This weekend’s Sol Rally Barbados has been scheduled for two days.
But two of Barbados’ hot prospects believe that come Saturday night, the top spots will already be confirmed.
Speaking to WEEKENDSPORT during an autograph signing session at Simpson Motors recently, winner of the 2013 Scotiabank King of the Hill event, Neil Armstrong and 12-time Sol Rally Barbados champion, Roger “The Sheriff” Skeete said they expected tomorrow’s three stages to be the deciding factor.
“I strongly believe that by the time those stages are completed on Saturday, we will have a good idea of who will be in the running to win the rally,” Armstrong stated.
“The stages on Saturday will be more treacherous and I figure the Dark Hole stage will be the make or break of the rally.
“I don’t think it will be a comeback win. You will need to have a bit of a lead come Saturday afternoon.”
Skeete also agreed with Armstrong.
He said he expected the pace at Sunday’s stages to be fast and furious and there wouldn’t be many opportunities to shave critical seconds off the clock.
“Based on my experiences over the years, once you have established that pecking order, it is much more difficult for anyone else to challenge on Sunday because the stages are so fast there isn’t much room to make up big chunks of time,” he explained.
“Whereas the three stages on Saturday are a great deal more technical, and I especially expect the Dark Hole stage to be the determining factor.
“Last year, [Paul] Bird left the road, but the trouble is now, there are situations in Dark Hole that don’t permit you to leave the road and come back. So, I don’t think it’s an option anyone wants to explore,” the veteran of 34 years added.
Having claimed last weekend’s King of the Hill event, which earned him the right to start as No. 1 one in tomorrow’s rally, and with his Suzuki SX4 WRC in prime condition, Armstrong said he was looking to improve on his fifth placed finish at last year’s event.
“I’m pretty comfortable and confident in the car and in its reliability.
“In terms of how it stacks up to the other cars, I think it’s pretty good and it showed good pace on Sunday.
“I think we have just as good a shot as anybody else,” he insisted.
Skeete, who will start in third position, revealed that having experienced some problems with his Subaru Impreza WRC S12’s engine at last weekend’s event, he was forced to replace it.
He said that he expected a close finish and, as always, would go all out to win it.
“It’s 2013, and it would be my 13th Rally Barbados win, so it would be nice to achieve that.
“Every single Rally Barbados that I have competed in has been extremely competitive.
“I remember winning one over Trevor ‘Electric Micey’ Manning by 16 one-hundredths of a second and that was an obvious nail-biter.
“This rally may not be that close, but I don’t expect there to be much room between the top three finishers at all,” Skeete said.
