Sean Gill won the 2004 Vaucluse Raceway RallySprint Cup with a commanding performance in the Grand Final on Sunday (August 8). At the well-attended championship prizegiving, which followed the day's track action, he and nine others shared in an awards and prize fund worth $4000.

Even before Sunday's event, Gill's chances of repeating his title success of last year had been boosted by the news that Paul Bourne would not be in action, his car ready to be shipped to Trinidad for a forthcoming rally. With Bourne absent - they were tied on points - Gill's closest challenger was James Betts, two points behind.

Gill had elected to run the Automotive Art/Courts/Kerridge/ Yokohama Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis with lightweight panels, keen to see whether he could better his personal record at the track; although he succeeded, the decision would cost him the Modified 6 class title, as the changes to the car moved it into the Super Modified 10 class.

Once qualifying got under way, it was clear the switch of class would be unlikely to affect his overall title hopes; he was quicker than all others in S10 by a comfortable margin, and easily defeated Graham Manning (Ford Cortina) and Shaun Alleyne (Toyota Starlet) to progress to the Group Winners Handicap KnockOut.

The times were closer for Betts in the Hankook/Champion Auto/ Venture Marble/K C Enterprises/Errie Tyres Toyota Corolla, but he also progressed to the KnockOut, defeating the Toyota Starlets of Lindsay Farmer and Freddie Gale along the way.

The destination of the fourth Vaucluse title would therefore be decided on the handicap runs: Gill still enjoyed a two-point advantage over Betts, but there was a maximum of three points to be scored . . . so it would be a close-run thing.

Having defeated Sean Corbin in the preliminary round, Neil Corbin (Toyota Starlet) faced Betts (right) in the first of the four races in round two, with Corbin to start first, six seconds ahead. Corbin looked set to win, until the final three corners, when Betts found a remarkable turn of speed to claim the narrowest victory of the day . . . and the Banks Pig'n'Likka Bar Most Spectacular Drive of the Day award.

The gap between Gill and Betts was now just one point . . . with two points still to be scored. Gill then faced Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Corbin's Garage/Klark-Odio Toyota Corolla SR), starting with a five-second handicap . . . it was another close-run thing, Corbin looking the likely winner until the last few corners, but Gill crossed the line a length ahead, his lead now back to two points.

In his semi-final handicap race, Betts would face Kirk Watkins (left) in the Abacus Builders/Planned Maintenance/Bridgestone/Castrol Toyota Corolla, who had defeated Brett Clarke (Suzuki Swift) in round two; so closely are Betts and Watkins matched - their best times on Sunday were separated by just one-hundredth of a second - that there was no handicap. Once again, it was a close race, with Watkins narrowly the winner, and that ended Betts's chances of the RallySprint Cup title.

Gill faced Roger Skeete (Havoline/McEnearney Quality/Michelin Ford Escort WRC) in his semi-final, Skeete having defeated the BMW M3 of Jonathan Still earlier. Although he achieved a new personal record of 2m 07.49s in this run, Gill was beaten by Skeete . . . but his second RallySprint title was already secure.

In the final race of the day, despite starting with a 10-second handicap, Skeete came through to beat Watkins by a couple of lengths, the additional three points scored with his handicap victories promoting him to fifth in the RallySprint Cup.

His elevation to the top five came at the expense of Neil Barnard (Opel Corsa), who had been engaged in an intense battle throughout the day with Simpson Motors team-mate, Brett Clarke (Suzuki Swift), racing at VRW for the first time since 2002. Although he was to win the Modified 5 class and was quicker than Clarke throughout the day, Barnard was beaten in the Group final, which cost him three additional points that would have guaranteed him a top five finish.

Behind Gill and runner-up Betts, Edward Corbin placed third and former champion Barry Gale (Automotive Art/Courts/Kerridge/Yokohama/Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Evo VI) fourth. The top five finishers received their awards from Christina Tudor of Automotive Art: each won Draper socket sets, donated by Automotive Art, plus a case of Banks beer and other Banks gifts. In addition, Sean Gill was presented with a free studio photo shoot for him and his car, courtesy of Chris Alleyne of PhotoBarbados.

Rookie of the Year Sean Corbin placed seventh overall and second to Betts in merged Production 2 & 3. In addition to an action shot from VRW presented by PhotoBarbados, a late addition to the prize fund was a set of six Toyo TS1 tyres.

A final presentation was made to 17-year-old Shannon Gibbs, who had become the first female driver to compete at Vaucluse; PhotoBarbados will be sending her an action picture from Sunday to commemorate her motor sport debut in the Rent-a-Tool/Kumho Datsun 160J she shared with her brother Tristan.