PANTON EASES AHEAD IN RALLY CLUB TITLE CHASE

Class Championships go down to the wire

Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton is the sole leader of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Champion Driver title chase following his brace of victories in last Sunday’s (October 28) Flow Winter Sprint double-header at Stewarts Hill. The BRC Championship is heading for a thrilling finale in the Winter Rally in three week’s time, where an enhanced points structure applies; with no ‘dropped-score’ rule at year-end, every point counts.

With a perfect record of four WRC class wins before the weekend, Reigning Champion Panton had shared the lead with Greg Cozier, Edward Corbin and Barry Mayers, who were unbeaten in Historic 2, Modified 1 and SuperModified 2 respectively. Cozier, however, did not enter on Sunday and, while both Corbin and Mayers maintained their 100 per cent win rates, each suffered a reduced points tally thanks to an undersubscribed class.

Panton (Ford Focus WRC06) now has 105 points, two ahead of Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant) and four ahead of Mayers (Ford Fiesta); Corbin scored maximum points in a fully-subscribed class in the first run but Derek Edwards (Peugeot 206) failed to start the second run, reducing M1 to two starters. Mayers and Dane Skeete (Peugeot 306 Maxi) were the only starters in SM2, dominating the two-wheel-drive competition.

The top six in the Champion Driver standings is completed by M2 points-leader Jamal Brathwaite (Honda Civic Type-R) on 91, with Britain’s Rob Swann (Subaru Impreza WRC S12B) - he trails Panton by 15 points in WRC - and SM3 leader Logan Watson (BMW M3) tied in fifth place on 90 points.

Away from the Overall, there remains all to play for in the Class Championship, with many individual battles going down to the wire. The enhanced points structure for the final round – a class win will earn 28 points (up from the usual 20), second 23, third 20, down to 10 for 10th place – means that only two class-leaders look safe; with an advantage of 41 points in Clubman 2, Stuart Garcia (BMW 318ti Compact) is on course for back-to-back class titles, while Jonathan Still (BMW M3) leads Group B by 37.

In SM3, Watson leads last year’s class Champion Andrew Jones (Ford Escort MkII) by just two points, while it is even closer in SM1, where the Toyota Starlets of 2017 Champion Neil Corbin and Winston Thompson are tied in the lead on 76 points. Brathwaite’s two wins last Sunday increased his advantage in M2 over Paul Horton of the Turks & Caicos Islands (Citroen DS 3 R3 MAX) from 15 to 19 points, while 2017 class-winner Trevor Mapp (Mitsubishi Colt Mivec RS) saw his lead in Clubman 1 reduced from 15 to 11 points by Jermin Pope (Honda Civic).

Cozier’s (Escort MkII) absence handed the Historic 2 class lead to John Corbin (Toyota Corolla), although he has just seven points in hand over Cozier, who is now joint second with Wayne Archer (BMW 325). Finally, there are just 10 points between leader Andrew Mallalieu (Subaru Impreza) and Trinidad & Tobago’s David Coelho (Ford Fiesta R5) in Group A, with Mark Thompson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) and Avinash Chatrani (Evo VI) only six and seven points respectively behind Mallalieu.

Panton also leads the BRC 4wd Championship by 15 points from Swann, with Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC) a further 13 behind. Meanwhile, Mayers looks set to claim the 2wd Championship, which he leads by 28 points, with Skeete (71pts), Jones and Logan Watson (each with 70pts) scrapping over second place.

BRC Class Championship

Positions after round 6:

WRC: 1st Jeffrey Panton – JAM (Rubis/Sandals Barbados/KIG Ford Focus WRC06), 105 points; 2nd Rob Swann - ENG (Elegant Hotels/Blue Sky Luxury/Cygnet Plant Subaru Impreza WRC S12B), 90pts; 3rd Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/MaxMeyer/Pennzoil/Energizer/Refresh your Car/California Scents Toyota Corolla WRC), 77pts; etc

Group A: 1st Andrew Mallalieu (Terra Caribbean Subaru Impreza), 85pts; 2nd David Coelho – T&T (Subway Ford Fiesta R5/Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 75pts; 3rd Mark Thompson (Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty Day Spa/Automotive Art/SLAM 101.1FM/King’s Ocean/Berger Paints Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 69pts; etc

Group N: 1st George Sherman - USA (Subway/Zanzibar/Kaizan Sushi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 56pts

SuperModified 3: 1st Logan Watson (Leafy Organics/Sign Depot/Subzero Services/Luxe Caribbean Properties/Hankook/Cargo BGI/Stihl BMW M3), 90pts; 2nd Andrew Jones (Lucozade/Caribbean Powder Coating/Southern Surf Beach Apartments/AP Jones Pharmacy Ford Escort MkII), 88pts; 3rd Rhett Watson (Chefette/Stihl/Gliptone/Leafy Organics/Gunk/Hankook/Bajan Pure Water/It’s Barbados/Power King Batteries, in support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3), 73pts; etc

