AUTUMN GRAVEL STAGES TO RUN OFF SUNDAY

All to play for in Virgin Atlantic BRC Championships

As crews prepare man and machine for the penultimate round of the 2009 Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Driver’s and Class Championships – the BRC Autumn Gravel Stages runs off this Sunday (October 18) – many also have a weather eye on the year-end rewards on offer for success in the two championships.
Points are calculated on each driver’s total over the 12 rounds, minus the lowest score (including non-starts and non-finishes); the Driver’s title chase is a straight-forward dash to the line, as both contenders have already accrued a zero for a non-finish - eight points separate Paul Bourne (Ford Focus WRC) and Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC).
And there’s an interesting battle for third place under way – around 40 points back from Hill come Neil Armstrong (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) on 74, Roger Skeete (Subaru Impreza S12) on 72 and Trevor Manning (Ford Escort WRC) on 68; while all are out of reach of the Driver’s title, each could still have an effect on that result this weekend and in the final, the BRC Winter Rally (October 31/November 1).
Things are less clear in the Class Championship, not least because the bonus points awarded to Class-winners at the end of each route (two on Sunday, for instance) also come into play. While each Class Champion-elect is pretty clear in most cases, the chase for the prestigious Overall Class Champion title looks set to go down to the wire.
Just eight points separate first and third, while the sixth-place man is only 20 points behind the leader, with more than 40 points still on offer. Group N leader Geoff Noel (Evo IX) has 163 points, just one ahead of SM11 leader Jonathan Still (BMW M3), with Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant), who leads Modified 6, third, another seven behind. The second group comprises SM11 leader Ian Warren (Suzuki Swift) on 148, with Bourne on 144, then SM9 leader James Betts (Opel Corsa) on 143 . . . there really is all to play for in the two remaining events.
Entries for Sunday’s BRC Autumn Gravel Stages close at 5.00pm tomorrow (Thursday, October 13), with the Briefing Meeting at 7.00pm the same evening at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association Clubhouse at Searles, Christ Church. The nearby Ocean Park car park will be the service area for Sunday’s action, which is slated for a 9.00am start. There will be four stages in the morning, running from Yorkshire to Searles, with a further four in the reverse direction scheduled to start at 13.10pm. A social and Prizegiving will follow the event, back at the BCTSA Clubhouse.

Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship
– after Round 10
* totals shown are calculated less the lowest score

1st Paul Bourne (M8-WRC Banks/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Subaru Impreza WRC S9 & Ford Focus WRC), 121 points
2nd Roger Hill (M8-WRC Esso/Nassco/Motormac Toyota Corolla WRC), 113pts
3rd Neil Armstrong (M8-A Simpson Motors/Hankook/ Shell V-Power/Gunk Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 74pts
4th Roger Skeete (M8-WRC Michelin/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Warrens Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 72pts
5th Trevor Manning (M8-WRC All-Terrain Plus/Garbage Master/Bess Block Ford Escort WRC), 68pts
6th Geoffrey Noel (P4 Globe Finance/DeWalt Tools/Essco/Sunbeach/

Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 64pts
7th Ian Warren (SM10 Simpson Motors/Shell V-Power Suzuki Swift), 60pts
8th Barry Gale (M8-WRC Autolink/VP Racing/Bella Beauty Supply/Pro Pac Dog Food Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 52pts
9th Jonathan Still (SM11 Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Little Switzerland BMW M3), 51pts
10th Cliff Roett (Carters & Co/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Roett’s Garage/Castrol Toyota Starlet), 35pts
etc

Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
– after Round 10
* totals shown are calculated less the lowest score

Modified 8-WRC: 1st Bourne, 144pts; 2nd Hill, 115pts; 3rd Skeete, 90pts; etc
M8-A 1st Armstrong, 114pts; 2nd Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders/Hankook Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V), 61pts; 3rd Michael Worme (Cot Media Group/Speedline Performance Auto/Dingolay/Details Car Valet Subaru Impreza STi), 49pts; etc
Production 4: 1st Noel, 163pts; 2nd Morley, 117pts; 3rd Dean Serrao (Amalgamated Security/Coconut Car Rentals/Lucky Games Inc Subaru Impreza N12 & Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 82pts; etc
SuperModified 11: 1st Still, 162pts; 2nd Nicholas Gill (SDRR/Glassfibre Products/Castrol/Barb's Bikinis Mazda 3), 68pts; 3rd Sammy Cumberbatch (Williams Industries/Digicel/F Taylor Associates/Castrol BMW M3), 48pts; etc
SM10: 1st Warren, 148pts; 2nd Rhett Watson (The Unknown Entity/MQI Collision Repair Centre/Toshiba/Office Solutions & Supplies/Corbz Workz/Castrol Ford Escort MkI), 119pts; 3rd Roett, 73pts; etc
SM9: 1st James Betts (All Terrain Plus/Cellate Caribbean/Makita/Black Bess/Yamaha/Champion Auto/Quik Start Auto/Kendal Sporting Opel Corsa), 143pts; 2nd Josh Read (Automotive Art Toyota Starlet), 125pts; 3rd Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet), 77pts; etc
M7: 1st Freddie Gale (Gale’s Hatcheries/Nassco/VP Racing Toyota Corolla RunX), 131pts; 2nd Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Morris Straker Construction/Garbage Gobbler/Crane & Equipments Vauxhall Astra GSi), 87pts; 3rd John Corbin (Corbins Garage/Klark-Odio/Automotive Art Toyota Corolla), 82pts; etc
M6: 1st Edward Corbin (Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage/JVM Signage Daihatsu Charmant), 155pts; 2nd Jamal Brathwaite (AM Electrical Solutions/Arthur Construction/Arthur Lifting and Freighting/Ellesmere Quarries/Chicken Pen Racing/D2 Racing Suspension Mitsubishi Mirage), 89pts; 3rd Danny Williams (Chris’s Workshop/Sunbury Plantation House/Barbados Paragliding Association Ford Fiesta), 76pts; etc
M5: 1st Sean Cox (Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift), 116pts; 2nd Dave Sealy (Lunatics Inc/G & G Sales & Service/L G Trading/Barbados Muffler Centre/Appleby Filling Station/ACT Sand Blasting/Techno Toy Tuning/Fast Lane Model Car Racing Toyota Starlet), 20pts; 3rd Rhett D’Andrade (Rent-A-Tool Toyota Starlet), 10pts
P3: 1st Sean T Field (AM Realty/Ackee Tree/Field Insurance Brokers/Landscapes in Harmony Peugeot 306), 85pts
P2: 1st Fabien Clarke (Barbados Business Listings/RCA Tours/Bovell Auto Repair Suzuki Ignis Sport), 65pts; 2nd Dane Skeete (Peugeot 106), 40pts; 3rd Conor Roach (Peugeot 106), 12pts

