Rain, mud and water were not enough to prevent Chris Armstrong and Wayne Clarke from driving away with last weekend’s Regional Fire and Security September Safari, Round 4 of the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) WTI Muddogs Safari Championship and Chefette Novice Championship.
Driving a well-prepared Toyota Hilux the pair collected 2082 penalties, beating out pre-safari favourites Leslie Alleyne and Chris O’Neal in the Maxxis Tyres Mitsubishi Pajero, who finished the trip with 2144 penalties.
Armstrong and Clarke gave notice of their intentions from the start, and at the end of Route 1 had picked up 1736 penalty points to lead the field as crews prepared for Route 2 and the Driver’s Challenge which were yet to be decided.
The highly-rated pair of Leslie Alleyne and Chris O’Neal were further adrift on 1935 penalties, with Ben Norris and Darnley Rayside lying third with 2233 penalties in the Electric Avenue Land Rover Discovery.
Crews told NATIONSPORT that Route 2 was tougher, with some crews experiencing mechanical or electrical problems of varying kinds, but the route appeared to have little effect on Alleyne and O’Neal, who only mustered a mere 209 penalty points for their effort, compared with 346 for the eventual winners.
But Alleyne and O’Neal’s better performance in Route 2 was not enough to deny Armstrong and Clarke victory, breaking their winning streak.
Another fancied pair, Norris and Rayside, finished third overall with 2672 penalties, while Ryan Corbin and Dustin Edwards in a Corbin’s Catering Services/Mahogany Ridge/Crane and Equipment/SDRR Hydraulic & Industrial Spares Toyota Hilux finished fourth with 2696 penalties.
The father and son combination of Audley and Jeremy Croney, in the CC Motorsports Suzuki Samurai, placed fifth with 2820 penalties, ahead of the father and daughter pair of Paul and Shane Marshall, in a Mitsubishi L200, who returned a total of 2858 to round out the top six.
Shane was also the highest placed female in the event.
Hadley Green and Dane McConney, in the Hunte’s Auto Spares/Automotive Art/Scorpion Toyota Hilux, were the highest novice pair with 3414 penalties and were ninth overall, followed by Aswad Bannister and Nyere Jones, in a Toyota Hilux, who took second place and 11th overall with 3702 penalties.
Third was Matthew Durant and Trina Griffith, in a Suzuki Jimny, who ended the day with 3802 to be third among the novice crews and 12th overall.
