[1]Audley Croney Memorial Trophy winners for the third time
Leslie Alleyne and Chris O’Neal won last Sunday’s (April 16) second round of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship, winning the Audley Croney Memorial Trophy for the third time. Named in honour of a long-standing member of the BRC and an enthusiastic and skillful competitor in navigational events, the trophy is awarded each year for the April Safari.
Campaigning their Pod Store/Maxxis Suzuki Jimny, the experienced multiple champions faced stiff opposition from the father and son crew of Stephen and Ben Moore (Moore & Moore Services/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max). They won by a margin of 107 penalties, with Gary Mendes and Shawn Brathwaite (G&G Sales and Service/Lunatics Inc Daihatsu Rocky) third, another 150 penalties adrift.
The event started at 8.00am from Colleton Plantation Yard in St John, the first route leading the 13 crews westward through the central parishes to the Vaucluse Raceway in St Thomas, where the first two Challenges were held; after the lunch halt, the afternoon route circled back to VRW for the day’s third Challenge and event finish. Route-setters were Wayne Clarke and David Reece, with the Challenges set by Brett Barber.
Alleyne and O’Neil won the Audley Croney Trophy when it was first presented in 2017 and again in 2019. With son Jeremy, Croney had played a part in the closest-ever result in the MudDogs championship, when they lost the 2013 Chefette April Safari by just one point to Mark Western and Robin Hinds. Jeremy and brother Andrew have continued the family tradition and finished fourth in Sunday’s event, Jeremy standing in for the regular driver of the Realtors Ltd Jeep Wrangler, Simon Parravicino, with Andrew as navigator.
The winning crew received the trophy from Andrew at Tuesday night’s (April 18) Prizegiving at the Barbados Clay Target Shooting Association (BCTSA) Club House at Searles, Christ Church, where some additional prizes were provided by Patel’s Motoring. Alleyne said: “It's always an honour to win a trophy named in remembrance of one of our departed members. Audley and the others whose names are remembered in the form of unmanned controls during our events certainly had a grand time testing our abilities and resolve last Sunday!”
Alleyne and O’Neal won the first route by a margin of 44 penalties from Mendes and Brathwaite, who was a last-minute recruit as navigator; Christopher King and Warrick Eastmond were third but failed to finish the first Challenge and retired their Suzuki Jimny. The Moores were fourth, 130 or so penalties adrift of the leaders, so would need a good afternoon to repeat their victory of the previous month’s event . . . but it was not to be. While they did top the scores after lunch, Alleyne and O’Neil were only 24 penalties behind, guaranteeing their victory, with the Moores second overall and class B winners for the second time.
In the first of the three Challenges, which are scored separately towards a year-end Challenge Trophy, the Moores were tied for first place with another father and son team, Robert and Tye Warren (Suzuki Samurai); the second was won by Jabarry Knight and Kyle Hinkson in their Jeep Cherokee and the third by George Mendes and Kevin-Jon Manning (Suzuki Vitara).
Reflecting on the competition, Alleyne said: “At short notice, Wayne and David put together a really good and challenging event, especially route two from a navigational standpoint. Huge thanks also to Brett Barber and his crew for pulling out all the stops to create three very exciting challenges and, as always, a big thank you to our marshals for continuing to make this sport happen, without them there would be nothing.”
The MudDogs committee has been working hard this year to evolve the format of its events, ahead of the 66th running of The June Rally, the founding event of the Rally Club. Alleyne is pleased with how things are going: “The level of both competition and excitement is on the rise and there is a general buzz, even among the newer competitors, towards the direction of the sport. The feedback from competitors and spectators is that they really enjoy the new format with the Challenges held in one venue and I think we can refine this as we go forward to garner even greater appeal.
“I am confident that we are in the right place heading into ‘The June’ to continue to grow the interest in the sport, and that has to be the priority at this time. From a personal viewpoint, it is great to see the Moores doing so well as Class B competitors and they have even declared friendly battle by stating they have their sights set on beating us in the June!”
