Sol RB13-35: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 27, 2013 ARMSTRONG WINS SCOTIABANK KING OF THE HILL Thousands gather for final shakedown for Sol Rally Barbados Neil Armstrong and Barry Ward will carry start number 1 for Sol Rally Barbados 2013 next weekend after winning yesterday’s (Sunday) Scotiabank King of the Hill, the final shakedown before the Caribbean’s biggest annual motor sport International, in the Monster/Sol/Chefette/Digicel/Virgin Atlantic/Gunk/Hankook Tyres/Redline Fuels/Simpson Finance/Simpson Motors Suzuki SX4 WRC. On a day when rain threatened, but held off, thousands of motor sport fans and their families lined the 2.5-kilometre Luke Hill course in St Lucy, the island’s northern-most parish, for six hours of competition between nearly 90 cars, battling in 15 classes. Armstrong said: “We had a really good time today and were definitely pushing hard from the start. It was a bit of a task, when we saw early on that we were about two seconds off Paul Bird on such a short stage, but we knew where we could regain some of that time and we worked on it.” The practice run, which started shortly after 10am, was the only one of the four subject to any significant delays, following a number of incidents. Last year’s KotH winner, former UK National Rally Champion Paul Bird, set the pace, clocking 1m 19.30s, in the Frank Bird Poultry/Rapid Solicitors/Fuchs Titan Race Oils Ford Focus WRC08, 1.7secs ahead of Steve Perez (Kick Energy Drink Focus WRC07), another ex-UK Champion. Armstrong was third, eight-tenths adrift of Perez, but two previous local winners, Paul Bourne and Roger Skeete, both stalled on the line, so lay well down the order. Driving the Sol/Michelin/Simpson Motors/Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre Subaru Impreza WRC S12, Skeete said: “We had some launch control issues which we believe may be hydraulics, so have to do some problem solving there.” Bourne, troubled by alternator (solved) and gearshift (not solved) problems during the week, lost time all day, manual shifting in the Chefette/Banks/LIME/Castrol Focus WRC07, to finish 17th. On the first official run, Bird improved to 1:17.64, while Skeete posted a near-identical time to Bird’s practice run to jump to second (1:19.35), with Armstrong still third (1:19.61) and Perez (1:19.92) now fourth. All four improved on the second run, but the order remained the same, ready for the final run, with the top 10 in reverse order. Perez found another 1.3secs, which briefly promoted him to second, but a massive improvement of nearly 2.0secs to 1:16.73 launched Armstrong into the lead; Skeete improved also, sufficient to consolidate third place, then Bird’s final run was his slowest since practice, which he put down to dropping a wheel off the road early on the hill. Behind this four-way fight among the WRC-1 cars (those built after the end of 2003), the WRC-2 cars and the leading two-wheel-drives were scrapping for slots in the top 10. After the second official run, Britain’s Kevin Procter was fifth overall, back after a three-year absence in the CIBC-FCIB/Automotive Art/PowerMaster Batteries/Simpson Motors/Maxi Malta/Eaton’s Jerk Seasoning/Coaches2/Procters Coaches Impreza WRC S7, but an all-out final run from another former UK Champion Roger Duckworth (Intrinsys/Kumho Impreza WRC S6), promoted him to fifth, after early anti-lag issues. Procter slipped to eighth, while local Toyota dealer Roger Hill (Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC) made his only top 10 appearance of the day when it counted, finishing ninth. The short course cut the time gap between the WRC cars and