Barbados Rally Club front-runners face thrilling Black Bess finale
After nine hotly-contested rounds of the 2012 Barbados Rally Club (BRC)
Virgin Atlantic Driver¹s and Class Championships, fought out since the
curtain-raiser in March, the chase for the prestigious Champion Driver title
will go down to the wire at the Club¹s final event of the season, the BRC
Winter Gravel Rally at Black Bess on October 28.
  With a perfect score in earlier events, Modified 7 leader Daryl Clarke
(Honda Civic) was hot favourite to win the title, which is based on each
driver¹s class total, minus the season¹s lowest score. He faltered for the
first time at the BRC Autumn Gravel Sprint last month, where he shared class
wins in the double-header with Edward Corbin (Toyota Corolla RunX), the
first man to beat him all season.
  Second-placed Neil Corbin (Toyota Starlet) also shared class wins, in M6
with Jamal Brathwaite (Mitsubishi Mirage RS), leaving the gap between the
two at three, while Logan Watson (BMW M3) won SuperModified 11 twice to draw
to within three points of Corbin and six of Clarke.
  Before dropped scores are taken into account, Clarke has 156 points,
Corbin 153, and Watson 150. All have scored in every round so far, but each
has a different lowest score to drop ­ once these are subtracted, the order
remains the same, but the gaps are cut: Clarke has 143, Corbin 142 and
Watson 140. The year¹s final event promises to be one to remember, as the
island¹s most prestigious title is contested.
  As the season draws to a close, two variables remain important: the
Overall title is based on class results, with each driver dropping the
season¹s worst score, while this is also the time of year when some classes
are not fully-subscribed ­ that means fewer than three starters - resulting
in a lower points haul for those competitors who do turn out. Tighten your
seat belts!
Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
Provisional positions after round 9:
Modified 8-WRC: 1st Paul Bourne (Chefette/LIME/Slam 101/MQI/Banks/Castrol
Ford Focus WRC07), 136pts; 2nd Sean Gill (Simpson Motors/Shell
V-Power/Automotive Art/Monster Energy Drink Suzuki SX4 WRC), 108pts; 3rd
Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC), 99 points; etc
M8-A: 1st Avinash Chatrani (Electric Avenue/Hankook/Solder Seal Gunk/Niagra
Water/Sign Station Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 85pts; 2nd Graeme Finlayson
(www.racedandrallied.com Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III), 37pts
Production 4: 1st Geoffrey Noel (Globe Finance/Sentry Insurance
Brokers/Cargo Solutions International/Mix 96.9FM/CIAC Air Conditioners
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 133pts; 2nd Andrew Mallalieu (Terra Caribbean
Subaru Impreza N10), 94pts; 3rd Mark Hamilton (CIBC-FCIB/Simpson Motors/MAXI
Malta/PowerMaster/Boston Seasoning/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX),
88pts
SuperModified 11: 1st Logan Watson (Oreo/Chips Ahoy!/Club Social/Formula1
High Performance Auto Care Products/Liquid Wrench/Sign Depot/The Unknown
Entity/In support of Little Pink Gift BMW M3), 150pts; 2nd Stuart Maloney
(Automotive Art/Sign Station/Valvoline Peugeot 306 Maxi), 61pts; 3rd Alex
Whitehead (AM Electrical Solutions/Sign Station BMW 328i), 54pts; etc
SM10: 1st Neil Armstrong (Chefette/Lubriguard/Hankook Tyres/Nassco/Redline
Fuels/ARMAG Rentals Toyota Starlet), 98pts; 2nd Ralph White (Barbados Villa
Services/Island Safari/Amsoil Toyota Starlet), 71pts; 3rd Josh Read
(Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook/EZone/Weetabix/SDRR/Royal Purple Toyota Starlet),
61pts; etc
SM9: 1st Carlos Edwards (Courts I-Finance/Enermax Toyota Starlet), 107pts;
2nd Allan Maynard (Marshal Trading/Roberts Manufacturing Toyota Starlet),
84pts; 3rd Roger Mayers (Chefette/Digicel/Delaware Dispensary/Illusion
Graphics/Barbados Today WR Starlet), 63pts; etc
M7: 1st Daryl Clarke (Ellco Rentals/Mom's Pasta Products/MQI/Roberts
Manufacturing Honda Civic), 156pts; 2nd Kyle Catwell (Chicken Pen
Racing/Kumho/Valvoline/Mackeson/Ellesmere Quarries Volkswagen Golf GTI),
66pts; 3rd Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Barbados Yellow Pages/JAD
Performance/Garbage Gobbler/Innovative Security Solutions Vauxhall Astra
SRi), 64pts; etc
M6 & M5 merged: 1st Neil Corbin (M6 Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto
Solutions/Castrol Toyota Starlet), 153pts; 2nd Jamal Brathwaite (M6
Valvoline/Mackeson/Kumho/Ellesmere Quarries/Codgi¹s Customs Brokers/Chicken
Pen Racing/AutoPlus Motors Mitsubishi Mirage RS), 96pts; 3rd Wayne Archer
(M6 Peugeot 206), 76pts; etc
P2: 1st Fabien Clarke (Barbados Business Listings/RCR Tours/Bovell Auto
Repair/Simple Trucking Suzuki Ignis Sport), 59pts
Clubman: 1st Jeremy Croney (ReMax Lifestyles/Sweet Temptations/Sign
Station/Gunk Peugeot 206), 136pts; 2nd Shannon Kirton (Ullyett¹s Machine
Shop/Gomez & Western Services/Field Insurance
Brokers/Cartique/Gatorade/Fritolay/Fingerprint Designs Datsun 120Y), 72pts;
3rd David Brewster (SRG Engineering/Castrol/Innovative Security
Solutions/Gittens & Co/USG Armstrong/Ceiling & Floor Peugeot 205GTi), 11pts
BRC 4wd Championship: 1st Bourne, 130pts; 2nd Gill, 108pts; 3rd Hill, 93pts;
4th Noel, 89pts; 5th Skeete, 76pts; 6th Mallalieu & Dean Serrao (M8-WRC
Sugar Ultra Lounge/Rush Restaurant Subaru Impreza WRC S9), 58pts; 8th
Chatrani, 55pts; 9th Hamilton, 36pts; 10th Finlayson, 21pts
BRC 2wd Championship: 1st Watson, 118pts; 2nd Armstrong, 95pts; 3rd Clarke,
92pts; 4th N Corbin, 68pts; 5th Maloney, 50pts; 6th Mayers, 46pts; 7th
Brathwaite & Ian Warren (SM10 Automotive Art/Simpson Motors/Degree Suzuki
Swift), 41pts; 9th Read, 40pts; 10th Croney, 37pts; etc
For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
web site: www.barbadosrallyclub.com