Bird takes flight

Manx Rally winners Paul Bird and Kirsty Riddick, in a Ford Focus WRC, were leading the field after nine stages were contested on the opening day of Sol Rally Barbados yesterday.They had a total elapsed time of 27 minutes 15.46 seconds, grabbing the lead from early leaders Paul “The Surfer” Bourne and Allan Kinch who were in a Ford Focus WRC07.Bourne and Kinch suffered a puncture during the canefield stage which robbed them of their top position, pushing them into third place with a total elapsed time of 27:28.13.Ahead of them were archrivals Roger “The Sheriff” Skeete and Louis Venezia, whose time was 27 minutes 13.94 seconds. Jamaicans Gary “The Colonel” Gregg and Hugh Hutchinson, also in a Ford Focus WRC, were fourth after slipping from second place earlier in the day, with a total elapsed time of  27:29.13.Sean Gill and Michael Cummins, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, were less than three seconds adrift in 27:32.01, while John Powell and Craig Thorley rounded out the top six with a total elapsed time of 27:38.12 in their Subaru Impreza S12.But the pair of the day was the Warren brothers Ian and Robert, who presented a total domination of four-wheel drive cars in the Top 10 by grabbing tenth spot with an elapsed time of 28 minutes 40.50 seconds.Two stages were cancelled during the day’s proceedings. The final 12 stages will be decided today, starting from Bushy Park, St Philip, at 8 a.m.