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Manning Dominates At Black Bess
Flying start to Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver's Championship
Trevor 'Electric Micey' Manning (above) blasted back to the
front of the local motor sport scene on Sunday (February 20)
with a dominant performance in the opening round of the Virgin
Atlantic Barbados Rally Club Driver's Championship.
At the wheel of the Shell/Courts/Automotive Art/Garbage
Master Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII,
Manning set the pace from the start of the BRC Gravel Sprint
at the Black Bess Plantation in St Peter; his first-run time
of 3min 01.816sec was more than 10 seconds quicker than that
of any of his rivals . . . and he improved with every run.
 Roger
Mayers (right) broke a CV joint on the drive-through which
preceded the start of the competition, and was side-lined
for the first official run. Mayers had won twice at the popular
venue in the past two years, and was carrying start number
1 on the Trivial Pursuit Ford Focus WRC . . . but he was not
to claim a third victory.
Despite charging hard in his two timed runs, and achieving
a time seven-tenths better than Manning's first-run time,
'Micey' improved steadily, to end the day the only driver
to break the three-minute barrier with a well-judged 2m 59.519s,
1.5secs better than Mayers.
Roger Hill, who won last October's BRC Loose Rally, which
included the Black Bess stage, finished third, in the Mobil
1 / Nassco/ Michelin/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4. Hill also
won the Modified 8 class, beating Sean Dowding (Globe Finance
Mitsubishi Evo V) - he finished fourth overall - and his own
regular co-driver, Graham Gittens, who shared the Celica for
the day.
 Sean
Gill (right) not only won Modified 6 in the Shell/Courts/Automotive
Art Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis JWRC, but also
performed an impressive giant-killing act, finishing fifth
overall, ahead of a number of cars from higher classes.
Among those he out-ran were sixth-placed Harold Morley in
the four-wheel-drive Sunbeach Communications Inc Subaru Impreza
WRC and Mark Hamilton (McEnearney Quality Inc/Consolidated
Finance/Automotive Art Ford Escort MkII), who finished seventh
overall and won the Modified Open class.
 Neil
Armstrong (right) (Bridgestone/ Lubriguard/Nassco/Proauto
Toyota Starlet) finished second to Gill in Modified 6, albeit
more than six seconds adrift, but will have been well satisfied
to finish ahead of the thundering Philips Lighting/Castrol/Crane
& Equipment BMW M3 of Jonathan Still.
Manning's regular co-driver James Betts made it a winning
debut in the Champion Auto Wrecker Services/Kendall Sporting/KG
Enterprises/Hankook Tyres/Venture Marble Opel Corsa GSi, which
had already won at Black Bess in the hands of its former owner,
Neil Barnard; in winning the merged Modified 5 and Production
3 class, Betts beat Micey's brother Wayne (Black Bess Quarry
Peugeot 205GTi).
Reigning Modified 7 champion Edward Corbin started his title
defence in fine style, with victory in the Automotive Art/Kumho-backed
Toyota Corolla SR and 11th place overall.
BRC Gravel Sprint, February 20
Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver's Championship, round 1
Overall results
1st Trevor Manning (M9 Shell/Courts/Automotive
Art/Garbage Master Simpson Motors Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo VIII), 2m 59.519s
2nd Roger Mayers (M9 Trivial Pursuit Ford Focus WRC), 3m 01.110s
3rd Roger Hill (M8 Mobil 1/Nassco/Michelin/Motormac Toyota
Celica GT4), 3m 09.151s
4th Sean Dowding (M8 Globe Finance Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V),
3m 10.166s
5th Sean Gill (M6 Shell/Courts/Automotive Art Simpson Motors
Rally Team Suzuki Ignis JWRC), 3m 14.526s
6th Harold Morley (M9 Sunbeach Communications Inc Subaru Impreza
WRC), 3m 14.889s
7th Mark Hamilton (MO McEnearney Quality Inc/Consolidated
Finance/Automotive Art Ford Escort MkII), 3m 20.143s
8th Neil Armstrong (M6 Bridgestone/Lubriguard/Nassco/Proauto
Toyota Starlet), 3m 21.036s
9th Jonathan Still (MO Philips Lighting/Castrol/Crane &
Equipment BMW M3), 3m 21.651s
10th James Betts (M5 Champion Auto Wrecker Services/Kendall
Sporting/KG Enterprises/Hankook Tyres/Venture Marble Opel
Corsa GSi), 3m 23.346s
Class winners
Modified 9 Manning; Modified 8 Hill; Modified Open Hamilton;
Modified 7 Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Kumho Tyres Toyota
Corolla SR); Modified 6 Gill; Modified 5 & Production
3 merged Betts
For further information, visit the BRC web
site: www.rallyclub.com
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