Bourne Claims Second Rally Barbados
Win
Rally Club's 50th Anniversary marked by toughest-ever
event
After two days of intense competition (May 26/27), during
which the overall lead of Rally Barbados changed hands no
fewer than seven times, Paul 'Surfer' Bourne claimed his second
win in the Barbados Rally Club's (BRC) blue riband event by
a margin of less than two seconds.
With co-driver Stuart Maloney in the BF Goodrich/Plus-backed
Subaru Impreza WRC, Bourne claimed only 10 fastest times of
the 21 stages run, but his consistent pace throughout the
weekend was what counted; his victory came despite a 10-second
penalty for clocking in early for one Saturday stage.
Bourne and Maloney received their trophies at Monday's Prizegiving
at The Boatyard from former Citroen works Junior WRC driver
Kris Meeke and executive director of the Barbados Hotel &
Tourism Association Sue Springer. Meeke said: "I am just
amazed by the crowds that turn out to watch rallying here,
and the hospitality has been fantastic."
In the toughest contest of the event's 18-year history -
a fitting outcome in the BRC's 50th Anniversary year - four
different drivers led the event, and all six of those in control
of ex-works WRC machinery set fastest stage times, two drivers
each from Barbados, Jamaica and Europe, the very essence of
the annual Barbados Rally Carnival.
Despite some intermittent gearbox problems, Jamaicans John
'Pentti' Powell and Michael March (Stag/Intercontinental Shipping
Toyota Corolla WRC) finished second, as they did to Roger
Mayers (Ford Focus WRC) in 2005; 'Pentti' clocked three fastest
stage times and led overnight, but Bourne just chipped away.
With three fastest times in the bag, last year's winners,
Powell's fellow-countrymen Gary Gregg and Hugh Hutchinson
(McEnearney Quality/NG Racing Ford Focus WRC) had looked set
for a repeat, until a moment on Saturday's final stage and
some damage beneath the car dropped them down the order; efforts
to repair the Focus for a full attack on Sunday were not successful.
Roger Skeete and Ian Griffith in 'The Sheriff's new Havoline/Michelin/FB
Batteries Ford Escort WRC were in contention from early, two
fastest times helping them to third overnight; a podium finish
looked unlikely, however, after a dramatic spin on the second
Malvern, which cost Skeete more than 30 seconds compared with
his previous time through that stage and dropped him back
to fifth, behind Steve Perez and Kevin Procter.
With the experienced Howard Davies on the notes, and spurred
on by making it into the top three, Perez then set a couple
of fastest stage times in the Vodka Kick Ford Focus WRC, but
an equally dramatic spin on the first uphill Kendal cost him
20 seconds and returned the favour, leaving Skeete to finish
third.
Perez and Davies claimed the trophies as highest-placed
European crew - Perez said at the Prizegiving that he'll be
back next year - while Procter and local co-driver Stewart
Gill finished fifth in the Procter's Coaches/ITC-backed Hyundai
Accent WRC, fastest on the first Malvern.
The top six was completed by the only other Jamaican crew
to feature in the overall results, 1998 winner Jeffrey Panton
and co-driver Justin Morin, in the Air Jamaica/Miami Freight
& Shipping Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. A puncture early
Saturday dropped him to 15th, but Panton's press-on driving
style dragged him back up the order by the close.
Not so fortunate was Trevor Manning, co-driven in the Shell
V-Power/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Evo VIII by James Betts;
'Electric Micey' had been greatly encouraged by the performance
of the car this year, and his optimism seemed well-founded
- second on each of the first three stages to Gregg, Bourne
and Powell, he was leading Rally Barbados by nearly three
seconds, when another turbo failure in the second Canefield
brought his rally to a stop.
Manning's team-mate Sean Gill flew the flag for Simpson
Motors in fine style, however; with 'Zippy' Cummins alongside
him in the First Caribbean VISA/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art
Suzuki Swift, he was fastest in SuperModified 10 on every
stage, also fastest two-wheel-drive, to finish seventh overall.
His times and fastest speeds - 177kmph uphill at Canfield,
for instance - were often precisely matched by the Red Bull/Hitachi
Power Tools BMW M3 of Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell, who finished
eighth overall, winners of S11.
Despite an engine that persisted in cutting out during Saturday
morning, a delighted Neil Armstrong finished ninth, winning
Group N with Barry Ward in the Shell Helix/Hankook/Solider
Seal Gunk Evo VI, an exact repeat of their result of Rally
Jamaica last December . . . right down to start number 17!
For the second year in a row, Barry Gale/Ryan Rodriguez
finished 10th in the Simpson Motors/Dentyne Ice/VP Racing
Evo VI; they also claimed victory in Group M8-A, despite an
alarming trip into the undergrowth on the first stage of the
day, when the steering wheel came loose. Fortunately for Gale,
everyone else in the Group had problems of their own - the
legendary reliability of Roger Hill's Toyota Celica GT4 took
one of its rare downturns, with gearbox problems, Kirk Watkins
struck the bridge of the first Canefield damaging the rims
and suspension of his Evo V in the process, while British
visitor Andrew Johnson rolled his Subaru Impreza on the same
stage, losing a lot of time.
Gale's 10th place, secured just a few stages from the finish,
came at the expense of M6 winners Ian Warren/Matthew Staffner,
whose giant-killing acts in the MQI/Subzero/Details Car Valet
Peugeot 206 had included a faster top speed through Dark Hole
on Saturday morning than two WRC cars, Gill and Still!
A determined drive resulted in a second M7 victory for Rally
Carnival founder Greg Cozier and Antonio Da Silva (Citgo/Hyundai
Industrial & Commercial Ford Escort RS2000), while five-times
Carnival visitor, Scotland's Kenny Hall, celebrated his 50th
birthday with a second M5 win, co-driven by Holland's Fenny
Wesselink in the Car Parts 4u/Simpson Motors Vauxhall Corsa;
his co-driver was also highest-placed female competitor.
Two other Groups were won by overseas competitors: after
Northern Ireland's John Hardman crashed his Ford Fiesta, England's
Andrew Costin-Hurley was the sole survivor in Group B, co-driven
by Michael Carrington in the Ford Puma and, while they were
not classified as overall finishers, Jamaica's Tarik Minot
and Peter Clarke won S9 in the Minott Motorsport Suzuki Ignis.
In the only small-capacity production Group, Neil Barnard
achieved a fifth Group win on the event, claiming P2 honours
with Kevin Massiah co-driving the First Caribbean VISA/Shell
V-Power/Automotive Art Suzuki Ignis Sport.
Nicholas Gill and Sue Rogers in the Castrol/MQI Mazda 3
won every stage to lift the Texaco Sunday Cup trophies, with
Britain's Dave Bellerby and Kev Franks (Procters Coaches Ford
Sapphire) won the battle for second place, after swapping
times all day with the Evo V of Watkins and Max Ferri.
Rally Barbados was organised by the Barbados Rally Club;
each day was a separate qualifying round of the Texaco BRC
Rally Championship and the BRC Driver's Championship. Principal
sponsors were Automotive Art, Banks Holdings Ltd, DaCosta
Mannings Auto Centre, Digicel, McEnearney Quality, Simpson
Motors, Texaco and Williams Industries. Associate sponsors
were Armag, the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association,
Crane & Equipment, Essco, Harris Paints, Nassco and SOL.
|