Ultra/Stag Rally Presyal Stages - 30th April 2006
Photography by Gerrard Wilson & Candace Bhagirath
Article by Barry McKenzie

The spectators were just settling in to their seats on Sunday 30th April 2006, at the Stag/ Ultra Rally Preysal Stages event as the action heated up on the Snake Run Stage very early with a spectacular barrel roll courtesy the team of Jerome ‘Bench’ Lum Hung and Sean Ramcharitar in the Trinidad Cement Limited Mazda 323 GTR during the drive through. According to reports the team miscalculated their approach to the fast right over the crest and hit a bank on the left side, causing the car to drift and eventually roll five times. Emergency Medical Technicians from the Trinidad & Tobago Fire Service were on hand to examine the crew. Both Jerome and Sean were thankfully diagnosed with nothing more than badly bruised egos and given clearance to return to the service park. This incident reiterated the importance of the safety measures enforced by the Rally Club and the build quality of these vehicles.

Soon after the Snake Run got off to a blistering start amid the dust and heat with  the Ultra/ Stag/Josefs Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6  being first car on the line. With the canes already harvested it made for great photo opportunities as Ainsley Lochan and Scott Sheppard posted a blistering time of 1 minute 54 seconds. But a Trini Sheriff was on his tail as Barry Mckenzie and Max Jallai in the Castrol/ Rallymac Motors/ Sweet Tambran Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 who were next on the stage and answered Ainsley’s run with a new record for the Snake Run, completing the course in 1 minute 47 seconds.

As Ainsley and Scott tried to retaliate to Barry’s attack they were hampered by a broken axle on SS2, which caused them to miss SS3, putting them even further back in the field.  Barry took full advantage of Ainsley’s misfortune by winning three of the four morning stages.

Rezan Mohammed and Arshad Mondro in the unsponsored Mitsubishi Lancer GSR dominated the 2WD class once again and even challenged some of the 4WD guys by matching and bettering their times on several stages. Their nearest rivals Shelford Robinson and Rajesh Ganar in the Tire Clinic 2000 Nissan Sunny lamented “Is time fuh them fellas to move up to four” as they continuously fell short of Rezan’s times.

There was a keen battle in the newcomer’s box between Simon Rodriguez in the Toyota Corolla sporting its 1600cc turbocharged engine, and the Tropical Engineering Nissan Sunny of James Harris with its two liter naturally.phpirated engine. James successfully kept ahead of Simon on three of the four morning stages proving the old adage “there’s no replacement for displacement”.

At the lunch break the Listerine/ Esso/ Flower Time Subaru Impreza piloted by Colin Khan and Richard Ramsingh was second to Barry trailing him by 41 seconds. In third place overall at lunch was Rezan Mohammed and Arshad Mondro trailing Colin and Richard by 26 seconds. During the lunch break, the picong between competitors heated up as the engines cooled, and the spectators’ taste buds were treated as the now famous Sham whipped up his award winning Curried Duck and Cassava Oil Down in the pits.

The rally restarted just after 1:00PM with the rerouted and renamed Seego Zig Zag Stage which offered spectators a panoramic view of the stage from atop the hill next to the service park.

Barry Mckenzie again showed his dominance as he set stage times 4 seconds quicker than all other competitors. Vishal Dhanraj and Kevin Mohammed in the their first outing in an AWD car, struggled to find their form in the Esso/ Mileage Mack/ AA Chemdry/ Lucozade Sport/ BT Rentals Subaru Impreza, eventually plowing some of the cane beds. We can only speculate that they are in discussions with the farmers for a possible sponsorship deal and were in fact demonstrating the Subaru’s harvesting skills. Their last run of the day however proved to be somewhat competitive, but came too late to make a difference to their overall standings. With a little more practice under their belt, we look forward to this team being a contender for the title in the 2006 Rally Trinidad in August. Ainsley Lochan again showed his car control on the Seego Zig Zag, and earned the crowd’s respect with a two wheeler of all two wheelers at the hairpin left at the back of the hill.

James Harris, who, up to SS6 was finding the better of his rival Simon Rodriguez, suffered a puncture on SS7 and in true rally form continued to drive! However the car’s protest overcame his desire to finish as he also popped an axle on the same stage. His retirement from the rally at this point allowed Simon to step up and claim third place honors in the 2WD category.

Barry Mckenzie/ Max Jallai in the Castrol/ Rallymac Motors/ Sweet Tambran Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 powered on to extend their lead winning the rally a full 1 minute and 11 seconds over second place Colin Khan and Richard Ramsingh. Rezan Mohammed and Arshad Mondro were able to maintain their lead over Ainsley and completed the podium, with a brilliant third place finish.

After the rally Barry had this to say:

“My ultimate goal for today was to challenge Ainsley who has been the dominant 4WD Driver for the last 2 years. After the first stage I knew I had a good chance of finally knocking Ainsley off the throne. I focused on the task at hand and after the lunch break I had built up such a lead I could have cruised to victory, but that’s not my style. Balls to the wall I told my co-driver Max. I went at the Zig Zag to win all the stages and I did!”

Marshalls and Officials of the Second Rally Preysal - Thank You!

4WD Category (Grp 3A)

2WD Category (Grp 1-4 and 1-3)

OVERALL

Page 1 of 9