ROGER SKEETE and Louis Venezia were in devastating form as they won the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) Karcher Summer Stages Rally last Saturday.Driving a well-prepared Da Costa Mannings Auto Centre/Michelin/Warrens Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S12, the pair won the extremely competitive event with a total elapsed time of 24 minutes, 04.83 seconds.Skeete and Venezia were the fastest in all five daylight stages and stayed ahead of the pace under the cover of darkness. They won by more than 27 seconds in an event that was also the eighth round of the club’s Virgin Atlantic Driver’s and Class Championships.Skeete, who observed that they had carried the momentum from winning the Sol Rally Barbados, said that apart from a few small glitches with the car electronically, the day was enjoyable.However, the winners were hard pressed by the pair of Roger “The Ninja” Hill and Graham Gittens in the Esso/Nassco/MotorMac Toyota Corolla WRC, who finished second in 24 minutes, 32.34 seconds.Jamaican pairThe Jamaican pair of Jeff Panton and Mike Fennell Jr – driving a M8-WRC First Caribbean International Bank/Rally Jamaica/Seaboard Marine Ford Focus WRC 00 – were third in 24 minutes, 36.14 seconds.The Trinidad and Tobago-based Jamaican John “Penti” Powell, and Michael March, in the Shell Helix Subaru Impreza WRC S12, took the fourth spot overall after some challenges in a time of 24 minutes, 40.48 seconds.Fifth were the highly-fancied Jamaican pair of Gary Gregg and Hugh Hutchinson – in a First Caribbean International Bank/Rally Jamaica/Seaboard Marine/BD Gregg & Bros/NG Racing Ford Focus WRC 05 – in a time of 24 minutes, 40.72 seconds.But a notable performance from the Warrens brothers – Ian and Robert – in the Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift, not only made them the fastest two-wheel drive competitors and winners of SM 10, but prevented a clean sweep of the Top 10 by the four-wheel drive cars. The Warrens clocked 25 minutes, 07.96 seconds.Historic category They were joined in the giant-killing act by Josh Read and Mark Jordan in the Automotive Art/Baram Services Toyota Starlet who finished seventh, and Mark Hamilton and Clive Howell in a Ford Escort MkII (ninth).In the Historic category, added to accommodate competitors in the second event of the 2010 Barbados Historic Rally Carnival, Greg “Hotty” Cozier and Jamie Marsh in the Mahindra/Pennzoil Ford Escort MkII, led the way home with a time of 27 minutes, 05.29 seconds.Second were five-time British Rally champion Jimmy McRae and Campbell Roy in the Francis Tuthill Limited Porsche 911, in 27 minutes, 29.41 seconds.Another Barbadian pair – Andrew Jones and Jeremy Foster – in the Quix Lime/A P Jones Pharmacy Ford Escort MkII, finished third with a time of 27 minutes, 35.43 seconds.A total of 42 cars competed in the day/night event.
