DUSTIN EDWARDS and Ryan Corbin are this year’s Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Muddogs Champions.
Driving the Blockman/Corbin’s Catering Services/Mahogany Ridge/Crane & Equipment/SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares Toyota Hilux they finished second in the recently-held Nassco October Safari, picking up 731 penalties and $500 in the process for being the highest placed Toyota crew in the event. The pair had won the event last year.
It was the final round of the Muddogs championship and also produced the fifth different winning crew in as many events, the pair of Adrian Sinckler and Andre Murrell in a Suzuki Samurai who ran out winners of the event with 548 penalties.
Novice champions of 2008 Damian Brooker and Derek Edwards, competing in the Joe Brooker’s Building/SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares Toyota Hilux finished third with 736 penalties, while this year’s Shelbury June Safari winners Chris Armstrong and Wayne “Mort” Clarke in the Shelbury Construction Toyota Hilux had to be content with fourth place with 855 penalties.
Brett Barber and Warren Gollop in the Biddy’s Information Centre/JE Security Mitsubishi Pajero with 882 penalties and Kerry Renee/ and Jason Downey in the Suzuki Samurai 965 were fifth and sixth respectively.
Brooker and Edwards and Armstrong and Clarke also collected Nassco cash prizes of $300 and $200, as second- and third-place Toyotas respectively.
Murrell, who is the 2010 Champion Novice Navigator, said: “The win was a surprise. Iit had some tricks and you had to be on your guard. Route one was better, as the straight line in route two was challenging.”
Sinckler added: Concentration and confidence paid off”.
Judged against their win in the Regional Fire & Security September Safari, the Novice crew of Ben Norris and Darnley Rayside who were driving the Glacial Ice/Electric Avenue/Pitbull Energy Drink/Ace Engineering Land Rover Discovery, did not have such a good day, although he Norris was one of the stars of the Driver Challenge and the second novice crew on both the first and second routes.
Route two led the crews back to the start, via a timed Dexterity Challenge at Kendal Quarry and a not-for-points Driver Challenge around the pond, over a muddy patch and up a steep, slippery incline at Searles; Wayne Manning was fastest in the first Challenge, but the Black Bess Quarry/Huzier/Mahindra Motorsports Mahindra Pik-Up shut down shortly after, forcing retirement, while the second Challenge provided a crowd-pleasing end to the season as competitors pitted their skills and strategy against the obstacles.
At the Prizegiving at the BCTSA Club House and in addition to the cash prizes for the three highest-placed Toyotas, Nassco s boss Roger Hill presented trophies and Toyota mugs and hats to the top three overall and the top three in the Novice class, as well as Toyota pens and openers to the winners of each route.
Renata Roett, who finished 10th with Edson Arthur, was the highest-placed female competitor, while the Mud Dogs was pleased to welcome another Novice crew to the final event of the year, rally regular Sean Field and Jennifer Reader in the Field Insurance Brokers/Castrol/Ackee Tree/Landscapes in Harmony Mazda B2500.
