Bourne on Form as Mayers Crashes Out
Simpson Motors Rally Team claims clean sweep of class wins
A true taste of the excitement to come over the weekend of
Rally Barbados in June was enjoyed by thousands of enthusiasts
at the Barbados Rally Club's (BRC) second one-day Tarmac Rally
of the year, centred around the Kendal Plantation Yard, St
John, on Sunday (April 27).
Paul
'Surfer' Bourne (right) reaffirmed his current strong form
with a superb display in the Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams
Industries Subaru Impreza WRC, winning the event by more than
50 seconds. But it was a hard fight. By the mid-point of the
12-stage event, Bourne and his two main contenders had each
claimed two fastest stage times; it was the best contest of
the year so far between Bourne, Trevor Manning (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson
Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo V) and Roger Mayers (Automotive
Art/Shell Helix Ford Focus WRC), Mayers comprehensively quickest
on the last stage before lunch. Roger Skeete failed to make
the start, waiting on parts for his Texaco/Michelin/McEnearney
Quality/Consolidated Finance/Carib Ford Escort WRC. But it
was all to change in the afternoon, as Bourne was the fastest
man through all six stages; Mayers
spun into the wall (right) - and retirement - at Malvern corner,
while Manning saw he could not match Bourne's pace on the
day. Later, he said: "If you can't win, look pretty"
so, in the final stages of the day 'Electric Micey' gave the
crowd the sort of entertainment that attracts them to rallying
in their thousands. Manning won Modified 8 by 7secs from Roger
Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco/Michelin Motormac Toyota Celica GT4),
who also struck the Malvern corner wall after getting broad
on the dirt, though with less drastic results.
In
Group N, the early form was set by former British champion
Harold Morley in the Sunbeach Communications Inc Subaru Impreza
Sti; after lunch, however, Geoffrey Noel - slowed by some
set-up experiments in the morning - came to the fore in the
Citgo/Napa/Pirelli/ AutoZone Mitsubishi Evo VI to win the
Group by nine seconds. Yet again, gearbox problems forced
a disappointed Brian Gill to retire the Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams
Industries Subaru Impreza WRX.
The Toyota Starlets of Barry Mayers (Automotive Art/Shell
Helix) and Cliff Roett (Michelin/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett's
Garage) looked set for a good fight - Mayers admitted afterwards
that no-one had pushed him so hard this year - but clutch
failure put Mayers out. Roett finished an impressive fifth
overall, winning the class by nearly half-a-minute from St
Elmo Cumberbatch, who battled day-long with Jonathan Still,
the two BMWs swapping times stage to stage; a lower ball-joint
failure three corners before the end of the rally cost 'Stillo'
second in class to Mayers, but it had been a strong showing
for both BMWs.
Modified 7 was not to be resolved on Sunday, with a protest
outstanding; once again, there had been a close contest between
Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Corbin's Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota
Corolla SR) and Greg Cozier (Carib/Valvoline Ford Escort RS2000)
with Cozier declared class-winner, despite losing some time
after a rubber bush had worked loose.
In Modified 6, Sean Gill (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson
Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis) was untroubled on his way
to a 20-second win, despite a lurid spin by easy Hall, while
team-mate Neil Barnard, now running in Modified 5 in the NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson
Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa, enjoyed perhaps the luckiest
class win of the day. Some yards before the end of the final
stage, Barnard ran out of gas, costing valuable time - when
he reached the finish, he extended his hand to congratulate
Roger Marshall (Photo Finish One Hour Photo/Agfa Film Toyota
Starlet), only to find 'Marsh' had spun in that same stage,
handing the win to Barnard. Sunday's event used 12 stages
- Stewarts Hill, Wilson Hill to Malvern and Todds to Ellesmere;
each was run twice in the morning and afternoon, with the
after-lunch runs in the reverse direction.
Provisional result follows
BRC Drivers Championship 2003 - round 3 Event - BRC Tarmac
Rally, April 27, 2003
Overall
1 Paul Bourne/Louis Venezia
(Banks/Pirelli/Texaco/Williams Industries Subaru Impreza WRC),
16m 15.28s
2 Trevor Manning/James Betts
(NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi
Evo V), 17m 07.41s
3 Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (Mobil
1/Nassco/Michelin Motormac Toyota Celica GT4), 17m 14.45s
4 Sean Dowding/Jason Cozier (Globe
Finance/NPK Construction Mitsubishi Evo V), 17m 28.68s
5 Cliff Roett/Rhett Watson (Michelin/Nassco/Lucky
Horseshoe/Roett's Garage Toyota Starlet), 17m 40.28s
6 Geoffrey Noel/Leslie Alleyne
(Citgo/Napa/Pirelli/AutoZone Mitsubishi Evo VI), 17m 48.70s
7 Harold Morley/Geoff Goddard
(Sunbeach Communications Inc Subaru Impreza), 17m 57.37s
8 Sean Gill/Michael Cummins (Simpson
Motors/DaCosta Mannings AutoCentre/Pirelli Suzuki Ignis),
18m 03.06s
9 St Elmo Cumberbatch/Owen Cumberbatch
(F Taylor Associates/Michelin/St Elmo Supermarket BMW E36),
18m 08.39s
10 Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell
(Nescafe/Phillips Lighting/Sikkens Paints BMW M3), 18m 08.72s
etc
Class winners
Modified 9 (including World Rally
Cars)
Bourne/Venezia
Modified 8 (Group A)
Manning/Betts
Production 4 (Group N)
Noel/Alleyne
Open Modified & Production 3
merged
Roett/Watson
Modified 7 *
Greg Cozier/Antonio da Silva (Carib/Valvoline Oil Ford Escort
RS2000), 18m 53.24s
* subject to protest
Modified 6
Gill/Cummins
Modified 5
Neil Barnard/Ryan Rodriguez (NP/Sunbeach/Kerridge/Pirelli/Simpson
Motors Rally Team Opel Corsa)
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