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Manning Maintains Good Early-Season
Form
Large crowds enjoy opening round of new Texaco championship
Trevor 'Electric Micey' Manning maintained his good early-season
form on Sunday (March 6) with victory in the opening round
of the new-for-2005 Texaco Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Rally
Championship; co-driven by Ryan Rodriguez, Manning won by
a margin of more than 24 seconds.
 Driving
the Shell/Courts/ Automotive Art/Garbage Master Simpson Motors
Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII (right) in which he
had won the BRC Gravel Sprint just two weeks before, Manning
attacked from the start; his determination was much enjoyed
by the island's motor sport enthusiasts, who turned out in
large numbers to witness the first rally of the new season.
Provisional results were published in the pits at the Vaucluse
Raceway, which was the venue for the start, lunch halt and
finish; results will be declared final before the prize-giving
this evening (Monday) at The Boatyard.
The opening stage was a short blast of around 1.5 kilometres
at Mangrove, on hard ground, and lined in parts with boulders
the size of a small rally car; this was run twice, followed
by three runs uphill at the familiar Black Bess stage. After
a short lunch break, the Mangrove stage was repeated once,
before three further runs, this time downhill, at Black Bess.
Manning's victory came against a rather depleted field,
although the shortage of numbers seemed not to affect the
appeal of the new Texaco championship to the fans. Contributing
to a Zhaust.com on-line magazine discussion forum on Sunday
evening, one fan said: "This was one of the most entertaining
rallies I've watched in a long time; the action was fast-paced
and the drivers seemed to be on a whole different level of
competition."
'Micey' was pleased with his performance, too, and that
of his car. After the finish, he said: "We really have
got the car sorted, now; once it went to England late last
year, the early problems were dealt with. I can now drive
the car with total confidence that it will do what I want
it to."
 Manning's
victory came over Roger Hill and Graham Gittens (right), who
were enduring some problems with the anti-lag on the Mobil
1/Nassco/Michelin/Motormac Toyota Celica GT4. Third, in his
first appearance of the season, was Geoffrey Noel, co-driven
on this occasion by Kreigg Yearwood in the Canada House/Mix
96.9/Automotive Art/ESSCO Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI.
Each of the first three ran with single entries in his class,
so the Modified 8 and 9 classes were merged with Production
4.
 A
remarkable fourth overall was the giant-killing Shell/Courts/
Automotive Art Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis JWRC
of Sean Gill/Michael Cummins (right); they were being pushed
hard by Neil Armstrong/Ben Armstrong (Bridgestone/Lubriguard/Nassco/Proauto
Toyota Starlet) during the morning, but went on to win the
merged Modified 6 and 7 classes by just under 21secs. The
Armstrong cousins might have been closer - and also might
have finished fifth overall - but for a sticking throttle
pedal on the last stage, which had Neil dancing back and forth
across the pedals every time he needed to brake.
The Philips Lighting/Castrol/Crane & Equipment BMW M3
of Jonathan Still was equipped with a new sequential gearbox
for the first time; with co-driver Heath Hazell, Still was
enthusiastic: "The gearbox has only been in a week, so
I've had little change to practice, but it does deliver smoother
power. The car isn't really set up for the loose, so a win
won't be easy today."
But things went his way; a spin on the opening stage by
Mark Hamilton (McEnearney Quality Inc/Consolidated Finance/Automotive
Art Ford Escort MkII) left him and co-driver Clive Howell
playing catch-up in Modified Open, and there was just not
enough time. The BMW finished fifth overall, beating the Escort
by 11secs.
 James
Betts (right) claimed his second win of the season in the
Champion Auto/KG Enterprises/Venture Marble/Hankook/Bridgestone/L
& N Workshop Opel Corsa GSi, which had Jeremy Gonsalves
as co-driver; they led Wayne Manning/Willie Hinds (Citgo Oils/Black
Bess Quarry Peugeot 205GTi) home in Modified 5.
It was a day of few accidents, although Andrew Jones/Stuart
White retired at Black Bess when a rear wheel parted company
with the Total Sport Ford Escort Mk II, while mechanical problems
ruined the chances of brothers Nicholas and Reggie Gill, in
Volkswagen Beetle and Opel Manta respectively.
Round two of the Texaco BRC Rally Championship will be the
BRC's first one-day Tarmac Stage Rally of the season, scheduled
for Sunday, April 17.
BRC Gravel Stage Rally, March 6
Texaco Barbados Rally Club Rally Championship, round 1
Provisional results:
• 1st Trevor Manning/Ryan Rodriguez
(Shell/Courts/Automotive Art/Garbage Master Simpson Motors
Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), 15m 31.26s
• 2nd Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (Mobil 1/Nassco/Michelin/Motormac
Toyota Celica GT4), 15m 56.06s
• 3rd Geoffrey Noel/Kreigg Yearwood (Canada House,
Mix 96.9, Automotive Art and ESSCO Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI)
• 4th Sean Gill/Michael Cummins (Shell/Courts/Automotive
Art Simpson Motors Rally Team Suzuki Ignis JWRC), 16m 31.17s
• 5th Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell (Philips Lighting/Castrol/Crane
& Equipment BMW M3), 16m 51.00s
• 6th Neil Armstrong/Ben Armstrong (Bridgestone/Lubriguard/Nassco/Proauto
Toyota Starlet), 16m 52.01s
• 7th Mark Hamilton/Clive Howell (McEnearney Quality
Inc/Consolidated Finance/Automotive Art Ford Escort MkII),
17m 03.34s
• 8th James Betts/Jeremy Gonsalves (Champion Auto/KG
Enterprises/Venture Marble/Hankook/Bridgestone/L & N Workshop
Opel Corsa GSi), 17m 09.39s
• 9th Edward Corbin/Mark Perkins (Automotive Art/Kumho
Tyres Toyota Corolla SR), 17m 10.75s
• 10th Barry Ward/Matthew Staffner (Toyota Starlet),
17m 35.68s
etc
Class winners:
Modified 9, Modified 8 & Production 4 merged, Manning/Rodriguez;
Modified Open, Still/Hazell; Modified 7 & Modified 6 merged,
Gill/Cummins; Modified 5, Betts/Gonsalves
For further information, visit the BRC web
site: www.rallyclub.com
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