Bourne remains king of the hill

by Trevor ThorpePaul Bourne is still  king of the motoring hill.In a near-flawless performance watched by thousands from every vantage point along the 2.2 mile country route, Bourne easily won the 2010 Sol Rally Barbados on Sunday.The veteran Bourne posted the fastest times  on every run in the company of co-driver Stuart Maloney in their Banks/Chefette/LIME/ Virgin Atlantic sponsored Ford Focus WRC 07.But Bourne expressed disappointment over the absence of his main rival, Roger Skeete, who had been sidelined with mechnical problems and had to sit out the action.“Roger Skeete is the main man, though, and I’m sorry we couldn’t  go head to head,”  the winner said.  Bourne gave notice  of his intentions from the practice run by posting  a time of 2 minutes, 1.55 seconds, more than ten seconds clear of the field.Roger Hill and Graham Gittens in the Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC were second fastest with a time of two minutes, 11.80 seconds, ahead of the hard-charging two-wheel-drive front-runner  of Ian Warren in the the Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift with a time of two minutes, 12.89 seconds, and Josh Read in the Automotive Art/Baram Services Toyota Starlet whose time was two minutes, 14.41.On the first official run, Bourne lowered his time to two minutes, 0.90 seconds, with Trinidad and Tobago’s John Powell and Michael Marsch in a Shell Helix Subaru Impreza WRC S12 moving to second  spot with a trime of two minutes, 03.91 seconds, with British  co-driver Craig Thorley sitting in the Shell Helix Subaru Impreza WRC S12. England’s Paul Bird and Kirsty Riddick third in their Ford Focus WRC 08.As the day progressed, Hill slipped to fourth, with Sean Gill then fifth with a time of two minutes, 10.96 seconds and using the day to learn the intricacies  of the ex-Gigi Galli Shell V-Power/Automotive Art Mitsubishi WRC.Hill, picking good lines, found another three seconds to end with best time of two minutes, 05.31 to finish fourth overall but behind Bird and Riddick whose best time was two minutes, 04.82 seconds, while the Warrens were the fastest two-wheel drive competitors and fifth fastest overall.Gill and Cummins were sixth fastest overall with  a time of two minutes, 09.43 seconds. Gale and Edghill finished sevemth with a time of two minutes 10.73 seconds, while Read and Jordan finished eighth overall with a time of two minutes, 11.52 seconds.Sol Rally Barbados chairman Barry Gale said afterwards he was glad  to see the event went smoothly, despite some very unfortunate encounters for some competitors, and that there were no major spectator problems.