[1]Crews are making ready for the final round of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship on Sunday (November 2). With one final challenge of around 120 kilometres and dropped scores yet to be taken into account, there is still much to settle in the Coastal Lubricants November Safari.
With reigning MudDogs Champions Simon Parravicino and Andrew Croney not having returned to action since engine problems sidelined their Jeep Wrangler in June and multiple Champions Leslie Alleyne and Chris O’Neal (Suzuki Jimny Sport) also missing from Sunday’s entry list – Alleyne is celebrating a big birthday in the family - the field is heavily weighted towards crews in Class B, which caters for less experienced and novice competitors.
Rebecca Clarke and teenager Austin Barber (Mitsubishi Pajero iO) are respectively the current leaders of the Class B driver and navigator standings, six points clear of Tyrone Chase and Sameisha Williams (Suzuki Vitara), while George Mendes (Vitara) is tied for second in the driver standings with Chase. But dropped scores bring into play three-time winners Alexander and Chelsea Gill (Isuzu DMax), who missed round four.
As the Rally Club’s off-road navigational championship nears the end of its 21st season – the first ran in 2004, but 2021 was lost to the pandemic - around two-thirds of this year’s participants have been competing in Class B and MudDogs Chairman Ricky Holder is encouraged for the future of the discipline: “While overall numbers have been a little lower than last year, it has been good to see so many new names on our entry lists.
“Navigational events were the foundation of our Club from the 1957 June Rally and have played a big role in developing drivers and navigators. Skill in navigation, combined these days with the ability of the driver to control his or her vehicle in tricky off-road conditions, are important talents for competitors in all disciplines.”
Route-setters are Chris King and Warrick Eastmond, who finished third in the postponed Savvy on the Bay September Safari earlier this month in their Suzuki Jimny. The first crew is set to leave the start at Hayman's Factory, St Peter, at 8.31am, for the first route in the north and east of the island, including one of the popular Driver Challenges at around 11.00am in St Andrew.
After a brief stop-over at around 1.00pm in Four Roads, St John, the second route will travel through that parish, St Philip and St George before the finish outside the offices of Motorsport Services in Haggatt Hall, St Michael, at around 4.00pm.
The results of Sunday’s event will be declared at the Prizegiving which starts at 7.00pm next Tuesday evening (November 4) at Savvy on the Bay, Bay Street, Bridgetown.
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship
Round 5 – November 2 – Coastal Lubricants MudDogs November Safari Class A
3 Ben Norris/Kirk Watkins (Jeep Rubicon)
Class B
1 George Mendes/Johnathan King (G & G Sales and Service Suzuki Vitara)
2 Tyrone Chase/Sameisha Williams (F) (Executive Auto Centre/E-Travel Services Suzuki Vitara)
4 Stephen Moore/Leslie Evanson (F) (Moore & Moore Services/Maxxis Tyres Isuzu DMax)
5 Alexander Gill/Chelsea Gill (F) (Isuzu DMax)
6 Abdullah Patel/Bilal Patel (Patel’s Motoring Jeep Grand Cherokee)
7 Rebecca Clarke (F)/Austin Barber (Mitsubishi Pajero iO)
8 Charles Clarke/Robyn Clarke (F) (Lubriguard/Gunk/First Step Security Mitsubishi Pajero)
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship – positions after four rounds:
Drivers: 1st Leslie Alleyne, 238 points; 2nd Ben Norris, 230pts; 3rd Alexander Gill, 218pts; 4th Rebecca Clarke (F), 196pts; 5th Tyrone Chase, 190pts; 6th George Mendes, 188pts; etc
Navigators: 1st Chris O’Neal, 238pts; 2nd Kirk Watkins, 230pts; 3rd Warrick Eastmond, 208pts; 4th Austin Barber, 196pts; 5th Sameisha Williams (F), 190pts; 6th Chelsea Gill (F), 164pts; etc Class B Drivers: 1st 2nd Rebecca Clarke (F), 224pts; equal 2nd Tyrone Chase & George Mendes, 218pts; 4th Alexander Gill, 180pts; 5th Charles Clarke, 162pts Class B Navigators: 1st Austin Barber, 224pts; 2nd Sameisha Williams (F), 218pts; 3rd Chelsea Gill (F), 180pts; 4th Leslie Evanson (F), 166pts; 5th Robyn Clarke (F), 162pts
Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship – final round: Nov 2, Coastal Lubricants 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]
