SOL 60th ANNIVERSARY JUNE SAFARI THIS WEEKEND

Twelve former winners of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) longest-running event will help the Club celebrate six decades of motor sport organisation at this weekend’s Sol 60th Anniversary June Safari (June 24/25). With 30 victories between them, the list includes some of the island’s most experienced navigational rally practitioners, so a keen contest is assured during the 17-hour overnight event.

  Following confirmation last week that the same start and finish points used on Sunday, June 16, 1957 - Applewhaites and Vaucluse, both in the parish of St Thomas – will be used at the weekend, a further link has been established with the Club’s inaugural event: the crews will be flagged away from the Applewhaites Plantation Yard by Graham Bannister, whose father Dennis was the starter 60 years ago and one of the Club’s 12 Founder Members.

  With route-setters Sean Gill, Robin Hinds, Clive Howell and Paul Marshall, the first two both multiple winners of ‘The June’, crews can expect to be tested in the only event in the Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship to run through the night. There will be four routes, with the first crew scheduled to leave Applewhaites at 3.00pm on Saturday, route one concluding with the Dinner Halt at Sol Speightstown, St Peter, at around 7.00pm. Suitably refreshed, the crews will head in to the night, route two carrying them south to finish at Sol Redmans, St Thomas, at approximately 12.30am, before heading east to Sol Six Roads, St Philip, where route three will finish at around daybreak.

  The final route will lead the crews back to the Vaucluse Raceway (VRW), over the road from the 1957 finish in the Vaucluse Plantation Yard, arriving at approximately 10.30am. By the time they reach the finish, crews will have covered around 150 miles, compared with the 110 of the inaugural event 60 years ago. In a break from the usual Safari format, the results will be declared as soon after the event as possible, with a Prize-giving and after-party to follow at VRW.

  Navigational rally veterans Leslie Alleyne and Wayne Clarke are the most successful of the 12 winners listed among the total of 20 crews confirmed at last night’s (Tuesday) Briefing Meeting at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association (BCTSA) Club House. They had been tied on six wins until Alleyne edged ahead with a seventh victory in 2015; Chris O’Neal has won three times in the last four years as Navigator for Alleyne, while Chris Armstrong has been the Driver for four of Clarke’s six wins.

  Derek Gill, who won ‘The June’ as Navigator for Peter Bradshaw in 2002 and as Driver, with Kevin Yearwood, in 2005, returns to the Navigator’s seat this year, teaming up with Trevor Manning, who won in 2011 with Alleyne as Navigator. Robert and Ian Warren, who tied for victory in 2002 with Gill and Bradshaw, are another strong combination, while last year’s winners Michael Ward and Warrick Eastmond would enjoy a repeat. Finally, Barry Gale and Neil Barnard, victorious in 2008, return, but only to compete in route four, an option offered to crews who are not regular competitors in the Chefette Championship but wished to mark the 60th Anniversary by participating.

  Also in that category are rally drivers Roger Hill, who will navigate for his son Thomas, and Andrew Jones, with wife Lindsey in the left-hand seat as usual, plus Stephen Mayers and David Reece. The entry list also includes the first all-female crew seen in a MudDogs event for a considerable period, with Tiffany Marshall navigating as Biddy Barber drives her familiar Mitsubishi Pajero; they will tackle routes one and four. The last time they both appeared in ‘The June’, in 2009, Tiffany finished third with father Paul, while Biddy was fifth, with Chris O’Neal navigating.

  Navigational Champions in 2010, Ryan Corbin and Dustin Edwards, have three times finished second in ‘The June’ – in 2008, ’11 & ’13 – also third in 2012 and fourth last year, so will be hoping to join the 71 names currently on the Roll of Honour. Ben Norris and Kirk Watkins have also twice finished in the top three, so they cannot be discounted, while Jean-Marc Cozier, enjoying his debut season in the MudDogs with Andrew Croney, will be another to watch out for.

Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship & Chefette MudDogs Safari Novice Championship Round 3 – June 24/25 – Sol 60th Anniversary June Safari

Pro Class

1 Wayne Manning/Willie Hinds (Black Bess Group Suzuki Samurai)

2 Dean Springer/Bridget Garity (Toyo Tires/Eastern Veterinary Clinic Ford Ranger)

3 Adrian Sinckler/tba (Sunshine Optimist Club Suzuki Samurai)

4 * Biddy Barber/Tiffany Marshall (Canadian Alkier Mitsubishi Pajero)

5 Ben Norris/Kirk Watkins (Birdies Restaurant Ford Ranger)

6 Nicolas Lorde/Brett Barber (Comfeet/Konstruk Caribbean Inc/NL Engineering/First Steps Property Services Land Rover Discovery)

7 Ryan Corbin/Dustin Edwards (Corbin’s Catering/Mahogany Ridge Toyota Hilux)

8 Chris Armstrong/Wayne Clarke (Toyota Hilux)

9 Trevor Manning/Derek Gill (Garbage Master Toyota Hilux)

10 Damien Johnson/Justin Lynch (Dce Tuned Suzuki Samurai)

11 Michael Ward/Warrick Eastmond (Regional Fire & Security/Quality Tyre/Off Road Solutions Suzuki Jimny)

12 Richard Hinkson/Kevin-Jon Maninng (Windforce Tyres Suzuki Samurai)

13 George Mendes/Gary Mendes (G & G Sales & Services Mitsubishi L200 Sportero)

14 Jean-Marc Cozier/Andrew Croney (Market Hill Farms/Country View Bar & Grill/West Side Security Services Honda Pioneer)

15 Leslie Alleyne/Chris O’Neal (Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max)

16 Robert Warren/Ian Warren (Land Rover Defender)

18 ** Barry Gale/Neil Barnard (Gale's Agro Products/809 Design Toyota Hilux)

Novice Class

17 ** Thomas Hill/Roger Hill (Nassco/Esso/Pennzoil/Motormac Toyota Hilux)

19 ** Stephen Mayers/David Reece (Toyota Hilux)

20 ** Andrew Jones/Lindsey Pilkington (Lucozade/Caribbean Powder Coating/AP Jones Pharmacy/Southern Surf Beach Apartments Toyota Hilux)

* routes 1 & 4 only

** route 4 only