Media enquiries: e-mail – robin@bradfax.com

Open Day at Pot House Hill

Open Day at Pot House Hill

"All persons interested in learning more about the Mudfest Challenge events, are invited to join Kirk King at the Mud Dogs Pot House Hill location this Sunday (October 18th) at 9am.
Bring a cooler with some drinks and food, and of course your 4x4 rig, and enjoy a day of fun while you attempt the challenges and get pointers from the pros on how best to compete in these events without destroying your rig."

Samoan Tsunami: Kiwi surfer rides his way to survival..

Samoan Tsunami: Kiwi surfer rides his way to survival..

Earthquake Magnitude 8.0 : Samoa Islands Region Date Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 17:48:11 UTC Location 15.558°S, 172.073°W Depth 18 km (11.2 miles) set by location program Region Samoa Islands Region Distances 185 km (115 miles) ENE of Hihifo, Tonga 195 km (125 miles) S of APIA, Samoa 705 km (435 miles) NNE of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga 2700 km (1670 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand Death toll is at least 149 in Samoan Tsunami | photos Kiwi surfer rides his way to survival in Samoa | (scroll down) Paul Robertson & Sa-Monana resort at Upolu survive tsunami | (click here) Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 1 October, 2009 : - - Rescue workers on the Samoan islands and Tonga continue to search for survivors after the tsunami struck, killing at least 149 people. 110 people are dead on the Samoan islands and the devastation is complete. Planes carrying aid supplies are arriving on Samoa and nearby American Samoa. Tens of thousands of people need help in villages swamped by waves triggered by Tuesday's huge earthquake. The United Nations said it was sending an emergency team to Samoa. Full report, videos, photos, etc at BBC News Damage in Si'umu Samoa : photo Dominion Post/AFP Kiwi surfer rides his way to survival in Samoa A New Zealander rode out the tsunami on his surfboard. "I went out early morning for a surf, then I felt the tremor, I didn't really think too much of it. I went out and caught a few waves. All of a sudden the water went really weird, it kind of glassed off and got really lumpy, then we started moving really quick, getting sucked out to sea" "It was pretty scary looking back and seeing the reef completely dried up; it looked like a volcanic riverbed, it was just gone. I was thinking, 'This is it, we're going to get washed away and smashed into the jungle'. The group of surfers tried in vain to reach the shore as "trees and all sorts of stuff" started floating past them. They lay on their surfboards as wave surges swept ashore, riding them out and trying not to get smashed. Chris Nel survived the tsunami : photo courtesy WA Today "After about 35 or 45 minutes of floating around, we managed to time it between a surge to get to land through the reef channel." The surf camp he had been staying at had been destroyed. "A lot of my stuff got washed out to sea. I found one of my surfboards in the jungle." "We were really, really lucky," Chris Nel said. "If anyone had caught a wave closer to shore there would have definitely been people who would have died or been severely injured." Read the full report at WA Today A boat lays washed up ashore : photo AP Related Stories: # 1 : Scores dead, villages flattened in devastating Samoan tsunami # 2 : Little Impact Seen In Hawaii: Beachgoers In Waikiki Ignore Warnings # 3 : Residents of Samoa describe the minutes before the deadly tsunami struck # 4 : British toddler killed as he's dragged off beach in Samoa tsunami ... # 5 : Salani Surf Resort has been washed clean off the face of the earth. # 6 : Hell on Erath, the sea disappeared, then we saw the sea rising # 7 : UNESCO chief distressed by loss of life after Samoan tsunamis # 8 : Two Coconuts Blog: Tonga/Samoa Tsunami update Previous Reports: # 1 : Tsunami strikes after massive earthquake in SW Pacific # 2 : Samoa Tsunami: Salani Surf Resort is wiped out/gone