by TREVOR THORPERALLY BARBADOS 2005 winner Roger “His Hotness” Mayers will team up with his brother Barry to present a formidable team in Sol Rally Barbados later this month.Entered in SuperModified 11, in the ex-Jonathan Still Terra Caribbean/Delaware Dispensary/Illusion Graphics/Redlinefuels.com/Quality Tyre BMW M3, the Mayers brothers are returning to rallying after a five-year layoff.Roger, currently the lap-record holder for Guyana and Barbados, said they were at a party when Still mentioned how he had always dreamed of them driving his car.“I said, ‘Do you want to rent it for Rally Barbados?’ and it went from there. Barry approached a lot of sponsors, and I’d lost all hope when we heard nothing. “Then, at Barry’s wedding, Kathy-Dawn Burke got wind of it and jumped straight on it with Terra Caribbean. With some help from Delaware Dispensary, who support us at Bushy Park, and three additional sponsors, here we are!” he added.The Mayers brothers are in the largest group in the rally, SuperModified 11, which has attracted 16 crews.Among them are Mark Hamilton and Clive “Ears” Howell in the PowerMaster Batteries/ConsolidatedFinance/Valvoline Oil/Kumho Tyres Ford Escort MkII, the English pair of Martin Stockdale and Mark Swallow in the Divi Southwinds Beach Resort/Drive-a-Matic Car Rentals BMW M3 Compact, Nick Gill and Sue Rogers in the SDRR Hydraulics & Industrial Spares Inc/Hilti Tools Mazda 3, Brian “The Iceman” Gill and Avinash Chatrani in the Aqua Pur/Electric Avenue BMW M3, and the Cumberbatch family of St Elmo Cumberbatch and two of his sons.Ireland’s Martin and Janet Taylor, in the Dublin Crystal/Janet Taylor BMW 325, and Gary Thomas and Phil Ralphs of Wales, in the Tsalta Motorsport/Cam Sport Ford Escort G3, round out the group.Between them, the Mayers brothers have seven top ten finishes in the rally in a span from 2000 to 2005. Roger had an outright win five years ago in the company of Max Ferri. He also finished second overall in 2002 in a Ford Escort Cosworth and enjoyed class wins in 2000 at the wheel of an MG Metro 6R4 and 1999 in a Toyota Starlet.Barry, who returns from honeymoon this week, has finished in the top ten and won the Modified Open or SM11 class four times in the Starlet, finishing fourth overall in 2005 with the only two-wheel-drive car in the top ten.Roger said their goal in the 24-stage rally is to finish as top two-wheel-drive car, but he expects fierce competition from the likes of Ian Warren, Josh Read, and Mark Hamilton.With Still, who has a hat-trick of wins in the group, not entered, there will be a new winner this year. The Mayers brothers will have their first taste of competition in the Shell V-Power King-of-The-Hill event at Sailor Gully on Sunday.
