LOCALS CREWS MAKE A POINT AT SOL RALLY BARBADOS

As competitors in the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Driver’s and Class Championships are making their final preparations for the two most important weekends of the year - Flow King of the Hill and Sol Rally Barbados 2016 – the leading 10 drivers in the Champion Driver title chase are covered by just nine points after the first two rounds.

  With nearly 50 local entries, however, a major shake-up is on the cards. At Flow KotH (May 29), the speed event scale gives 15 points for a class win, while Sol RB16 (June 3-5) represents two Championship rounds – Friday and Saturday are round four, Sunday round five - with 20 points for a class win, giving a maximum possible score of 55 points over the two weekends.

  With two of the eight rounds run, SuperModified 2 class-leader Josh Read (Sprite/Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook/Weetabix/Chutney’s/Urban Kitchen/Cell Hut/Cockspur Toyota Starlet) has a perfect record, with two class wins and the maximum possible 35 points; he is helped by competing in one of the more popular classes, as the points scale is reduced if there are fewer than three starters, which has affected other front-runners.

  Read’s advantage over Clubman 1 leader Rommell Martin (Winston Enterprise/Kola Kick/Slam Condoms/VV&K Rentals Ltd/Castrol/Premium Seafood/Fusion Boutique/B3 Imaging/Candy Lane Toyota Starlet) is three points. Martin won C1 in the opening round, but finished second in the Sunoco Shakedown Stages to Pierre Clarke (SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares Honda Civic), who is equal third in the Champion Driver standings with Group N leader Andrew Mallalieu (Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza N10), just one point behind Martin.

  Equal fifth, another single point behind Clarke and Mallalieu, are Jamal Brathwaite (Platinum Motors Collision Repair/Valvoline/Automotive Art/Consumers Guarantee Insurance/JSB Motorsport/Ellesmere Quarries Honda Civic Type-R) and Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions/Emtage Electric/BG Products & Services/Valvoline Toyota Starlet), who respectively lead Modified 2 and M1.

  Mallalieu leads the 4wd points, ahead of the only WRC runner to have been seen so far, Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC), with his Group N opposition Mark Thompson and Trinidad & Tobago’s David Coelho, each in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, third and fourth.

  In the 2wd Championship, Read has a seven-point advantage over Dane Skeete (Peugeot 306 Maxi), with Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII), Corbin, Roger Mayers (WR Starlet) and Daryl Clarke (Honda Civic) completing the top six.

  While overall and class awards for Sol RB16 are presented only to those crews which complete all the scheduled stages, the ‘two-thirds’ rule still applies for local competitors. Points can therefore be scored in the Championship on Friday/Saturday and then Sunday, providing two-thirds of the stages run have been completed. Overseas competitors are ignored as far as Championship points are concerned, although local crews still enjoy the once-a-year chance to gauge their competitiveness against the visitors.

Sol Rally Barbados (June 3-5) and Flow King of the Hill (May 29) are organised and promoted by the Barbados Rally Club, which will celebrate its 60th Anniversary in 2017; title sponsors are the Sol Group and Flow. Marketing partners are Simpson Motors, Automotive Art and Banks; official partners are Accra Beach Hotel & Spa, the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc, Geest Line and the Tourism Development Corporation; associate sponsors are Chefette and Stoute’s Car Rental.

BRC Class Championship Positions after round 2:

WRC: 1st Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/MotorMac/Pennzoil Toyota Corolla WRC), 15pts Group N: 1st Andrew Mallalieu (Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza N10), 31pts; 2nd Mark Thompson (Rock Hard Cement/Stag Beer/Automotive Art/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty Day Spa/Valvoline/Slam 101.1FM/Versatile Construction/Glassesco Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 17pts; 3rd David Coelho – TRI (Zanzibar/Kaizan Sushi/VP Fuels/Total Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 15pts SuperModified 3: 1st Rhett Watson (Chefette/Carter’s Pitstop/Stihl/Gliptone/Gunk/The Unknown Entity in support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3), 17pts; 2nd David St Hill (Solar Wind & Energy Solutions/Liqui Moly/Bimmer Specialist BMW M3), 15pts; 3rd Stan Hartling - TCI (H Racing/Bambarra Rum BMW M3), 11pts

SM2: 1st Josh Read (Sprite/Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook/Weetabix/Chutney’s/Urban Kitchen/Cell Hut/Cockspur Toyota Starlet), 35pts; 2nd Dane Skeete (Sol/Flow/Automotive Art/Williams Trading Inc Peugeot 306 Maxi), 28pts; 3rd Andrew Jones (Lucozade/Caribbean Powder Coating Ford Escort MkII), 25pts; etc

SM1: 1st Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Pro Sales/KlarkOdio/Hilti Daihatsu Charmant), 15pts Modified 2: 1st Jamal Brathwaite (Platinum Motors Collision Repair/Valvoline/Automotive Art/Consumers Guarantee Insurance/JSB Motorsport/Ellesmere Quarries Honda Civic Type-R), 30pts; 2nd Daryl Clarke (Roberts Manufacturing/Amir’s Chicken/Valvoline/MQI Collision Repair Honda Civic), 20pts; 3rd Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco Toyota Corolla RunX), 15pts; etc

M1: 1st Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions/Emtage Electric/BG Products & Services/Valvoline Toyota Starlet), 30pts; 2nd Wayne Archer (Archers Hall Design Centre/RW Water Peugeot 206), 20pts Historic 2: 1st John Corbin (Automotive Art/Pro Sales/KlarkOdio/Hilti Toyota Corolla), 26pts Clubman 1: 1st Rommell Martin (Winston Enterprise/Kola Kick/Slam Condoms/VV&K Rentals Ltd/Castrol/Premium Seafood/Fusion Boutique/B3 Imaging/Candy Lane Toyota Starlet), 32pts; 2nd Pierre Clarke (SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares Honda Civic), 31pts; 3rd Paul Inniss (Durex Barbados/Caribbean Villa Chefs/Hugh Auto Body/Drive-A-Matic Car Rentals/Sun General Insurance/JJ Racing Team/East Point Grill/Terasu Restaurant/The Chicken Shop Inc/Rallymaxx Honda Civic), 28pts; etc

BRC 4wd Championship: 1st Mallalieu, 30pts; 2nd Hill, 20pts; 3rd Thompson, 15pts; 4th Coelho, 14pts BRC 2wd Championship: 1st Read, 35pts; 2nd D Skeete, 28pts; 3rd Jones, 22pts; 4th N Corbin, 21pts; 5th R Mayers, 17pts; equal 6th Archer, Brathwaite & Clarke, 14pts; 9th Watson, 12pts; 10th St Hill, 10pts; etc