Texaco Double Whammy For Mayers Brothers
Maloney beats Roett to fastest time of the day at Bushy Park

Rallying brothers Roger and Barry Mayers rounded off their most successful season to date with a double whammy in Sunday's (October 16) fifth and final round of the Barbados Rally Club's (BRC) 2005 Texaco BRC Rally Championship at Bushy Park in St Philip... but it wasn't plain sailing for either sibling.

Despite incurring a five-second penalty for contact with a bale of tyres, younger brother Barry won the six-stage event in the Trivial Pursuit/Nassco Toyota Starlet, the first two-wheel-drive car to win a round of the new-for-2005 championship outright. Meanwhile, second place was good enough to secure the inaugural Texaco title for Roger in the Trivial Pursuit/McEnearney Quality Ford Focus WRC – he survived a couple of high-speed spins, and more than 10 seconds lost to an overshoot (right) to trail his brother by a little under seven seconds at the finish and beat Trevor Manning to the title by six points.

Early-season points leader Manning (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII) was third, while fourth place on the day secured third place in the championship for Roger Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac/Michelin Toyota Celica GT4).

In an unique event, the BRC had invited members of the Barbados Auto Racing League to compete alongside the Texaco regulars; although they would not deprive registered competitors of championship points, the fastest time of the day was up for grabs . . . and Bushy Park lap record holder Mark Maloney (Guinness Mazda RX3) was in determined form.

There were six runs during the day, three each before and after the lunch break, with the start and finish lines alongside the regular pit exit – cars ran in groups of two or three throughout the day, so the sizeable crowd saw plenty of action. Maloney topped the time sheets on run 1, two laps of the full circuit following the regular clockwise direction. He was just under a second quicker than the impressive Cliff Roett (DaCosta Mannings Auto Centre/Nassco/Lucky Horseshoe/Thorogood Footwear/Roetts Garage Toyota Starlet), also running in the Open Invitation class alongside the BARL regulars.

Maloney's brother Stuart was third fastest, driving their father Doug's Paints Plus Peugeot 306, while Roger and Barry Mayers led the Texaco Championship regulars, the Focus less than a second ahead of the Starlet.

For runs two and three, the full circuit was used in the counter-clockwise direction, Mark Maloney (left) putting his circuit experience to good use, fastest both times, with Roett and Stuart Maloney still in the mix, joined by the third Maloney sibling, Sean (Citgo Racing Toyota Starlet). Roger Mayers spun on run two, dropping behind his brother - he explained “these slick tyres behave differently to our rally tyres. I thought it was coming back, and then pow, it had gone!”

At the lunch break, Mark Maloney headed Roett by 4.54secs in the battle for fastest time honours, while Barry led Roger Mayers by just under five seconds in the Texaco chase, with Manning a further 7.77s behind and 1sec ahead of fourth-placed Hill. The afternoon was to provide some thrilling action, as the kart racetrack link road in the centre of the circuit was used to create a figure-of-eight formation - runs four and five started clockwise, the final run counter-clockwise, resulting in four different ‘stages' during the day.

In the fastest time battle, the tables were now turned, Roett's Starlet (right) more nimble that Maloney's Mazda, and better capable of getting the power down coming out of the kart link . . . and it was also a straight fight, Maloney's brothers now both sidelined. Roett was to beat Maloney on all three afternoon runs, first by seven-tenths of a second, then 13/100ths, finally by nearly two seconds... but it wasn't quite enough, Maloney claiming the fastest time of the day by 2.53secs after a hard-fought contest.

The afternoon provided some excitement for the Texaco regulars, too, Hill heading Barry Mayers by six-hundredths on the first run, with Manning third. After his second big spin of the day - at the Hammer Bend - Roger Mayers made an uncharacteristic mistake, missing the turn on to the kart link, losing more than 10 seconds. He said later: "After going off backwards at the Hammer, I was so busy trying to work out what was damaged, and what we'd have to do when I got back to the pits, that I completely missed the corner."

Not only that, but he had slipped behind Manning and Hill into fourth place, and just five seconds ahead of Sean Dowding (Pro Pac/Globe Finance/Xypex Mitubishi Lancer Evo V). One more spin or lapse of concentration and his title hopes would be under threat... but Mayers focussed on the task. Although he placed only fourth on the afternoon's second leg of stages behind Manning, Hill and brother Barry (thanks to his 5secs tyre penalty), the title was his.

Dowding held on to fifth place, with Roger Skeete sixth, improving steadily throughout the day in Mark Maloney's Guinness Nissan Pulsar GTiR). Rally Barbados Modified 5 Group winner Brett Clarke (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift GTi) was an impressive seventh overall, ahead of Geoffrey Noel (Irving Oil/Max Meyer/AutoZone/Mix 96.9/ESSCO/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI).

The top 10 was completed by Barry Ward (Subzero Services/Ultimate Insurance Brokers/DeeJay Distributors/Dirt Cheap/Altered Scapes Toyota Starlet) and Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders Inc/Planned Maintenance/Bridgestone Toyota Corolla).

Texaco BRC Rally Championship
Round five – provisional results
October 16, Bushy Park

1st Barry Mayers (Trivial Pursuit/Nassco Toyota Starlet), 11m 36.63s
2nd Roger Mayers (Trivial Pursuit/McEnearney Quality Ford Focus WRC), 1m 43.29s
3rd Trevor Manning (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors/Garbage Master Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII), 11m 48.60s
4th Roger Hill (Mobil 1/Nassco/Motormac/Michelin Toyota Celica GT4), 11m 50.17s
5th Sean Dowding (Pro Pac/Globe Finance/Xypex Lancer Evo V), 12m 01.79s
6th Roger Skeete (Guinness Nissan Pulsar GTiR), 12m 12.67s
7th Brett Clarke (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift GTi), 12m 21.49s
8th Geoffrey Noel (Irving Oil/Max Meyer/AutoZone/Mix 96.9/ESSCO/Automotive Art Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI), 12m 24.35s
9th Barry Ward (Subzero Services/Ultimate Insurance Brokers/DeeJay Distributors/Dirt Cheap/Altered Scapes Toyota Starlet), 12m 37.34s
10th Kirk Watkins (Abacus Builders Inc/Planned Maintenance/Bridgestone Toyota Corolla), 12m 47.92s
etc

Highest-placed two-wheel-drive car Barry Mayers
Fastest time of the day Mark Maloney (Guinness Mazda RX3), 11m 10.54s

Texaco BRC Rally Championship
Provisional final positions

1st Roger Mayers, 57 points
2nd Trevor Manning, 51pts
3rd Roger Hill, 46pts
4th Barry Mayers, 43pts
5th John Powell (Intercontinental Shipping/Trinidad Mooring & Launch Services Toyota Corolla WRC), 33pts
6th Geoffrey Noel, 27pts
7th Sean Dowding, 25pts
8th Jonathan Still (Hitachi Power Tools/Philips Lighting/Warrens Motors/Crane & Equipment BMW M3), 3pts
9th Roger Skeete (Havoline/McEnearney Quality/Michelin Ford Focus WRC & Guinness Nissan Pulsar GTiR), 17pts
10th Sean Gill (Shell Helix/Courts/Automotive Art/Kerridge/Simpson Motors Suzuki Ignis JWRC), 17pts