Close battles in Virgin Atlantic BRC Class Championship
After an eight-week break, competitors in the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Virgin Atlantic Driver’s and Class Championships will return to action in the Karcher Summer Stages on Saturday, July 24. The event is set to be a big hit with fans, as half the scheduled 12 stages, alternating between the popular Pickerings and Turners Hall venues in the north of the island, will be run at night, increasingly rare in island motor sport.
The service area will be the Greenland Agricultural Station, where competitors must arrive no later than 12.30pm for Scrutineering, which starts at 12.00pm; the event is slated for a 2.00pm start, with three runs each downhill through Turners Hall, then northbound through Pickerings before the dinner halt at around 6.00pm.
The restart is scheduled for 7.00pm, with a further three runs through each stage, in the opposite direction, before the finish at approximately 11.00pm, back at Greenland Agricultural Station. As in previous years, when Pickerings was used for the BRC Summer Nights Tarmac Sprint, the area around the Plantation Yard will be floodlit.
Entries are open at Motorsport Services, Haggatt Hall, St Michael and the running order will be published at the Briefing Meeting at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association Club House, Searles, Christ Church, at 7.00pm next Thursday (July 22).
In the Driver’s Championship, based on overall results, Paul Bourne (Ford Focus WRC07) increased his advantage in May to 19 points over Roger Hill (Toyota Corolla WRC), while John Powell (Subaru Impreza WRC S12) has closed to within eight points of Hill; these are also the top three in the Class Championship in Modified 8-WRC.
In the Overall Class Championship, the contest is much tighter: Bourne is also top here, but only one point ahead of Production 4 leader Barry Gale (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX); third equal are Gale’s father Freddie (Toyota Corolla RunX) and Mark Hamilton (Ford Escort MkII), respectively the leaders of M7 and SuperModified 11 – they are tied on 98 points, 13 behind Gale Junior, with his P4 arch-rival Geoff Noel (Evo IX) fifth on 91.
While most class leaders have a comfortable advantage in the standings, a tremendous battle has developed in the merged M5 & M6. After Shell V-Power King of the Hill, Edward Corbin (Daihatsu Charmant) was 40 points ahead of M5 leader Sean Cox (Suzuki Swift), tied for second with Jamal Brathwaite (M6 Mitsubishi Mirage). Read the rest of this entry »













