BRC MudDogs April Safari – April 16
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship, round 2
Results
1st Leslie Alleyne/Chris O’Neal (Pod Store/Maxxis Suzuki Jimny), 1382 penalties
2nd Stephen Moore/Ben Moore (Moore & Moore Services/Maxxis Isuzu D-Max), 1489pens
3rd Gary Mendes/Shawn Brathwaite (G&G Sales and Service/Lunatics Inc Daihatsu Rocky), 1636pens
4th Jeremy Croney/Andrew Croney (Realtors Ltd Jeep Wrangler), 1738pens
5th Ben Norris/Kirk Watkins (Jeep Rubicon), 1884pens
6th Alex Ince/Damien Johnson (Rid A Bug Inc Toyota Hilux), 1912pens
7th George Mendes/Kevin-Jon Manning (Suzuki Vitara), 2126pens
8th Biddy Barber (F)/Bridget Garity (F) (Suzuki Samurai), 2177pens
9th Willie Hinds/Aaron Manning (Black Bess Group Suzuki Samurai), 2833pens
10th Robert Warren/Tye Warren (Suzuki Samurai), 3016pens
etc
Route 1: 1st Alleyne/O’Neal, 310pens; 2nd Mendes/Brathwaite, 354pens; 3rd Christopher King/Warrick Eastmond (Suzuki Jimny), 414pens; 4th Moore/Moore, 441pens; 5th Mendes/Manning, 464pens; etc
Route 2: 1st Moore/Moore, 1048pens; 2nd Alleyne/O’Neal, 1072pens; 3rd Croney/Croney, 1182pens; 4th Norris/Watkins, 1240pens; 5th Mendes/Brathwaite, 1282pens; etc
Class B
1st Moore/Moore, 1489pens; 2nd Ince/Johnson, 1912pens; 3rd Mendes/Manning, 2126pens; 4th Warren/Warren, 3016pens; 5th Tyrone Chase/Sameisha Williams (F) (Suzuki Vitara), 5870pens
Route 1: 1st Moore/Moore, 441pens; 2nd Mendes/Manning, 464pens; 3rd Warren/Warren, 502pens; 4th Ince/Johnson, 552pens; 5th Chase/Williams, 680pens; etc
Route 2: 1st Moore/Moore, 1048pens; 2nd Ince/Johnson, 1360pens; 3rd Mendes/Manning, 1662pens; 4th Warren/Warren, 2514pens; 5th Chase/Williams, 5190pens; etc
Challenge #1
equal 1st Moore/Moore & Warren/Warren, 2m 33s; 3rd Mendes/Manning, 2:37; 4th Alleyne/O’Neal, 2:38; 5th Croney/Croney, 2:48; etc
Challenge #2
1st Jabarry Knight/Kyle Hinkson (Odol’s Aluminium & Glass Jeep Cherokee), 2m 16s; 2nd Warren/Warren, 2:20; 3rd Norris/Watkins, 2:27; 4th Croney/Croney, 2:28; 5th Ince/Johnson, 2:35; etc
Challenge #3
1st Mendes/Manning, 1m 46s; equal 2nd Moore/Moore & Alleyne/O’Neal, 1:47; 4th Mendes/King, 1:49; 5th Ince/Johnson, 1:55; etc
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship: Round 1 – Mar 11, Super S MudDogs March Safari; Round 2 - Apr 16, BRC MudDogs April Safari; Round 3 - Jun 24/25, Shelbury Construction MudDogs June Safari; Round 4 - Sep 17, BRC MudDogs September Safari; Round 5 – Nov 19, BRC MudDogs November Safari
For media information only. No regulatory value.
For further media information, robin@bradfax.com [5]
Web site: www.barbadosrallyclub.com [6] Facebook: /246Muddogs