top 2wds, five of them lying sixth to 10th after the second official run, the top four covered by less than 1sec: Josh Read (Stihl/Gliptone/Hankook/SDRR/Weetabix/Royal Purple/EZone/Coffee Bean Toyota Starlet), Roger Mayers (Chefette/Digicel/Pennzoil/Illusion Graphics/Hankook WR Starlet) – brother Barry was also 10th in the shared car - Ian Warren (Simpson Motors/Automotive Art Suzuki Swift) and Brett Clarke (Western Union Citroen C2). While Read improved on his third run time by nine-tenths, Mayers found a little over 1sec to end the day top 2wd and sixth overall, just two-tenths between them; and Warren (10th) also stayed in the top 10 finish, while Clarke slipped to 13th. More than half the 28 International crews entered finished in top three class positions, two really shaking up the local landscape. Reigning Modified 7 Champion Daryl Clarke (Honda Civic) was pushed harder than ever before by Irish newcomer Tommy Doyle (Renault Clio R3), four-tenths behind on the first official run. Clarke said: “I got a good surprise. I was not expecting the visitors to be so close so soon. This lit the fire behind me and I had to really drive much harder to stay ahead.” In M6, reigning Champion Neil Corbin (Starlet) had even more trouble, running second all day to the Clio Sports 1600 of Ireland’s Keith Power, finishing four-tenths behind. Corbin said: “It feels good to come second to a full spec S1600 car with a local machine. I am definitely looking forward to next weekend and having a fantastic fight.” Clubman also produced a good fight: Jeremy Croney (Peugeot 206) was fastest in practice, Trevor Mapp (Mitsubishi Mirage RS) in the first official run, then Conor Roach (Peugeot 106) in the second. On the final run, Roach found a further 1.1secs, but Mapp – returning to the sport after a 20-year lay-off, having previously competed against Roach’s father, Derek – dug deep to improve his previous best by 1.4secs and win by nine-tenths. In other classes, Avinash Chatrani (Mistubishi Lancer Evo VI) was the sole Group A runner, Geoff Noel (Evo XI) saved the best to last to win Group N, Rhett Watson (BMW M3) was dominant all day in SuperModified 12, Dane Skeete claimed a debut SM11 win in his Peugeot 306 Maxi, Rhett D’Andrade (Daihatsu Charmant) won SM9 and Sean Cox (Suzuki Swft Gti) M5. Greg Cozier (Escort MkII) won Historic, England’s Andrew Siddall (Ford Escort MkII) International Historic, while the Group B wins were shared between Geoff Ulyett (Nissan 120Y) and Ulsterman John Hardman (Nissan Micra). Sol Rally Barbados 2013 (June 1/2) and Scotiabank King of the Hill (May 26) are organised and promoted by the Barbados Rally Club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007; title sponsors are the Sol Group and Scotiabank. Marketing partners are Simpson Motors, LIME, Automotive Art, Banks and Karcher; official partners are the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association, Barbados Tourism Authority, Tourism Development Corporation, Divi Southwinds Beach Resort, Geest Line and Virgin Atlantic Airways; associate sponsors are Chefette, Field Insurance, Glacial Pure, Little Switzerland, Redline Fuels, Stoute’s Car Rental and West Indies Rum Distillery. For media information only. No regulatory value. For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax web sites: rallybarbados.bb; barbadosrallyclub Sol RB13-35aINT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 27, 2013 SCOTIABANK KING OF THE HILL 2013 Results Key to nationalities (competitor from Barbados unless shown): ENG – England; IRL – Republic of Ireland; NED – The Netherlands; NIR – Northern Ireland; SCO – Scotland; TRI – Trinidad & Tobago; WAL – Wales 1st Neil Armstrong/Barry Ward (WRC-1 Suzuki SX4 WRC), 1m 16.73s 2nd Paul Bird - ENG/Aled Davies - WAL (WRC-1 Focus WRC08), 1m 17.07s 3rd Roger Skeete/Louis Venezia (WRC-1 Subaru Impreza WRC S12), 1m 17.95s 4th Steve Perez – ENG/Paul Spooner – WAL (WRC-1 Ford Focus WRC07), 1m 18.29s 5th Roger Duckworth - ENG/Alun Cook – WAL (WRC-2 Subaru Impreza WRC S6), 1m 19.52s 6th Roger Mayers/Barry Mayers (SM10 WR Starlet), 1m 19.66s 7th Josh Read/Mark Jordan (SM10 Toyota Starlet), 1m 19.88s 8th Kevin Procter – ENG/Dave Bellerby - ENG (WRC-2 Subaru Impreza WRC S7), 1m 20.10s 9th Roger Hill/Graham Gittens (WRC-2 Toyota Corolla WRC), 1m 20.41s 10th Ian Warren/Robert Warren (SM10 Suzuki Swift), 1m 20.90s etc WRC-1: 1st Armstrong/Ward; 2nd Bird/Davies; 3rd Skeete/Venezia; etc WRC-2: 1st Duckworth/Cook; 2nd Procter/Bellerby; 3rd Hill/Gittens; etc Group A: 1st Avinash Chatrani/Julian Goddard (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 1m 26.42s GpN: 1st Geoff Noel/Nigel Reece (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 1m 23.91s; 2nd Andrew Mallalieu/Geoff Goddard (Subaru Impreza N10), 1m 24.00s; 3rd Martin Donnelly - IRL/Brian Docherty - IRL (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), 1m 26.93s GpB1: 1st Geoffrey Ullyett/Jason King (Datsun 120Y), 1m 24.54s; 2nd Frans Verbaas – NED/Kees Hagman – NED (Mini Cooper S), 1m 25.58s; 3rd Maurice Moffett – IRL/Jason McKenna – IRL (Toyota Starlet), 1m 26.36s; etc GpB2: 1st John Hardman – NIR/Vishal Dhanraj - TRI (Nissan Micra), 1m 31.35s; 2nd Randy Reid/Antonio Charles (BMW 320i), 1m 32.04s; 3rd Andrew Costin-Hurley - ENG/Rob Brook - ENG (Ford Puma) 1m 33.73s SuperModified 12: 1st Rhett Watson/Sean Corbin (BMW M3), 1m 23.06s; 2nd Owen Cumberbatch/Kelly-Ann Sandiford (BMW M3), 1m 25.11s; 3rd Martin Atwell/Chris King (BMW M3), 1m 26.93s; etc SM11: 1st Dane Skeete/Tyler Mayhew (Peugeot 306 Maxi), 1m 24.10s; 2nd Andrew Jones/Mick Squires - ENG (Ford Escort MkII), 1m 24.77s; 3rd Nigel Worswick – ENG/Lindsey Pilkington – ENG (Ford Escort MkII), 1m 26.24s; etc SM10: 1st R Mayers/B Mayers; 2nd Read/Jordan; 3rd Warren/Warren; etc SM9: 1st Rhett D’Andrade/Tristan Gibbs (Daihatsu Charmant), 1m 33.67s; 2nd Danny O’Brien - IRL/Barry McNulty – IRL (Toyota Starlet), 1m 34.50s Modified 7: 1st Daryl Clarke/Russell Brancker (Honda Civic), 1m 22.56s; 2nd Tommy Doyle - IRL/Liam Moynihan - IRL (Renault Clio R3), 1m 23.67s; 3rd Norman Catwell/Kyle Catwell (Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk2), 1m 27.97s; etc M6: 1st Keith Power – IRL/Jonathan McGrath - IRL (Renault Clio), 1m 26.18s; 2nd Neil Corbin/Matthew Staffner (Toyota Starlet), 1m 26.63s; 3rd Jeremy Gonsalves/Chris Corbin (Opel Corsa), 1m 30.42s; etc M5: 1st Sean Cox/Cody Foster (Suzuki Swift Gti), 1m 37.95s; 2nd Paul Rees – WAL/Paul Briggs - ENG (Vauxhall Astra), 1m 39.68s International Historic: 1st Andrew Siddall – ENG/Jamie Marsh (Ford Escort MkI), 1m 28.91s; 2nd Rob Weir - ENG/Ross Weir - ENG (Triumph TR7 V8), Im 41.49s Historic: 1st Greg Cozier/Natasha Farnum (Ford Escort RS2000), 1m 29.01s; 2nd Stuart White/Jason O’Neal (BMW 325), 1m 31.32s; 3rd John Corbin/Owen Proverbs (Toyota Corolla), 1m 34.80s; etc Clubman: 1st Trevor Mapp/Talia Mapp (Mitsubishi Mirage RS), 1m 35.24s; 2nd Conor Roach/Damien Johnson (Peugeot 106), 1m 36.12s; 3rd Jeremy Croney/Andrew Croney (Peugeot 206), 1m 38.10s; etc For media information only. No regulatory value. For further media information: e-mail - robin@bradfax web sites: rallybarbados.bb; barbadosrallyclub
Posted on: Tue, 28 May 2013 03:29:02 +0000
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