The return of Paul “The Surfer” Bourne and former Caribbean motor racing champion (CMRC) Stuart Maloney has added depth to the 51 starters entered for the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Shakedown Stages today.
The event, Round 3 of the club’s Virgin Atlantic Driver’s and Class Championships, will be decided over 12 stages at two venues: Colleton to Cliff, and Padmore Village to Three Houses, starting at 9 a.m. at Colleton Plantation, St John.
The plantation will also be the venue for the start, lunchtime break, finish and post-event prize-giving and lime.
Bourne, who will be driving the Banks/Chefette/Virgin Atlantic Airways Ford Focus WRC07, has not been active since the Sol Rally Barbados last year, in which he finished second.
He is paired with Ronald Plant, since former co-driver Stuart Maloney is entered in the same event but as a driver.
In fact, Maloney will be debuting the Automotive Art/Marshall Trading/Sea Freight Agencies Peugeot 306 Maxi in the largest group: Supermodified 11 (SM11).
He could be severely tested in the rally which has attracted the best pairs in active competition and which will be decided over 60 kilometres.
Maloney will be on a steep learning curve as he prepares for the Caribbean’s premier motorsport event Sol Rally Barbados next month. However, he should be able to hold off the challenges in the group.
Opponents include pairs such as Logan Watson/Jeremy Foster in The Unknown Entity BMW M3 and Brian Gill and Robert Tempro, who will also be in a BMW M3, and Andrew Jones/Kurt Ward (SM11 A.P. Jones Pharmacy/Rally & Competition Equipment/Precision Automotive/Southern Surf Beach Apartments Ford Escort MkII.
Sol Rally Barbados defending champions Roger Skeete and Louis Venezia in the Virgin Atlantic/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Michelin Subaru Impreza WRC S12 are drawn one ahead of Bourne and Plant.
Drawn after Bourne and Plant are Roger Hill and Graham Gittens in the Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC, Sean Gill and Michael Cummins in the Simpson Motors/Shell V-Power/Automotive Art/Chefette Suzuki SX4 WRC and Trinidad and Tobago-based Jamaican John Powell in the Intercontinental Shipping Ltd Subaru Impreza WRC S12.
The pair of Dean Serrao and Sean Abed in a Subaru Impreza WRC S9 round out the drivers entered in the top-class group.
Competitors will settle the morning stages in three loops of two: Colleton to Cliff, followed by Padmore Village to Three Houses.
After lunch, the stages will be reversed and run Cliff to Colleton followed by Three Houses to Padmore, with just one service break in the mid-afternoon.
One women’s team is among the starters: Shannon Kirton and Lisa Roett in a Datsun 160J.
