Since the INTRODUCTION of World Rally Championship (WRC) cars to Barbados, the mere thought of a two-wheel drive competitor raising the winner’s trophy had all but disappeared from the minds of many fans.
However, the unthinkable has finally happened. The men who disrupted the natural order of things were the team of Neil Armstrong and Barry Ward in the Chefette/Lubriguard/Hankook tyres/Nassco/Redline Fuels/Armag Rentals Toyota Starlet at the Motoring Club of Barbados’ Rally Of The Sun And Stars on Saturday.
This came as a surprise to many as the start list suggested that there was plenty of fire power at the top to keep the “WRC hunter” at bay even if one or two should take the fall.
Opting to go to the second stage as opposed to the first was the biggest mistake of the WRC big guns, because after stage one, Paul Bourne’s Focus was out and that left Roger “The Sheriff” Skeete to hold off fast-charging Jeffrey Panton from Jamaica.
As the day progressed, Dean Serrao’s Subaru disappeared as well and no one could say what had happened to him.
After Stage 4, Skeete was policing the competition as he sat in the lead, as expected, with Panton second and Neil Armstrong and Josh Read making up the top four.
However, as it turned dark, it was reported that Panton took the lead away from Skeete and was on his way to showing that his 1998 Rally Barbados win was no fluke. But just when it appeared Panton would take the victory, he ran into gearbox troubles.
This left Skeete and Roger “The Ninja” Hill to lead the WRC charge until Skeete too fell by the wayside.
With “The Sheriff” gone, some thought that “The Ninja” was now set to win, but not many knew that Armstrong was on his way to a monumental victory which would see him not only win the two-wheel drive category again but take the top honours overall.
Since Armstrong first showed up at the 11 km speed event this year with a new sponsor in Chefette, it was clear that it would be difficult for the two-wheel drive (2WD) boys to keep him at bay. Since then, he has won all of the events he has entered in the 2WD class.
When he first showed up to the jump at Redland it was clear he was a man on a mission and on each pass in the morning loop one could tell that not only was he faster than the rest of the 2WD cars but he was also faster than some 4WDs, which is the norm for him.
As the top drivers dropped like flies, all knew a podium finish was Armstrong’s but he did one better and took the top step.
Hill and Graham Gittens took second spot and Rhett Watson and Sean Corbin in the Snack Attack BMW completed the 2WD podium invasion with a third-place finish.
Ralph White is always fast and this year his car has surprised many as it has stood up to every test it was put through and now he was blessed with fourth place that he must have never imagined he would get.
Taking fifth spot was Stuart Mchlery in a Mark One Ford Escort.