1997 - 2006 World Stage

The year was 2003, by which the time the event had been renamed Rally Barbados, with Bourne and Venezia now in a Subaru Impreza WRC; the first ex-works World Rally Car of the new era to arrive in the island, it had crashed spectacularly on the very first stage the previous year, so Bourne was in determined mood. Controversy arose when Bourne ran out of fuel on Saturday, however, and ran late – initially declared the winner, he was subsequently excluded from the results following an enquiry. Roger Hill and Graham Gittens assumed the title, but the matter ended up in the hands of lawyers, Bourne and Venezia reinstated several months later. While it is always unfortunate for sporting competitions to be decided by legal process – and this was a first for the Club – this incident nevertheless pinpointed some inconsistencies between the Club’s rules (prepared many years before) and the regulations written for individual events . . . and these have subsequently been cleared up.

On the downside, it was a cruel blow for Roger Hill; since acquiring the ex-Jeffrey Panton Toyota Celica GT4 in 2000, he has an enviable record on the Club’s most demanding event (see page 184) . . . a cake on which some icing surely deserved to be spread.

Following Skeete’s 10th win in 2004, one of the island’s rising stars finally claimed victory; a former kart champion, Roger Mayers had continued his winning ways in rallying a Texaco class-winner in 1999 (Toyota Starlet) and 2000 (MG Metro 6R4), he lost overall victory to Skeete by just three seconds in 2002 (Ford Escort Cosworth).