SM2: 1st Barry Mayers (Chefette/Rubis/Digicel/Hankook Ford Fiesta), 101pts; 2nd Dane Skeete (Sol/Automotive Art Peugeot 306 Maxi), 84pts; 3rd Kurt Thompson (Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty Day Spa/Slam 101.1FM/Berger Paints Honda Civic), 38pts; etc

SM1: equal 1st Winston Thompson (Chicken Pen Racing/Ellesmere Quarries/BCR Car Rental/Seawell Automotive Centre Toyota Starlet) & Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/General Electric/Refresh your Car/Valvoline/California Scents/Sun General Insurance/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet), 76pts; 3rd Jeremy Gonsalves (Sign Depot/Valvoline/Star Products/John Hardman Engineering/Guava Tech/Roscoe’s Machine Shop Opel Corsa), 70pts; etc

Modified 2: 1st Jamal Brathwaite (Valvoline/Automotive Art/Consumers Guarantee Insurance/Caribbean Auto Glass/Stylez Auto Spa/Pirelli Honda Civic Type-R), 91pts; 2nd Paul Horton - TCI (Arbikie Highland Estate/Java Island/Sky Motorsports/H Racing Citroen DS 3 R3 MAX), 72pts; 3rd Norman Catwell (Chicken Pen Racing/Ellesmere Quarries/BCR Car Rentals/John Hardman Engineering/SB Motorsport Engineering/Jenvey/Seawell Automotive Center Volkswagen Golf GTI), 34pts

M1: 1st Edward Corbin (Valvoline/Hilti/Express Imports Daihatsu Charmant), 103pts; 2nd Paul Inniss (Brydens Insurance/Cockspur/Caribbean Villa Chefs/East Point Grill/Chef Byer Catering/Going Places Travel/Drive-a-Matic Car Rentals/Hugh Autobody/JJ Racing Team/K Tech Auto/Castrol/Sign Station Honda Civic), 80pts; 3rd Benjamin Hartling – CDN (The Hartling Group Citroen C2 R2 MAX), 55pts; etc

Historic 2: 1st John Corbin (Valvoline/Hilti Toyota Corolla), 82pts; equal 2nd Greg Cozier (Barbados Historic Rally Carnival/Geest Line Ford Escort RS) & Wayne Archer (Intelligent Defence Systems/Kirba Inc/Four & Twenty Bakery/Smith’s Engineering Works/Zaccios BMW 318ti Compact), 75pts

Clubman 2: 1st Stuart Garcia (Four & Twenty Bakery/Intelligent Defence Systems/Smith’s Engineering Works/Zaccios/Kirba Inc BMW 318ti Compact), 88pts; 2nd Allan Kinch (Jolly Roger/Pirates Cove/Guava Tech/Printmax BMW 318ti Compact), 47pts; 3rd Eric Allamby (Brake Pro/Power Bass/Lenovo/Maxxis/Gunk BMW 318ti Compact), 30pts; etc

C1: 1st Trevor Mapp (Sign Station/JSB Motorsport/Chicken Pen Racing/Valvoline Mitsubishi Colt Mivec RS), 87pts; 2nd Jermin Pope (Good Time Snacks/Uniform Factory Outlet/Glassesco Honda Civic), 76pts; 3rd Randy Reid (Dynamic Auto Part/School Boy Sounds/Chef in the Box/Zak’s Auto Parts Toyota Starlet), 42pts; etc

GpB: 1st Jonathan Still (Sharkey’s Bar/Castrol/Suga Apple Swimwear/Paints Plus/Castrol/Markham Construction BMW M3), 89pts; 2nd Geoffrey Ullyett (Ullyett’s Machine Shop/Proj Rx/Radcomm/Rally and Competition Equipment/Goodyear BMW M3), 52pts; 3rd Calvin Briggs (Ford Sierra), 51pts; etc

BRC 4wd Championship: 1st Panton, 105pts; 2nd Swann, 90pts; 3rd Hill, 77pts; 4th Mallalieu, 62pts; 5th Coelho, 53pts; 6th Avinash Chatrani (GpA Lenovo/PowerBass/Genius Lynk/iShop/Copacabana/Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 48pts; 7th M Thompson, 38pts; 8th Sherman 27pts; 9th Roger Skeete (WRC Sol/Automotive Art/Simpson Motors/Flow Subaru Impreza WRC S12B), 11pts

BRC 2wd Championship: 1st B Mayers, 99pts; 2nd D Skeete, 71pts; equal 3rd Jones & L Watson, 70pts; 5th R Watson, 65pts; 6th E Corbin, 45pts; 7th N Corbin, 33pts; 8th Brathwaite, 32pts; 9th Stan Hartling – TCI (SM3 Bambarra Rum BMW M3), 31pts; 10th Gonsalves, 30pts; etc

For media information only. No regulatory value.

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Website: www.barbadosrallyclub.com