After a break of more than two months since the Sol Go Further June Safari, competitors in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) 2015 Chefette MudDogs Safari & Safari Novice Championships are making ready for round four, the MudDogs September Safari on Sunday, September 20.
Once again, with just two more chances available for off-road crews to score points, it looks set to be a hard-fought climax to the season. The positions are the reverse of how things stood at this point last year, when Derek Gill and Andrew Croney (Insurance Brokers & Solutions Inc Mitsubishi Pajero) were leading the Driver and Navigator standings respectively by just four points from Leslie Alleyne and Chris O'Neal (Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max), who went on to win last year’s titles by the narrowest possible margin – in MudDogs terms, that is – of two points.
This year, with two wins in the season’s three events so far – including a record-breaking seventh win in ‘The June’ for Alleyne – the Isuzu crew has the upper hand, by the same margin of four points. However, applying the dropped-score rule would increase that lead to six points, following their uncharacteristically low sixth place in the March Safari, which was won by Gill and Croney.
In the Chefette MudDogs Novice Championship, only two crews have contested every event. Derek Pinto and Adam Hunte have a perfect record of three wins so far in the Impulse Services Inc Toyota Hilux and lead Richard Hinkson and Kevin-Jon Manning (Flat 4's Barbados/Performance Imports Suzuki Samurai) by eight points. Once dropped scores are applied, that is cut to four.
Route-setter is Sean Gill, four-time winner of the BRC’s longest-established event, The June Rally, as Navigator to Andrew Mallalieu. Their victories, in a nine-year period between 1989 and 1997, represent the most concentrated run of success in the history of the event. While it has been confirmed that crews will start on Sunday, September 20, from the Vaucluse Raceway, St Thomas, with the lunchtime halt at around 11.30am at Chefette Six Roads in St Philip, Gill is still working on the fine detail of the route and keeping his cards close to his chest.
MudDogs Chairman Ricky Holder said: “The Championship is certainly heating up now, with two events to go and the dropped score rule yet to be applied. With a challenging event being set by Sean, I believe that the Championship is set to go down to the wire again.”
Entries for the MudDogs September Safari are now open at Motorsport Services in Haggatt Hall and will close next Tuesday (September 15) at 1.00pm; the Briefing Meeting will be at 7.00pm the same evening, at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association Club House at Searles, Christ Church, after which the entry list will be published.
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship
Positions after round 3
Navigators
1st Chris O’Neal (Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max), 170 points
2nd Andrew Croney (Insurance Brokers & Solutions Inc Mitsubishi Pajero), 166pts
3rd Kirk Watkins (Birdies Restaurant Ford Ranger), 160pts
4th Garry Mendes (G & G Sales & Services Inc Mitsubishi L200 Sportero), 156pts
5th Warrick Eastmond (Regional Fire and Security Suzuki Jimny), 148pts
6th Brandon Johnson (Western Union Suzuki Samurai), 146pts
7th Brett Barber (NL Engineering/Sam Lordes Inc Mitsubishi L200 Sportero), 142pts
8th Adam Hunte (Impulse Services Inc Toyota Hilux), 126pts
9th Willie Hinds (AS Auto Stop Suzuki Samurai), 124pts
10th Wayne Clarke (Toyota Hilux), 116pts
etc
Drivers
1st Leslie Alleyne (Simpson Motors/Shell Spirax/Shell Rimula/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max), 170 pts
2nd Derek Gill (Insurance Brokers & Solutions Inc Mitsubishi Pajero), 166pts
3rd Ben Norris (Birdies Restaurant Ford Ranger), 160pts
4th George Mendes (G & G Sales & Services Inc Mitsubishi L200 Sportero), 156pts
5th Michael Ward (Regional Fire and Security Suzuki Jimny), 148pts
6th Damien Johnson (Western Union Suzuki Samurai), 146pts
7th Nicholas Lorde (NL Engineering/Sam Lordes Inc Mitsubishi L200 Sportero), 142pts
8th Derek Pinto (Impulse Services Inc Toyota Hilux), 126pts
9th Chris Armstrong (Toyota Hilux), 116pts
10th Audley Croney (Suzuki Vitara), 110pts
etc
Chefette MudDogs Safari Novice Championship
Positions after round 3
Navigators
1st Adam Hunte (Impulse Services Inc Toyota Hilux), 180pts
2nd Kevin-Jon Manning (Flat 4's Barbados/Performance Imports Suzuki Samurai), 172pts
3rd Nathan John (Suzuki Samurai), 58pts
4th Kerry Renee (Sunshine Optimist Club Suzuki Samurai), 56pts
5th Greg Gill (Suzuki Samurai), 54pts
Drivers
1st Derek Pinto (Impulse Services Inc Toyota Hilux), 180pts
2nd Richard Hinkson (Flat 4's Barbados/Performance Imports Suzuki Samurai), 172pts
3rd Alvin Leon (Suzuki Samurai), 114pts
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship
& Chefette MudDogs Safari Novice Championship
Round 4 - September 20 - MudDogs September Safari
MudFest - October 4
Round 5 - November 8 - MudDogs November Safari
For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information, robin@bradfax.com
Web sites: www.barbadosrallyclub.com, www.muddogsbarbados.com
