Mixed fortunes on BRC Gravel Rally
Having slipped to fourth place mid-morning, reigning Champions Paul Bourne and Stuart Maloney fought back for a fourth win in this year's Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Rally Championship on Sunday (October 19) in the Banks/Texaco/B-Mobile/Pirelli/
Nothing was certain until the end of a fascinating day of mixed fortunes for nearly every one of the front-running crews, the gravel stages making for a much more level playing field than tarmac. Despite the heavy rains of the previous week, the loose stage in Yorkshire on which the bulk of the BRC Gravel Rally would run was in near-perfect order by the Sunday morning start, while the return from tarmac to loose had brought fans out in their numbers.
Roger Skeete and Robert Simmons (Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9) declared their intentions early, fastest on the first run, beating Bourne by 13/100ths of a second - it was already shaping up to be an action-packed day, and it was barely nine o'clock in the morning!
Although Bourne responded next time out, snatching a 1.6-second lead, he lost around 10 seconds to an off-track excursion on the third run, which dropped him to fourth. With three top four stage times, Roger Hill and Graham Gittens (Mobil 1/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC) moved up to second, four seconds behind Skeete and one second ahead of Barry Gale and Cherie Edghill, who had made an excellent start in the Trident White/Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI.
Behind Bourne, Trevor Manning and Derek Edwards were fifth in the Shell V-Power/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, but the last stage before lunch ended their hopes of a good result, when the brakes seized after an off on the final corner, costing three minutes; even so, Manning was delighted to get within two seconds of Bourne on the day's final loose stage. Bourne fought back just before lunch, cutting three seconds off Skeete's advantage to reclaim second place.
A good tussle during the morning for fifth position saw Neil Armstrong and Barry Ward (Shell/Hankook Tyres/Gunk/Odyssey Batteries Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI) a little over one second ahead of Geoff Noel and Kreigg Yearwood (Globe Finance/Ezone/DeWalt/
The fight for supremacy in the two-wheel-drive classes was an intruguing one, too; sixth quickest overall on the day's first stage, Sean Gill and Michael Cummins had a few problems during the morning in the Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Swift, but were highest-placed two-wheel-drive at lunch.
Behind them, Jonathan Still and Heath Hazell were "best of the rest" on their first outing in the new Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Castrol Oils BMW M3 being shaken down for Rally Jamaica; their advantage over the Castrol Syntec/Lysol/Listerine/Vita Malt/Hennessy/McEnearney Quality Inc Mazda 3 of Nick Gill and Sue Rogers was just hundredths of a second, while Mark Hamilton and Clive Howell were only a second adrift in the newly-acquired McEnearney Quality Inc/Consolidated Finance/Automotive Art/Dunlop Ford Escort MkII.
With the stage reversed after lunch, Bourne clocked a perfect four fastest times; he chipped away at Skeete's advantage by a second or two each on stages five and six, but he clearly had his work cut out . . . at least until Skeete mirrored Bourne's indescretion of the morning, dropping around eight seconds on stage seven. That put Bourne back in charge and Hill less than two seconds adrift of Skeete, as everyone turned their attention to the two dexterity-style stages at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium . . . and that was where it was Hill's turn to suffer.
With the final-day crowds at the Barbados Motor Show filling the spectator areas, there were two runs, the second during a brief shower. Sean Gill was fastest on the first, with Bourne tied for second fastest-time with Adrian and Jonathan Linton (Ravensden/Crane and Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/Morris Straker Construction/Subzero Vauxhall Astra GSi), while the Lintons topped the sheets second time out, ahead of Still and Armstrong.
For Hill, however, 15th and 18th in the two short stages - times were just above and below the minute mark - meant the good work of earlier in the day was compromised; having arrived at the Gymnasium lying third, he would drop to fifth behind Gale and Armstrong. Sean Gill led the two-wheel-drive brigade home, sixth overall.
BRC Gravel Rally - October 19
2008 BRC Rally Championship, round five
Provisional results
Overall
1st Paul Bourne/Stuart Maloney (M8-WRC Banks/Texaco/B-Mobile/Pirelli/
2nd Roger Skeete/Robert Simmons (M8-WRC Michelin/FB Batteries Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 17m 20.56s
3rd Barry Gale/Cherie Edghill (M8-WRC Trident White/Simpson Motors Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 17m 23.64s
4th Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward (M8-A Shell/Hankook Tyres/Gunk/Odyssey Batteries Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 17m 33.71s
5th Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (M8-WRC Mobil 1/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 17m 38.97s
6th Sean Gill/Michael Cummins (SM10 Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Swift), 18m 06.99s
7th Geoff Noel/Kreigg Yearwood (P4 Globe Finance/Ezone/DeWalt/
8th Nick Gill/Sue Rogers (SM11 Castrol Syntec/Lysol/Listerine/Vita Malt/Hennessy/McEnearney Quality Inc Mazda 3), 18m 34.21s
9th Jonathan Still/Heath Hazell (SM11 Hitachi Power Tools/Ocean Spray/Philips Lighting/Crane & Equipments/Castrol Oils BMW M3), 18m 41.68s
10th Adrian Linton/Jonathan Linton (M7 Ravensden/Crane and Equipment/Garbage Gobbler/Morris Straker Construction/Subzero Vauxhall Astra GSi), 18m 42.49s
etc
Groups
Modified 8-WRC 1st Bourne/Maloney; 2nd Skeete/Simmons; 3rd Gale/Edghill; etc
Modified 8-A 1st Armstrong/Ward
Production 4 1st Noel/Yearwood
SuperModified 11 1st Gill/Rogers; 2nd Still/Hazell
SM10 1st Gill/Cummins; 2nd Mark Hamilton/Clive Howell (McEnearney Quality Inc/Consolidated Finance/Automotive Art/Dunlop Ford Escort MkII), 18m 57.24s
SM9 1st James Betts/Dean Serrao (Makita/All Terrain Plus/Star Products/Champion Auto Wrecker/Kendal Sporting/Quik Start Auto Opel Corsa), 19m 48.30s; 2nd David Williams/Dario Hoyte (Chelsea Car Rentals/CaribPak International Couriers/IBox Services/Castrol/Roxy Supermarket/Paintless Dent Removal/Dynamic Limo Services Toyota Starlet), 20m 31.59s; 3rd Stuart White/Jason O'Neal (4W's/Aqua Pur/Flyin' Fish/Crane & Equipments Toyota Starlet), 20m 36.20s; etc
Modified 7 1st Linton/Linton; 2nd David Brewster/Rashid Phillips (SRG Engineering/Castrol/E W Wood Classic Ltd Peugeot 205GTi), 25m 39.15s
Modified 6 1st Edward Corbin/Rodney Clarke (Rezults Autoshop/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage Daihatsu Charmant), 19m 24.89s
Production 2 1st Neil Barnard/Barry Hill (Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Ignis Sport), 20m 35.27s
For further information, robin@bradfax.com
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