QUALITY ENTRY FOR BRC SHAKEDOWN STAGES

Thirteen-time winner Roger Skeete starts his preparations for the 25th Anniversary of the island’s premier event on Sunday (April 19) in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Shakedown Stages. Driving his Subaru Impreza WRC S12, he will face a strong regional challenge from Jamaica’s Jeff Panton and John Powell of Trinidad in their Ford Focus WRCs . . . an ideal warm-up for LIME King of the Hill and Sol Rally Barbados next month.

Four other regional entries are included in the 34-car running order confirmed at last night’s (Thursday) Briefing Meeting at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association (BCTSA) Club House, Searles, Christ Church. With 10 stages offering 37.5 kilometres of competitive mileage – around one-third of the projected distance for Sol RB15 – Sunday’s event will give crews some valuable pointers as to where they stand against the opposition and whether their winter development work has paid off.

While Avinash Chatrani is alone in Group A on the debut of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI after a total rebuild by Dom Buckley Motorsport in the UK, Group N promises a good contest: Andrew Mallalieu (Impreza N10), the only driver to have scored points in the class so far, faces the Evo IXs of Trinidad’s David Coelho, having his first outing in the ex-Geoff Noel car, and Rally Jamaica 2014 winner Kyle Gregg.

An exceptional two-wheel-drive entry includes all but one of the local cars expected to feature at the sharp end of the battle in Sol RB15. In Toyota Starlets are the returning Neil Armstrong, top 2wd in Sol RB in 2011 & ’12 and BRC 2wd Champion in 2011, Roger Mayers, Josh Read (2wd Champion 2013) - both cars fresh from winter rebuilds - and Cliff Roett, who showed well in the Motoring Club of Barbados Inc’s Spring Blaze 15.

They face the BMW M3 of last year’s BRC Champion Driver, also 2wd Champ and highest-placed 2wd in Sol RB14, Rhett Watson – already this year’s leader of the BRC 2wd points – and the Peugeot 306 Maxis of Stuart Maloney and Dane Skeete. Add in the likes of Justin Campbell (M3), Daryl Clarke (Honda Civic), Neil Corbin (Starlet) and Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII), and the outcome will create fierce debate stageside.

Ten special stages are planned at two venues, with the 9.30am start, lunch break and finish (approximately 4.00pm) at the Greenland Agricultural Station in St Andrew. Cars which have not yet undergone Annual Tech will attend Scrutineering on Saturday, April 18, between 2.30pm and 4.00pm at Automotive Art, Welches; those that have already been checked will attend pre-event Scrutineering between 8.00 and 9.00am.

The stage venues are Four Hills to Orange Hill, which will run three times in the morning, alternating with two runs from Lamberts to Pickerings; in the afternoon, with the first car scheduled to leave Greenland at 1.15pm, the stages will be reversed, with three runs of Pickerings to Lamberts and two from Orange Hill to Four Hills.

BRC Shakedown Stages - Sunday, April 19

Provisional running order at April 17:

1 Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia (WRC-1 Sol / LIME / Automotive Art / Simpson Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S12)

2 John Powell – TRI/Jason Costello - TRI (WRC-1 Intercontinental Shipping / Trinidad Mooring & Launch Services Ford Focus WRC08)

3 Jeffrey Panton – JAM/Michael Fennell Jnr – JAM (WRC-1 Rubis / Total / Sandals Barbados Ford Focus WRC06)

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

5 Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward (SM10 Rubis / Chefette / Hankook / Nassco / GUNK Toyota Starlet)

6 Roger Mayers/Sean Corbin (SM10 Chefette / Digicel / Sol / Hankook / Illusion Graphics WR Starlet)

7 Josh Read/Mark Jordan (SM10 Stihl / Gliptone / Sprite / Hankook / Weetabix / Chutney’s / Urban Kitchen / Royal Purple / Cell Hut / EZone Toyota Starlet)

