PANTON WINS SUMMER SUN & STARS RALLY

Jeffrey Panton and Mike Fennell Jnr (Rubis / Sandals/ KIG Ford Focus WRC06) won yesterday’s (Saturday) Carter’s Pit Stop / Power King Batteries Summer Sun & Stars Rally . . . with Rain an extra challenge. Variable weather conditions made the 12-stage event tough going, with a high attrition rate accounting for many fancied 2wd front-runners and reducing the overall finishers list to just 12 of the original 28 starters.

The Jamaican crew won by just under one minute, heading home Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew, making their 4wd competition debut in Skeete’s father Roger’s Sol / Flow / Automotive Art / WTI Subaru Impreza WRC S12. They had enjoyed an entertaining battle with Neil Armstrong and Barry Ward (Rubis / Chefette / GUNK / Hankook / Virgin Atlantic Toyota Starlet), 4wd proving the decider when conditions worsened once again.

Panton said: “Compared to Sol Rally Barbados, this win was easy, but easy is relative. Although I was not under a lot of pressure, we had issues - two stalls and some close moments - but we had a good time cushion to play with. It was good to see a youngster like Dane out in WRC for the first time and doing well; a few more events and he’d be up to speed.”

Skeete enjoyed the experience, which included winning the first stage after the dinner break: “It was awesome. The S12 is a lot more fun to drive than the 306, especially on the Vaucluse section. The battle for second with Neil was a good adrenaline rush in the last stages, even though I had the advantage of 4wd. Most important, save for a little bumper damage, I got it back in one piece.” Armstrong added: “It wasn't too difficult after Roger and Rhett dropped out. The battle with Dane was good fun, but it was inevitable in those conditions that he would have taken back the time.”

The 2wd battle suffered its first casualty on stage 1, the first uphill run from Hangmans Hill to Canefield, when Cliff Roett (Toyota Starlet) got out of shape at the Lion Castle jump; he was lucky to missed a power pole by inches but ended up deep into the scenery, both crew members unharmed. With Roger Mayers (throttle and alternator issues) and Rhett Watson (broken suspension) both also early casualties, Armstrong had it his own way in 2wd . . . Mayers (WR Starlet) and Watson (BMW M3) did return, the latter winning SuperModified 12, while Mayers retired (again) when his brand new replacement alternator failed, with one Dark Hole stage win small consolation.

Roger Hill and Graham Gittens finished fourth in the Esso / Nassco / MotorMac / Pennzoil Toyota Corolla WRC, with the winners of Modified 6, M7 and Historic – Neil Corbin (Starlet), Kurt Thompson (Honda Civic) and Wayne Archer (BMW 325) - further up the order than they might have anticipated, finishing fifth to seventh. The top 10 was completed by David St Hill (M3), who finished second to Watson in SM12 under the two-thirds rule, and Historic runners Jonathan Ince (Daihatsu Charmant) and John Corbin (Toyota Corolla). The two remaining overall finishers were Rommell Martin (Starlet) and Trevor Mapp (Mitsubishi Colt Mivec RS), who finished second and third in the Clubman class behind Jeremy Croney (Peugeot 206), who had missed the day’s opening stage.

Two stages of the combined Barbados Rally Club (BRC) and Motoring Club (MCBI) event were cancelled, the first afternoon run through Dark Hole because of an equipment failure, then the final southbound run through Sailor Gully, to catch up time, as the event was running late.

The Barbados Historic Rally, organised by the Vaucluse Raceway Motor Sport Club (VR-MSC), which ran ahead of the main field, was won by Greg Cozier and Natasha Farnum (Barbados Historic Rally Carnival / Jondel Engines Ford Escort RS) by a margin of more than two minutes from Jimmy McRae and Ian Grindrod (Tuthill Porsche 911).

Carter’s Pit Stop / Power King Batteries Summer Sun & Stars Rally  - Saturday, August 29 Provisional results:

1st Jeffrey Panton – JAM/Michael Fennell Jnr – JAM (WRC-1 Rubis / Sandals Barbados / KIG Ford Focus WRC06), 38m 39.53s
2nd Dane Skeete/Tyler Mayhew (WRC-1 Sol / Flow / Automotive Art / WTI Subaru Impreza WRC S12), + 58.56s
3rd Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward (SM10 Rubis / Chefette / GUNK / Hankook / Virgin Atlantic Toyota Starlet), + 01:07.47s
4th Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (WRC-2 Esso / Nassco / MotorMac / Pennzoil Toyota Corolla WRC), + 01:25.43s
5th Neil Corbin/Jeremy Gonsalves (M6 Nassco / Jason Jones / BG Products / Auto Solutions / Valvoline / Emtage Electrical Toyota Starlet), + 03:03.87s
6th Kurt Thompson/Adam Straker (M7 Glassesco / NKM Clothing / Bio-Beauty / Digicel 4G / Beacon Insurance Honda Civic), + 05:00.54s
7th Wayne Archer/Derek Edwards (Hist Diamonds International / Archer’s Hall Design Centre / RW Water Inc BMW 325), + 06:56.68s
8th David St Hill/Ian Grimes (SM12 BMW M3), + 07:37.08s
9th Jonathan Ince/David Armstrong (Hist Ocean Fisheries / Hankook / Urban Kitchen Daihatsu Charmant), + 08:51.25s
10th John Corbin/Owen Proverbs (Hist Valvoline / Prosales Toyota Corolla), + 10:47.38s etc

WRC-1: 1st Panton – JAM/ Fennell Jnr – JAM; 2nd Skeete/Mayhew

WRC-2: 1st Hill/Gittens

SuperModified 12: 1st Rhett Watson/James Hutchinson (Chefette /Power King / Gliptone / Stihl / The Unknown Entity in support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3); 2nd St Hill/Grimes

SM10: 1st Armstrong/Ward

Modified 7: 1st Thompson/Straker

M6: 1st Corbin/Gonsalves; 2nd Paul Inniss/Paul Batson (Sun General Insurance / Durex / Illusion Graphics / Caribbean Villa Chefs / Drive-a-Matic  /Hugh Autobody / Chicken Stop Inc / JJ Racing Team / Rallymaxx / HIV Aids Commission Honda Civic)

Historic: 1st Archer/Edwards; 2nd Ince/Armstrong; 3rd Corbin/Proverbs

Clubman: 1st Jeremy Croney/Andrew Croney (Warrens Lubricants / Sign Station / SRG Engineering Peugeot 206XS); 2nd Rommell Martin/Rashid Phillips (Winston Enterprise / Fusion Boutique / Hal’s Car Park Bar / VV&K Rentals / B3 Imaging / Candy Lane / Rallymaxx Toyota Starlet); 3rd Trevor Mapp/Alister Nurse (Club JSB Motorsport / Chicken Pen Racing / AS Autostop Mitsubishi Colt Mivec RS); etc