/Sol/Chefette/Digicel/Virgin Atlantic/Gunk/Hankook Tyres/Redline Fuels/Simpson Finance/Simpson Motors Suzuki SX4 WRC) will be partnered by his regular co-driver Barry Ward, Bourne (Chefette/Banks Ford Focus WRC07) will have England’s Tom Woodburn on the notes.

Both Bourne and Woodburn will be hoping for a better outcome than their last events – Bourne finished third in Trinidad after a number of issues during the event, while diff failure a mile from the end of the final stage cost Woodburn and talented young British driver Arron Newby (TEG Sport Subaru Impreza) victory in last Sunday’s (April 6) Lookout Stages in the UK.

Many eyes will be on the battle for two-wheel-drive supremacy, although the absence of Ian Warren (Simpson Motors/Automotive Art Suzuki Swift), following his accident last month, will undoubtedly take the edge off it for some fans. Josh Read and Mark Jordan (Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook Tyres/Weetabix/Royal Purple/EZone/Coffee Bean Toyota Starlet) will face Roger Mayers and Barry Mayers (Chefette/Digicel/Pennzoil/Hankook Tyres/Illusion Graphics Toyota WRStarlet) for the first time this year – that was a battle resolved on the very last stage of Valvoline Rally 2013 – while Rhett Watson and James Hutchinson (Power King Batteries/Carter's Pitstop/Gliptone/Stihl/Packaging Centre/The Unknown Entity/In support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3) cannot be ignored.

Watson’s SuperModified 12 class will also include Stan Hartling from the Turks & Caicos Islands, at the wheel of the BMW M3 seen in recent times as the Zero Car, driven by Jonathan Still; Hartling will have Canada’s Andy Proudfoot as co-driver, who sat with him in Sol RB12 in his unusual Group B Lotus Exige.

Another BMW will enjoy its competition debut in the Historic class, when Wayne Archer wheels out his Martin Stockdale-built 325, which arrived in the island recently; he will face Stuart White’s similar car, also created by the popular ‘Mad-Dale’, in what promises to be the first of many close-fought encounters.

The Greenland Agricultural Station in St Andrew is the Service Park for the day, also the location for the 9.30am start and lunch break, with the finish, slated for 4.00pm, followed by a Prize-giving and post-event lime. Stage venues are Orange Hill to Four Hills, which will run three times in the morning, alternating with two runs from Pickerings to Luke Hill; in the afternoon, the stages will be reversed, with three runs of Luke Hill to Pickerings and two from Four Hills to Orange Hill.

Valvoline Rally

Provisional running order at April 11

1 Roger Skeete/Stuart Maloney (WRC-1 Sol/LIME/Simpson Motors/Michelin/Williams Trading Inc Subaru Impreza WRC S12)

2 Paul Bourne/Tom Woodburn – ENG (WRC-1 Chefette/Banks Ford Focus WRC07)

3 Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward (WRC-1 Monster/Sol/Chefette/Digicel/Virgin Atlantic/Gunk/Hankook Tyres/Redline Fuels/Simpson Finance/Simpson Motors Suzuki SX4 WRC)

4 Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (WRC-2 Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC)

5 Dean Serrao/Jeremy Croney (WRC-2 Sugar Ultra Lounge Subaru Impreza WRC S9)

6 Josh Read/Mark Jordan (SM10 Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook Tyres/Weetabix/Royal Purple/EZone/Coffee Bean Toyota Starlet)

7 Roger Mayers/Barry Mayers (SM10 Chefette/Digicel/Pennzoil/Hankook Tyres/Illusion Graphics Toyota WRStarlet)

8 Andrew Mallalieu/tba (GpN Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza N10)

9 Mark Thompson/Kurt Seabra - GUY (GpN Automotive Art/Glassesco Hardware/Stag Beer/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty Day Spa/Local Speed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

10 Geoff Noel/Robert Simmons (GpN Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

11 Harold Morley - ENG/tba (GpB OnTrac Telematics/Brook Steamship/Crowley Shipping Porsche GT3 RSR)

12 Rhett Watson/James Hutchinson (SM12 Power King Batteries/Carter's Pitstop/Gliptone/Stihl/Packaging Centre/The Unknown Entity/In support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3)

14 Brian Gill/Ryan Wood (SM12 Coca Cola BMW M3)

15 Justin Campbell/Juan Watts (SM12 Dream Solutions/Castrol/Hilton Barbados BMW M3)

16 Stan Hartling - TCI/Andy Proudfoot – CDN (SM12 Hartling Group of Resorts BMW M3)

17 Daryl Clarke/Russell Brancker (M7 Roberts Manufacturing/P & N Hardware/Mom’s Pasta Products/Amir’s Chicken/MQI Honda Civic)

18 Edward Corbin/Shareef Walcott (M7 Valvoline/Automotive Art/Prosales Toyota Corolla RunX)

19 Paul Horton - TCI/Kristian Yearwood (M7 Sky Motorsports/Java Island/H Racing Ford Escort MkI)

20 Jamal Brathwaite/Dario Hoyte (M7 Valvoline/Automotive Art/Ellesmere Quarries/Chicken Pen Racing/Codgi’s Customs Brokers Honda Civic Type-R)

21 Jeremy Sisnett/Justin Sisnett (M7 The Tiki Bar/Autolink/Indoor Plant Services Ford Fiesta ST)

22 Freddie Gale/Kyle Proverbs (M7 Gale’s Hatcheries/Redline Fuels/Nassco Toyota Corolla RunX)

23 Sean Field/Shannon Kirton (M7 Field Insurance Brokers/Castrol/Beacon Insurance Peugeot 306 GTi6)

24 Brendon Mckenzie/Sean Collett (M6 Mck Motorsport/Turbo Plus/Do It Best/Colour XL Toyota Corolla)

25 Stuart White/John Boland (Hist 39 Steps BMW 325)

26 Wayne Archer/Lucas Nicolao - ARG (Hist Archers Hall Design Centre/Calvin Alkins Customs Services/Diamonds International BMW 325)

27 Eric Allamby/David Armstrong (Club Shelbury Construction/Scrap Man Recycling/MC Buccaneer Toyota Corolla)

28 Neil Corbin/Chris Corbin (M6 Ocean Fisheries/Nassco/Auto Solutions/Castrol Daihatsu Charmant)

29 David St Hill/Ian Grimes (SM12 BMW M3)

30 Trevor Mapp/Talia Mapp (Club Ellesmere Quarries/AS Autostop/Codgi’s Insurance Brokers/Chicken Pen Racing Mitsubishi Colt)

31 Rommell R Martin/Rashid Phillips (Club VV&K Rentals/B3 Imaging/Fusionz Boutique/JA Apparel/De Kitchen Caters Toyota Starlet)

32 Paul Inniss/Stephen Belle (Club Caribbean Villa Chefs/Illusion Graphics/Tuk It/JT Racing Team/Wints Auto Body/HIV Aids Commission/K-Tech Honda Civic)

33 David Brewster/Alex Kirton (Hist Innovative Security Solutions/Castrol/SRG Engineering Peugeot 205GTi)