Xtreme Degreez Sports Magazine

Barbados Surfing Association Notice:

Due to unfavorable wave forecast and conditions for Drill Hall Beach this weekend

Event #2 has been postponed to March 13th, 2010
Location Drill Hall beach

Virgin Atlantic Championships get under way Saturday

The Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Spring Gravel Sprint on Saturday (February 27), kicks off the 2010 motor sport season with an International flavour, with a welcome return to the island scene by Trinidad-based Jamaican John ‘Pentti’ Powell in the Subaru Impreza WRC S12 in which he finished third in Rally Jamaica 2009.
Powell is one of 18 entries – half in the four-wheel-drive categories – listed for rounds one and two of the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s and Class Championships; start time for the double-header, on the popular Searles stage, has been moved back to 12.00pm and fans are promised around four hours of virtually non-stop action.
Popular with local fans, Powell has twice finished second in Rally Barbados in recent years – 2005 & ’07 in his Toyota Corolla WRCs – and has been a regular competitor in BRC events. Reigning Champion Paul ‘Surfer’ Bourne opens his defence at the wheel of his Banks/LIME/Virgin Atlantic Ford Focus WRC07, challenged not only by Powell, but also by the runner-up in last year’s title chase, Roger ‘Ninja’ Hill (Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC).
And there is further interest in Modified 8-WRC, with the class debut of Dean Serrao in the Impreza WRC S9 in which Bourne started his 2009 campaign, while Brett Clarke is making an unusually early-season appearance in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI. Read the rest of this entry »

Barbados Rally Club season gets under way

With seven first-time overseas crews among the on-line entries for Sol Rally Barbados 2010 (May 29/30), and enquiries still being received by the organising Barbados Rally Club (BRC), this year’s event looks set to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the inaugural running of the Club’s International All-Stage Rally in style.
Among the newcomers are English crew Graham Butler and Darren Lakeland, who promise to take the fight to the popular local Modified 6 class in their ex-works Peugeot 106 Maxi, backed by Evolution Sports Supplements, Veloce Wheels and Containers to Go; the competition will include reigning BRC Modified 6 Champions Edward Corbin and Rodney Clarke (Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage Daihatsu Charmant) and another overseas entry already confirmed, Ireland’s Peter Gallagher, co-driven in his Dublin Crystal/Peter Gallagher Design Peugeot 206 by Bajan Dario Hoyte. Read the rest of this entry »

ACTION-PACKED START TO MOTOR SPORT SEASON
Barbados Rally Club confirms 2010 calendar

Motor sport fans starved of action for the past three months do not have much longer to wait: the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) 2010 season starts with a packed programme of three events on consecutive weekends, starting with the Spring Gravel Sprint on Saturday, February 26.
The Club, which held its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday (February 16), has confirmed its programme for 2010, which includes a number of subtle changes from recent years. The three primary championships remain the same, however – the Virgin Atlantic BRC Driver’s Championship, the Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship and the BRC Mud Dogs Safari Championship.
The weekend after the Spring Gravel Sprint, the Mud Dogs season starts with the March Safari (Saturday, March 6), with the third round of the Driver’s and Class Championship the following Sunday (March 13).
As in 2009, the Driver’s Championship will be based on overall results in the 10 qualifying rounds; the Class Championship will be based on class results, with individual Class Champions and an Overall Class Champion; for the Mud Dogs, there will again be Safari Champion Navigator, Safari Champion Driver and MudFest Champion Driver titles, with the number of Safaris increased to five, drivers counting their best four scores toward their year-end total. Read the rest of this entry »

BSA offers free lessons

A NEW INITIATIVE to increase the popularity of surfing has been launched by the Barbados Surfing Association (BSA).

And it will cost those who already know how to swim absolutely nothing.

The initiative is in the form of 30 free lessons, under the theme Learn To Surf, at the BSA’s second Surfer Of The Year (SOTY) event on February 27.

Event sponsor Zed’s Surfing Adventures has partnered with the BSA to have instructors and boards on hand at the beach.

“The goal is to teach 30 people to surf under the watchful eye of the trained instructors.

“This is something that Zed [Layson, owner of Zed's Surfing Adventures] really wanted to do years ago and we are facilitating his wish through the BSA,” said the BSA’s secretary/treasurer Simon Coles.

He added that the aim was also to breathe life into the sport and to educate and promote a healthy lifestyle through surf education and beach awareness.

“This is where the BSA and the sponsor want more people to come and join the sport.

“We want this sport to thrive and we want to give something back,” Coles said.

“We are taking a proactive stance and we are trying to get people not to perceive the BSA as a white association. And if we create one or two people who will stick with it and become good, then that is good,” he added.

He stressed that the lessons were open to anyone but added a caveat: prospective surfers must be able to swim. “We wouldn’t be dealing with non-swimmers,” he said.

Meanwhile, the second SOTY event, slated for the Drill Hall, St Michael, will feature Menehune, Open, Women, Masters and Longboard divisions.

The BSA will also be partnering with Cafe Sol to provide breakfast and lunch to surfers and spectators on the beach. (HLE)

The Barbados Junior Surfing Club (BJSC) held their first event at Brandens Beach (Drill Hall) on Feb 13th. Event #1 of the sanctioned BURKIE Junior Surfing Championship Series sponsored by Lynch Insurance Brokers saw Barbadian surfers competing in 3-4ft waves against surfers from Germany, USA and Trinidad making up a combined total of 103 entries in seven divisions.

Joshua Burke, the Barbados Surfing Associations most improved surfer for 2009 did not disappoint, qualifying in four finals, following the judging criteria of executing “progressive and innovative manuevoers” throwing tail slides, 360 degree turns, aerials and even finding a rare tube ride on a choppy day earning the highest scoring ride of the contest and the judge’s approval, winning the precious U-18 and the 12-U boys.

Chelsea Roett won the U-18 girls in convincing fashion over her rival and current U-18 National Champ Chelsea Tuach. If that was not enough Roett continued to show her skill by upsetting 2009 14-U & 12-U Champ Dane Mackie in the U-16 division.
However Mackie went on to show he is no “surf over”, to win the 14-U which has become his pet event, fighting off 10 year old super surfer Che Allan. Allan who is currently unbeaten in the 10-U division had to pull out all his tricks to fend off a hard fought 2nd place Jacob “Manrat” Burke and 8 year old 3rd place Zander Venizia. Read the rest of this entry »