Following his victory in the SuperModified 1 class in the ninth and deciding round of the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Driver’s and Class Championships on Sunday, Edward Corbin is Champion Driver-elect of the Winter Rally.
From the central Service Park at Greenland Agricultural Station in St Andrew, the 43 crews headed first to French Village, where three runs through a 2.7-kilometre stage alternated with two from Pickering to Luke Hill (4km).
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s Kyle Gregg is the provisional 4wd champion, after he prevailed in a hard-fought three-way battle, run in blisteringly hot conditions in the north of the island. He defeated early leader Josh Read by just under six seconds, with Dane Skeete third a further ten seconds back after a stall dropped him out of contention for the win.
With local co-driver Kreigg Yearwood in his Ford Fiesta Rally2, Gregg won the opener, three-tenths ahead of Skeete and Tyler Mayhew (Subaru Impreza WRC S12).
Rhett Watson is set to claim a fourth 2wd championship. Watson benefited after challenger Barry Mayers broke a rose joint over the Sailor Gully jump on SS3, lost a lot of time nursing the car through the stage with the left rear wheel pointing the wrong way, dropping valuable time.
Although tied for third with Gregg and Watson in the chase for the Champion Driver title ahead of Sunday, Corbin was the only driver in the top five with a zero score to drop.
Another class win for his Daihatsu Charmant and co-driver Jonathan Alleyne sealed the deal for Corbin, who had treated the decider as any other event.
“I turned up as I usually would, with no mind on the championship. We’ve endured challenges over the last few events, and today, that was a ball joint damaged before lunch. We only got back to service with four minutes to spare.
“We achieved what we wanted to do this year; win in BCIC Rally Barbados, then see how far we can get in the overall championship. Huge thanks to our service crew, especially Peter Hinkson, and the quick rebuild after our engine failure in the previous event,” Corbin said.
Corbin ended the season on 146 points, four more than Kurt Thompson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) and co-driver Adam Straker, who did all they could on Sunday by winning Modified 4 after both of Thompson’s brothers retired in their identical cars, (TF)
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