‘Sheriff’ fastest on the road

Wet conditions kept drivers cautious during the Motoring Club Barbados Inc.’s (MCBI) tarmac double header speed event last Sunday.Heavy morning rain caused the event to start nearly two hours late, as officials were forced to use heavy equipment to clear debris from the course and drivers had to call on all their resources in order to deal with the wet conditions.At the event, which was reduced by one run on each of the two courses, fans used umbrellas, raincoats and all other means of sheltering from intermittent showers to watch Roger “The Sheriff” Skeete at the wheel of the DaCosta Mannings Auto Centre/Michelin/Warrens Motors Subaru Impreza WRC S12, who was able to stay ahead of the field throughout the day’s action.On the Andrews Factory to Malvern run, Skeete posted the fastest times on each of the two runs; three minutes, 42.07 seconds and shaved more than 11 seconds on his second attempt to return a three minutes, 31.97 seconds timing.But behind The Sheriff a battle raged between Neil Armstrong in the Pit Bull Energy Drink/Hankook/Gunk/Electric Avenue Toyota Starlet; Harold “Doc” Morley in the NET2VU Subaru Impreza; Ian “WeeWee” Warren in the Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Simpson Motors Suzuki Swift; Edward Corbin in the Automotive Art/Klark-Odio/Corbins Garage/JVM Signage Daihatsu Charmant; Dane Skeete in the Williams Trading Inc. Peugeot 206 GTI and Sammy Cumberbatch in the F Taylor Insurance/Williams Industries/AutoLink BMW M3.Armstrong, with a time of 3 minutes, 57.36 seconds, was second fastest on the course ahead of Morley whose best time was 4:04.92 and Warren with a time of 4:03.87 seconds.And as the course dried, offering more grip while drivers assembled to contest the second round, times got faster.Skeete, who showed that his earlier showing was no fluke, posted the fastest overall time of  3:27.37.Armstrong led the remainder of the charge, getting home with the second fastest time of 3:34.94 seconds, while Warren altered the remainder of the table finishing third fastest overall with a time of 3 minutes 36.51 seconds.Cumberbatch, highly fancied before the start of the event, was fourth fastest with a time of 3 minutes, 42.73 seconds, a shade faster than his brother Owen (3:44.45), and Morley (3:50:19) who rounded out the top six.Of the 18 drivers who started the event, four failed to finish due to challenges of varying kinds.