‘Mad Dale’ for Sol Rally 2012

CROWD FAVOURITE: British driver Martin “Mad Dale” Stockdale will be coming for Sol Rally 2012. (FP)

By Trevor Thorpe | Fri, January 20, 2012 - 12:03 AM

Martin “Mad dale” Stockdale and Mark Swallow are coming for Sol Rally Barbados 2012, scheduled for June 9 and 10.

The popular British driver is at the top of the list of more than 40 entries on the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) website for the Caribbean’s biggest international motorsport event.

Stockdale will be making his 12th consecutive appearance in the Barbados event, while for co-driver Swallow, it will be his eighth.

The duo will be competing in the usually hotly-contested SuperModified 11 class – won three times in the past decade by Stockdale – in the Divi Southwinds Beach Resort/Drive-a-Matic Car Rentals/Quarry Motors BMW M3 Compact.

Last year in the company of co-driver Gary Miller, Stockdale finished fourth in the class and 18th overall.

This year, his opposition will include another returning crew from Britain, Nigel Worswick and Lindsey Pilkington, who finished fifth in SM10 and 26th overall on their first visit to the island last year.

This time, the Worswick Engineering Ford Escort MkII of Worswick and Pilkington has received an engine transplant, moving it up a class to SM 11.

Also returning for his ninth visit is Britain’s Andrew Costin-Hurley, who will again contest Group B honours at the wheel of the Earl’s Performance Hoses Ford Puma, in which he won the class in Rally Barbados in 2007 and 2008, and in the Shell V-Power King of the Hill in 2009.

An experienced Indy car and F1 engineer, Costin-Hurley created the Puma himself with 300bhp 2-litre turbo, rear-wheel drive, Sierra running gear and Escort WRC suspension.

His fellow Brit Shaun Mellett returns for his third visit as co-driver since 2009, when he came to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary.

In welcoming the entries for 2012 Sol Rally Barbados, chairman Barry Gale said it was always a pleasure to welcome repeat visitors, and “Mad Dale” was right there at the top of the list, as he hadn’t missed a year since his first visit in 2001.

“Not only has he been one of the most entertaining to watch – as our fans really do enjoy a sideways BMW – but he’s also been very competitive, taking a trophy back on the plane with him nearly every time,” Gale noted.