Large crowds enjoy exciting competition
Paul Bourne continued his winning ways on Saturday (July 26) with victory in the Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint at Pickerings in St Lucy; it was his third win in four rounds of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Sprint Championship and brings him to within six points of Championship leader Roger Skeete.
The rare sight of competition cars in action at night combined with the refreshing cool breeze to bring the island's fans out in force . . . and they were not disappointed. With an entry of nearly 30 and six runs planned for each, there was to be action aplenty; a handful of drivers missed one or more runs, but spectators were still treated to nearly 140 runs through the popular course.
At the wheel of the Banks/Texaco/B-Mobile/Pirelli/
Skeete (Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9) and Hill (Exxon Mobil/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC) were separated by just three-hundredths of a second on the first run, so an exciting competition was in prospect, particularly with Sol Rally Barbados winner Kris Meeke on hand offering guidance to a number of drivers.
Bourne lost 10 seconds with an over-shoot on his second run, but Skeete was in even more trouble - an 'off' into the scenery resulted in a damaged front bumper and no time recorded; despite the best efforts of his service crew, he missed the third run while repairs were effected, then did the fourth run without the bumper.
While all this was happening, he slipped down the order, his fourth-run time of 2:33.74 placing him behind Bourne (now on 2:25.48), Hill (2:31.30) and the flying Sean Gill, who had clocked 2:33.37 in the Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Swift, despite an early electrical problem. Behind Skeete came Barry Gale (on 2:35.39s in the Trident White/Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), while Jonathan Still topped the rear-wheel-drive times in the Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Castrol Oils BMW M3 - Still's time of 2:38.12 would remain his best, as he had a big spin on his fifth run and failed to improve on the last.
Bourne found another second on his fifth run, 2:24.40 being his best of the night, while Skeete improved significantly on both runs five and six, to end the night on 2:26.55. Hill got steadily faster, too, his best of 2:29.82 coming in the final run, while SuperModified 10 winner Gill, Gale and SM11 winner Still completed the top six.
Behind them, there had been an entertaining battle between the front-runners in the lower-capacity two-wheel-drive Groups. While the other three members of the Flyin' Fish-backed 4W's team were at a family wedding, Ian Warren represented them well in his Peugeot 206, earning praise from his fellow-competitors for his press-on driving style, particularly through the 'S's. He was faster than Still in the early stages of the competition and ended the evening just two-tenths shy of the BMW's time, winning Modified 6 in the process.
Josh Read (Toyota Starlet) beat Daryl Clarke (Mitsubishi Mirage) to SM9 honours by just over a second, Clarke having suffered an off-road excursion on the fourth run, and these two sandwiched Adrian Linton. His Vauxhall Astra GSi was sporting new suspension courtesy of sponsor Ravensden, and he claimed victory in M7 by a little over 10 seconds from Norman Catwell, sharing the Chicken Pen Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI with son Kyle. These two had been swapping times all evening - Kyle was ahead after four runs, but father's fifth-run time gave him the edge.
Dane Skeete won M5 in his Peugeot 106, having missed one run to check on his father after his run-off, while Andre Snobel won the battle of the Toyotas in Production 2, beating Rhett D'Andrade by eight seconds.
Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint
BRC Sprint Championship, round 4
July 26
Results - overall
1st Paul Bourne (M8-WRC Banks/Texaco/B-Mobile/Pirelli/
2nd Roger Skeete (M8-WRC Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 2m 26.55s
3rd Roger Hill (M8-WRC Exxon Mobil/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 2m 29.82s
4th Sean Gill (SM10 Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Swift), 2m 32.33s
5th Barry Gale (M8-WRC Trident White/Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 2m 34.67s
6th Jonathan Still (SM11 Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Castrol Oils BMW M3), 2m 38.12s
7th Ian Warren (M6 4W's/Aqua Pur/Flyin' Fish/Crane & Equipments/MQI Repair Centre/Details Car Valet/Automotive Art Peugeot 206), 2m 38.31s
8th Josh Read (SM9 Automotive Art Toyota Starlet), 2m 43.38s
9th Adrian Linton (M7 Ravensden/Crane and Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/Morris Straker Construction/Subzero Vauxhall Astra GSi), 2m 44.02s
10th Daryl Clarke (SM9 Mom's Pasta Products/Area 5 Auto Works/Paintless Dent Removal/Caribbean Surf Network/Chicken Pen Racing Mitsubishi Mirage), 2m 44.62s
etc
Group results
Modified 8-WRC 1st Bourne; 2nd Skeete; 3rd Hill; etc
SuperModified 11 1st Still; 2nd Andrew Jones (Rexona V8/McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Escort MkII), 3m 02.37s; 3rd Calvin Briggs (Ford Escort MkII), 7m 55.35s
SM10 1st Gill; 2nd Wayne King (Peugeot 306), 2m 54.07s; 3rd Kyle Lashley (Norekyl Enterprises Ltd/BajanBoost.com/Dublin Crystal/Errie Tyre Service Toyota Starlet Turbo), 3m 52.48s
SM9 1st Read; 2nd Clarke; 3rd Neil Corbin (Nassco Ltd/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions Toyota Starlet), 2m 47.38s; etc
M7 1st Linton; 2nd Norman Catwell (P & N Hardware/Chicken Pen Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI), 2m 54.62s; 3rd Kyle Catwell (P & N Hardware/Chicken Pen Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI), 2m 56.20s; etc
M6 1st Warren; 2nd Edward Corbin (Rezults Autoshop/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage Daihatsu Charmant), 2m 53.89s
M5 1st Dane Skeete (Peugeot 106), 3m 07.66s
P2 1st Andre Snobel (Toyota Glanza), 3m 09.35s; 2nd Rhett D'Andrade (Toyota Starlet), 3m 17.12s
For further information, robin@bradfax.com
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