Barbados Rally Club front-runners face thrilling Black Bess finale in the Virgin Atlantic Championship Motorsports: Caribbean Action and Extreme Sports

Barbados Rally Club front-runners face thrilling Black Bess finale in the Virgin Atlantic Championship

Posted on 15 October 2012 Motorsports

After nine hotly-contested rounds of the 2012 Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Driver’s 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 Club’s 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 driver’s class total, minus the season’s 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 year’s final event promises to be one to remember, as the island’s 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 season’s 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 (Ford Focus WRC07), 136pts;
2nd Sean Gill (Suzuki SX4 WRC), 108pts;
3rd Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC), 99 points; etc

M8-A:

1st Avinash Chatrani (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 85pts;
2nd Graeme Finlayson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III), 37pts

Production 4:

1st Geoffrey Noel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 133pts;
2nd Andrew Mallalieu (Subaru Impreza N10), 94pts;
3rd Mark Hamilton (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 88pts

SuperModified 11:

1st Logan Watson (BMW M3), 150pts;
2nd Stuart Maloney (Peugeot 306 Maxi), 61pts;
3rd Alex Whitehead (BMW 328i), 54pts; etc

SM10:

1st Neil Armstrong (Toyota Starlet), 98pts;
2nd Ralph White (Toyota Starlet), 71pts;
3rd Josh Read (Toyota Starlet), 61pts; etc

SM9:

1st Carlos Edwards (Toyota Starlet), 107pts;
2nd Allan Maynard (Toyota Starlet), 84pts;
3rd Roger Mayers (WR Starlet), 63pts; etc

M7:

1st Daryl Clarke (Honda Civic), 156pts;
2nd Kyle Catwell (Volkswagen Golf GTI), 66pts;
3rd Adrian Linton (Vauxhall Astra SRi), 64pts; etc

M6 & M5 merged:

1st Neil Corbin (M6 – Toyota Starlet), 153pts;
2nd Jamal Brathwaite (M6 – Mitsubishi Mirage RS), 96pts;
3rd Wayne Archer (M6 – Peugeot 206), 76pts; etc

P2:

1st Fabien Clarke (Suzuki Ignis Sport), 59pts

Clubman:

1st Jeremy Croney (Peugeot 206), 136pts;
2nd Shannon Kirton (Datsun 120Y), 72pts;
3rd David Brewster (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 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 Suzuki Swift), 41pts;
9th Read, 40pts;
10th Croney, 37pts; etc

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