Josh Read and Mark Jordan laid down an early marker for BCIC Rally Barbados 2026 with a measured victory in Sunday’s Barbados Rally Club (BRC) Shakedown Stages.
Although others set the fastest stage times, they kept their Ford Fiesta Rally2 ahead from the second of nine special stages, winning by exactly two seconds.
“The stages were challenging, especially Pickerings with the amount of gravel on the road, but we kept out of trouble. My confidence is good. A lot of things need to be right to win Rally Barbados; we need to be fast, consistent and reliable,” Read said following the prizegiving at the Conrad Hunte Cricket Ground in St Andrew.
Josh Read flew to victory in Sunday’s Shakedown Stages in his Ford Fiesta Rally. (KH)
BCIC RB25 winners Kyle Gregg and Kreigg Yearwood (Fiesta Rally2) were the only other rally leaders, fastest on the first Lamberts to Pickering (3.50kms) stage in St Lucy, and again on the second, but dropped to third at lunch, battling a power delivery issue. Following three afternoon stage wins, they finished second.
Troubled by a power delivery issue, Jamaica’s Kyle Gregg finished second. (KH)
“We were much sharper after lunch and I’m glad the trouble came in the Shakedown,” said Gregg.
Fastest on the mornings, other three stages had been two-time Rally Barbados winners Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew (Subaru Impreza WRC S12), but they were making up time after a disastrous opening stage. Having worked their way from 44th to 16th by mid-afternoon, they retired two stages from home with further reliability issues.
It might only have been third for the Jamaican, however, as Adam Mallalieu and Welsh co-driver Peredur Davies had put their new Fiesta Rally2 to good use, second at lunch, 4.5 secs ahead of Gregg. Fastest on the afternoon’s first run from Swanns to Rock Hall (3.10 kms), which passes from St Peter into St Andrew, Mallalieu looked set for a podium finish until an off-road excursion on the final stage dropped him to fifth.
That promoted BCIC RB24 winners Stuart Maloney and Kristian Yearwood (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) to third, another nine seconds behind. With the car nearly new after a total rebuild, it was the crew’s first outing in the island since their heavy accident in last year’s Rally Barbados, with the same stage in use in the afternoon.
“The confidence took a big hit and today was a block building day for me. I am very happy with our result, getting a class stage win, not getting out of line anywhere and not pushing hard or focusing on being first. Kristian and I are happy with the progress as we can see the pace is still there,” Maloney stated.
Five-time winner of the island’s premier event, Jeff Panton and fellow Jamaican Mike Fennell (Fiesta Rally2) finished fourth, having been only sixth on the opening stage. Panton said: “I was a bit passive at the start and when I saw the times it was a wake-up call. Overall we are happy – I’m still there for an old boy!”
Having finished 12th on the debut of his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 this time last year, David Husbands finished sixth on Sunday with Trinidad & Tobago co-driver Joshua Plaza. Now mixing it more regularly with the seasoned Rally2 drivers, he was ahead of the Fabia Rally2 evos of Britain’s Rob Swann and Steve McNulty and island veteran Roger Hill and Graham Gittens.
Reigning Champion Rhett Watson (BMW M3) won 2wd by 2.7 seconds from Barry Mayers (Ford Fiesta), ninth and 10th overall. Watson led all the way, but Mayers and Nigel Reece (Toyota Starlet) also won stages: Reece was fastest on both morning runs from Swanns to Rock Hall, while Mayers nailed all four stages after lunch, once he had sweated out the fever which almost made him withdraw from the event.
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The MkII Ford Escorts of Logan Watson – fastest 2wd at the Motoring Club Barbados Inc’s (MCBI) Spring Blaze 26 two weeks ago – and Andrew Jones were also in the hunt, both clocking top four times. Behind them, class-winners Neil Corbin (M2 Toyota GT86 CS-R3) and reigning Champion Driver Edward Corbin (SM1 Daihatsu Charmant) swapped times all day, separated by just four seconds at the finish, 14th and 15th overall.
An upbeat Watson said: “It was a big test day for all of us in SM2 as we experimented with fuel amounts to see how the weight feels as we adjust to running the loops in Rally Barbados without servicing. There was about four seconds between us; all the guys are fast, Nigel is catching up, Logan is finding his way with the new car with each event. Nothing but positive vibes for Rally Barbados.”
Of 47 starters, 16 failed to finish, including FIA R5 class newcomers Mark Thompson, with a sensor issue on his Citroen C3, and Brian Gill in the ex-Mark Maloney Fabia, so there is work to do in workshops across the island, particularly with new central service regulations for BCIC RB26, which will place ever-greater emphasis on reliability.
(PR)
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