Stuart Maloney and Natya Soodeen the big winners
Against the background of the continuing challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) completed its second condensed season with the final round of its Autocross Championship at Bushy Park Barbados two weeks ago. While prevailing Covid-19 protocols resulted in all the Club’s events being run behind closed doors, including those of the Driver’s and Class Championships, competition was nevertheless vigorous.
Stuart Maloney is today (December 17) confirmed as Champion Driver after the tie break rules were applied to separate him from Chris Hoad. At the wheel of his FIA R5 class Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo, Maloney had finished the season equal on 73 points with Hoad (BimmaCup), but Maloney got the nod, thanks to better results in the individual runs in each of the double-header sprints than Hoad in Clubman 2. Hoad wins his class in his first full season in the championship, however, and claims the Rookie title.
Maloney adds the BRC crown and the 4wd Championship to his circuit racing successes: having won Barbados Karting Association titles in 125 (2005) and 125 Shifter (2008), he was the 2008 Caribbean Motor Racing Champion and won the Radical Caribbean Cup in 2018. A class-winner in the 1990s in the Rally Club’s premier event, he finished 12th overall and top 2wd in Sol Rally Barbados 2020.
Outgoing Champion Driver Neil Corbin still has reason to celebrate, however, adding the 2021 2wd and SuperModified 1 titles to his cv; he was also Champion Driver in 2012, along with six previous Class Championships. The final double-header at Bushy Park also marked the debut of his recently-acquired Toyota GT86 CS-R3, in which he will compete in Modified 2 in the future, allowing his iconic Toyota Starlet a well-earned retirement.
FIA R5 class-winner last year, Roger Hill (Skoda Fabia R5) finished third overall for the second season in a row with 56 points, just one ahead of Clubman 1 winner Jason Tull (Peugeot 106 Rallye S2). The top five was completed by Andrew Mallalieu, who also finished third in FIA R5 in his Ford Fiesta R5.
While Covid-19 protocols prevented staging the BRC Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship, the events too difficult to run in a non-spectator environment, the Autocross Championship ran successfully behind closed doors at Bushy Park. Six-time Champion, Jamaica’s Chris McFarlane, opted not to contest the whole season, opening the door for a new winner for the grassroots discipline.
Of nearly 50 participants over the five rounds between May and December, a very healthy year-on-year increase over 2020, Natya Soodeen emerged the Overall Champion, also winning the Ladies and Motoring News Rookies titles in her BimmaCup. Soodeen was unbeaten in the Ladies classification all year, but there were some close battles for class sumpremacy, particularly in the 2wd Street Tyres class, where there were four different winners, with cousins Derek and Carlos Edwards winning three of five rounds, although Matthew Durant’s consistent performance won him the class in his Toyota GT86.
BRC Driver’s Championship
Final Overall Positions after round 5:
1st Stuart Maloney (FIA R5 Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados/VP Fuels/Chevron/Maloney Racing Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), *73 points
2nd Chris Hoad (C2 Subway/Dasani Water/Guava Tech BimmaCup), *73pts
3rd Roger Hill (FIA R5 Esso/MaxMeyer Paints/Motormac/DJ’s Skoda Fabia R5), 56pts
4th Jason Tull (C1 Jay-T’s Auto Services/Dominus PHD/Redline Performance Imports/SRG Engineering Peugeot 106 Rallye S2), 55pts
5th Andrew Mallalieu (FIA R5 Terra Caribbean Ford Fiesta R5), 50pts; etc
* tie-break rules applied for final positions
BRC Class Championship
Final Positions after round 5:
WRC: 1st Dane Skeete (Sol/CO Williams Sand & Lime/Automotive Art Subaru Impreza WRC S12), 37 points; 2nd Jeffrey Panton – JAM (Sandals Resorts/Rubis/Bushy Park Barbados KIG Ford Fiesta WRC), 35pts
FIA R5: 1st Maloney, 73pts; 2nd Hill, 56pts; 3rd Mallalieu, 50pts; etc
SuperModified 2: 1st Josh Read (Weetabix Toyota Starlet), 41pts; 2nd Andrew Jones (Gale’s Agro/A P Jones Pharmacy/Southern Surf Beach Apartments Ford Escort MkII), 35pts; 3rd Adrian Linton (Ravensden/Helping Hands Foundation/JAD Performance Vauxhall Astra VXR), 32pts; etc
SM1: 1st Neil Corbin (Nassco/Jason Jones/Auto Solutions/Emtage Electric/Pressout Performance Toyota Starlet), 39pts; 2nd Tremaine Forde-Catwell (Cheese Autoglass/MIPA Autocolor Daihatsu Charmant), 33pts
Modified 2: 1st Jamal Brathwaite (Valvoline/Caribbean Auto Glass/Consumers Guarantee Insurance/Stylez Auto Spa/TEC Barbados Honda Civic Type-R), 46pts
M1: 1st Geoffrey Noel (Toyota Corolla), 33pts
Historic 2: 1st Harold Morley - ENG (Porsche 911), 33pts
Clubman 3: 1st Stuart Garcia (Guava Tech/Smith’s Engineering Works/Kirba Inc BimmaCup Too), 33pts
C2: 1st Hoad, 73pts; 2nd Jason Downey (BimmaCup), 48pts; 3rd Sacha Soodeen (BimmaCup), 37pts; etc
C1: 1st Tull, 55pts
BRC 4wd Championship: 1st Maloney, 66pts; 2nd Hill, 50pts; 3rd Mallalieu, 44pts; 4th Skeete, 41pts; 5th Paul Horton - TCI (FIA R5 Java Island/Sky Motorsports/HO2 Construction Ford Fiesta R5), 40pts; etc
BRC 2wd Championship: 1st Corbin (SM1 Toyota Corolla & M2 Toyota GT86 CS-R3), 59pts; 2nd Brathwaite, 46pts; 3rd Read, 43pts; 4th Jones, *37pts; 5th Hoad, *37pts; etc
* tie-break rules applied for final positions
BRC Autocross Championship
Final Overall positions after round 5:
1st Natya Soodeen (BimmaCup), 75 points
2nd Stephen Nicholls (Nissan March), 73pts
3rd Tammy Nelson (Suzuki Swift Sport), 65pts
4th Joseph Tseu (Daihatsu Charade & Mazda Miata), 59pts
5th Omar Boodhoo (Subaru Impreza WRX), 58pts; etc
4wd (Street Tyres): 1st O Boodhoo, 58pts; 2nd Jevon Lashley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X), 42pts; 3rd Corey Jackman (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 26pts; etc
2wd (Race Tyres): 1st Nicholls, 73pts; 2nd Tseu, 59pts; 3rd Glyne Husbands (Mazda Miata), 54pts; etc 2wd (Street Tyres): 1st Matthew Durant (Toyota GT86), 54pts; 2nd Jamal Boodhoo (Mitsubishi Colt), 48pts; 3rd Derek Edwards (BimmaCup), 39pts; etc
Ladies: 1st Soodeen, 75pts; 2nd Nelson, 65pts; 3rd Cheryl-Ann Hurley (Hyundai Ionic & Toyota Starlet), 52pts; etc
Motoring News Rookies: 1st Soodeen, 75pts; 2nd Tseu, 59pts; 3rd Durant, 54pts; etc
For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax.com
web sites: www.rallybarbados.net; www.barbadosrallyclub.com
