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Crews competing in the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship will need to bring their ‘A Game’ when they return to action this Sunday (September 17) after the three-month summer break. The Savvy on the Bay September Safari will visit all but one of the island’s parishes before concluding with three spectacular Driver Challenges at the Vaucluse Raceway in St Thomas.
With three rounds run and just the November Safari to follow this weekend’s action, the Championship is far from over, with the dropped-score rule adding further spice. Multiple champions Leslie Alleyne and Chris O’Neal currently lead the Driver and Navigator standings, eight points ahead of Stephen and Ben Moore, the father and son crew also the current leaders of Class B. Apply the dropped score now, however, and that gap comes down to just two points, with Simon Parravicino and Andrew Croney just a further two points adrift in the Driver and Navigator standings respectively.
The Moores won the first round of this year’s championship in March in their Moore & Moore Services/Maxxis Isuzu DMax, finishing second and fourth in May and June, while driver Stephen also leads the separate Driver Challenge standings by a comfortable margin of seven points. Alleyne and O’Neal prevailed in rounds two and three in the Pod Store/Maxxis/Lucky Locks Suzuki Jimny, also earning a further set of maximum points as the route-setters for the March Safari.
These two crews are not the only potential winners on Sunday, however: Parravicino and Croney finished second in both March and June in their Realtors Ltd Jeep Wrangler, while the experienced pairing of Ben Norris and Kirk Watkins (Jeep Rubicon) can never be discounted. Add in former champion crew Christopher King and Warrick Eastmond, along with seasoned campaigners like Willie Hinds and Mike Ward and the Mendes brothers, Garry and George, who have been enjoying some good results this year, and Sunday’s event promises to be close-fought.
The route has been set by the experienced trio of Biddy Barber, Bridget Garity and Dean Springer; as the only all-female crew entered, Biddy and Bridget finished sixth on this year’s Chefette June Safari in their Suzuki Samurai, while Garity and Springer had competed together for some years, second in the 2020 July Safari their best result. Barber said: “The first route is mostly Dean and Bridget and second route is her and me. It goes through 10 parishes, we miss St Philip, but might just hit the outskirts of St Lucy. We’re using some roads that have not been used in 20 years or more, there’s been lots of cutting down bush and a few trees. It should be good, but we need rain.”
The first crew will start from Quality Tyre, Lower Estate, St George, at 8.00am heading towards the east on route one, which ends after roughly four hours at the lunch stop at Rubis, Belleplaine, St Andrew. Route two heads north and across to the west, ending at around 5.00pm the Vaucluse Raceway in St Thomas, where a series of three Driver Challenges will keep spectators entertained, starting at 3.30pm, 4.00pm and 4.30pm.
The results of the Savvy on the Bay Safari will be declared at the Prizegiving which starts at 7.00pm next Tuesday evening (September 19) at Savvy on the Bay, Carlisle Bay, Bridgetown.
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship, Round 4
September 17 – Savvy on the Bay September Safari
Class A
1 Willie Hinds/David Reece (Suzuki Samurai)
2 Christopher King/Warrick Eastmond (Suzuki Jimny)
6 Ben Norris/Kirk Watkins (Jeep Rubicon)
7 Mike Ward/Derek Gill (Suzuki Jimny)
8 Simon Parravicino/Andrew Croney (Realtors Ltd Jeep Wrangler)
10 Gary Mendes/Johnathan King (G & G Sales and Service/Lunatics Inc/SRT/Executive Air Ltd/Homeomart Barbados/Homeopathy Barbados/Grenadine Alliance/JetStream Air Services Inc Daihatsu Rocky)
11 Leslie Alleyne/Chris O’Neal (POD Store/Maxxis/Lucky Locks Suzuki Jimny)
Class B
3 Stephen Moore/Ben Moore (Moore & Moore Services/Maxxis Isuzu DMax)
4 Tyrone Chase/Sameisha Williams (F) (Executive Auto/E-Travel Services Suzuki Vitara)
5 Alex Ince/Damien Johnson (Rid A Bug Inc/Creative Water Systems Toyota Hilux)
9 George Mendes/Leslie Evanson (F) (Suzuki Vitara)
12 Charles Clarke/Robyn Clarke (F) (Mitsubishi Pajeiro iO)
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship – positions after three rounds:
Drivers: 1st Leslie Alleyne, 180 points; 2nd Stephen Moore, 172pts; 3rd Gary Mendes, 160pts; 4th George Mendes, 142pts; 5th Tyrone Chase, 124pts; 6th Simon Parravicino, 116pts etc
Navigators: 1st Chris O’Neal, 180pts; 2nd Ben Moore, 172pts; 3rd Andrew Croney, 170pts; 4th Sameisha Williams (F), 124pts; 5th Kirk Watkins, 108pts; 6th David Reece, 105pts; etc
Class B Drivers: 1st Stephen Moore, 180pts; 2nd George Mendes, 168pts; 3rd Tyrone Chase, 154pts; etc
Class B Navigators: 1st Ben Moore, 180pts; 2nd Sameisha Williams (F), 154pts; equal 3rd Tye Warren & Leslie Evanson (F), 112pts; etc
Driver Challenge points: 1st Stephen Moore, 25pts; 2nd Simon Parravicino, 17pts; 3rd George Mendes, 15pts; equal 4th Leslie Alleyne, Gary Mendes & Robert Warren, 13pts; etc
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship – remaining round: Nov 19, BRC MudDogs November Safari
For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information, robin@bradfax.com [2]
Web sites: www.barbadosrallyclub.com [3], www.muddogsbarbados.com [4]
