Rally Barbados 2008 - Saturday Stages Part 1
31st May 2008
Photography by C. Bhagirath, D. Nath, G. Singh, K Pinhiero, D. Boodasingh, N. Sooknarine, G. Wilson, R. Peyrau, R. Singh, S. St. John, and W Lee
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Article by Robin Bradford - robin@bradfax.com
With 86 starters including 25 four-wheel-drives, the quality entry was guaranteed to thrill the 166 square-mile Caribbean island's enthusiastic motor sport fans, an estimated 20,000 turning out for the weekend's 24 special stages; around half that number assembled for the event's climax, the Shell V-Power SuperSpecial at the Bushy Park racetrack, where a specially-constructed bridge produced some spectacular jumps.
The drama started on the first stage - Automotive Art Canefield - with a number of incidents at the notorious Vaucluse Corner, the most damaging of which left potential top 10 contenders, Trinidad's Ainsley Lochan and Scott Sheppard, with suspension damage to their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Close to the finish of the same stage, 1979 World Rally Champion Bjorn Waldegard rolled the Steve Perez-owned Porsche 911 out of contention, although the car was repaired in time to run in - and finish - the Sunday Cup.
Driving a Toyota Corolla WRC supported by his regular backers Red Bull and Pirelli, plus local companies Digicel, Toyota dealer Nassco, Consolidated Finance, Armag and Crane & Equipments, Meeke set the pace from the start, beating reigning Barbados Rally Club Rally Champion Paul Bourne by 1.21secs on stage 1.
Bourne and co-driver Stuart Maloney used the Banks/Texaco/B-Mobile/ Pirelli/New-Tech Subaru Impreza WRC S9 to good effect over the next two stages, fastest on Dark Hole and the second Canefield, cutting the gap to 0.3secs; Meeke fought back on stage 4, but what had promised to be an enthralling battle was cut short, as Bourne rolled the Impreza when it is believed something broke just after the stage finish.
This promoted Gregg (BD Gregg & Bros Ltd/NG Racing/Monster Energy/ McEnearney Quality Inc Ford Focus WRC02) to second and the two-wheel- drive Simpson Motors/Automotive Art/Shell V-Power/Yokohama Suzuki Swift of Sean Gill and Michael Cummins to a remarkable third place, following top six times on the first five stages.
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