8 Dane Skeete/Tyler Mayhew (SM11 Sol / LIME / Automotive Art Peugeot 306 Maxi)

9 David Coelho – TRI/James Harris – ENG (GpN Total / Lubetech / Zanzibar / Kaizan Sushi / www.machinerysalestrinidad.com / Quipsol Ltd Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

10 Andrew Mallalieu/Geoff Goddard (GpN Terra Caribbean / Blue Sky Luxury Subaru Impreza N10)

11 Avinash Chatrani/Andrew Skeete (GpA iShop Barbados / Electric Avenue / PowerBass / Lenovo / 1 of K / Copocabana / Sign Station Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)

12 Rhett Watson/James Hutchinson (SM12 Chefette /Power King / Gliptone / Stihl / The Unknown Entity in support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3)

14 Andrew Jones/Lindsey Pilkington – ENG (SM11 AP Jones Pharmacy / Southern Surf Beach Apartments / Lucozade Ford Escort MkII)

15 Stuart Maloney/Orry Hunte (SM10 Kestrel / Se-Sash / Sign Station Peugeot 306 Maxi)

16 Kyle Gregg – JAM/Sean Gill (GpN B D Gregg Bros Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)

17 Cliff Roett/Joshua Plaza - TRI (SM10 Nassco / Paulo’s Churrasco Restaurant / Roett's Garage Toyota Starlet)

18 Justin Campbell/Juan Watts (SM12 Hilton Barbados / Itstaboo.com / Biz Needz / Dream Solutions / Castrol Racing / Acton Finance BMW M3)

19 Daryl Clarke/Russell Brancker (M7 MQI Collision Repair / Mom’s Pasta Products / Roberts Manufacturing / Valvoline Honda Civic)

20 Edward Corbin/Rashid Phillips (M7 Valvoline / Prosales Toyota Corolla RunX)

21 Paul Horton - TCI/Carol Potter - TCI (M7 Java Island / Real / Sky Motorsports Ford Escort MkI)

22 Neil Corbin/Matthew Staffner (M6 Nassco / Jason Jones / BG Products / Auto Solutions / Valvoline / MaxMeyer Paints / Emtage Electrical Toyota Starlet)

23 Greg Cozier/Natasha Farnum (Club Vaucluse Raceway / Quality Tyre BimmaCup Car)

24 Jeremy Gonsalves/Chris Corbin (M6 Sign Depot / Makita / Star Products / Yamaha / Valvoline / John Hardman Engineering Opel Corsa)

25 Stan Hartling - CDN/Heath Hazell (SM12 Bambarra Rum BMW M3)

26 Jamal Brathwaite/Dario Hoyte (M7 Platinum Motors / Valvoline / Automotive Art / R S Electrical / Ellesmere Quarries / JSB Motorsport / Chicken Pen Racing / Codgies Customs Brokers Honda Civic Type-R)

27 David St Hill/Ian Grimes (SM12 Solar & Wind Energy Solutions BMW M3)

28 Wayne Archer/Lucas Nicolao - ARG (Hist Archer’s Hall Design Centre / Diamonds International / CACS BMW 325)

29 Jeremy Croney/Andrew Croney (Club Warrens Lubricants / Sign Station / SRG Engineering  / Sweet Temptations Peugeot 206XS)

30 Jonathan Ince/David Armstrong (Hist Ocean Fisheries / Hankook Daihatsu Charmant)

31 Kurt Ward/Kirt King (SM9 SDRR / Precision Racing Ford Escort MkI)

32 John Corbin/Owen Proverbs (Hist Valvoline / Corbins Garage / Prosales Toyota Corolla)

33 Shareef Walcott/Jan-Yves Hinds (SM9 Novus Tech / 246 Dip / MMXI Toyota Corolla)

34 Paul Inniss/Jason Tull (M6 Sun General Insurance / Durex / Illusion Graphics / Caribbean Villa Chefs / Hugh Autobody / Tint It / Chicken Stock Inc / JJ Racing Team / HIV Aids Commission Honda Civic)

35 Chris Williams/Reuben Nelson (M6 Cutters Barbados / 10 Saints Beer / Solo / Royal Chinese Restaurant Ford Fiesta)