Rally Trinidad 2008 - Saturday Stages
29th March 2008
Photography by Candace Bhagirath, Devi Nath, Duane Boodasingh, Narend Sooknarine and Wayne Lee
Article by Robert Cadiz - TTRC Treasurer


Saturday took everyone to the infamous ‘Rollercoaster’ stage in Longdenville, known for its steep up and down hill runs and the tightest 90-degree corners. This was a chance for the local drivers to claw back some time from the foreign teams. John Powell pulled back almost 2 seconds on the very first run but Rezan Mohammed watched in awe as Sean Gill increased his lead by another 10 seconds.

Early withdrawal due to major engine problems, of RT07 winners - Barry Mckenzie/Justin Wallace, a strong contender for 4WD Group 3-A class, was a major blow to the local warriors as Mckenzie in their Rallymac/Ultra sponsored Evo 6 equalled Lochan’s Stage 3 time of 2:35 minutes. Ian Warren/Graham Gittens in the Peugeot 206 (Barbados) comfortably extended his lead over local boys Roger Mckenzie/Max Jallai’s Rallymac/Castrol sponsored Toyota RunX in Group 2-3. By the end of 3 stages in Rollercoaster, the local boys must have wondered what the Bajans were putting in their gas tank as the competition grew even stiffer. Junior Phillips, a definite crowd pleaser in the RWD Turbocharged Mitsubishi Lancer, showcased his driving skills as he fought tooth and nail to keep his 300bhp car on the route. Local team Keeva Seegobin/Kevin Mohammed in their Daiman Publishers/Tola’s Engineering sponsored Toyota Corolla began a troubled Saturday afternoon with a busted intercooler after jumping a bank at the end of Stage 5.

Stages 7 – 10 took place in the newly prepared ‘Jack and Jill’ course in Couva. Stages 7 and 8 threw new challenges into the mix with a few competitors running off and were wrecked back to the start. Bourne/Maloney (Barbados) although losing a few seconds on Stage 7, maintained his lead over Powell/Telfer who were beginning to eat away at the lead quite consistently. Lochan/Dumas, confident in their debút Mitsubishi Evo 9 run, clocked back to back times of 2:30 minutes which were mere seconds off the WRC class times of Powell and Bourne. As the pressure built with Bourne for top spot, Sean Gill increased his lead over Rezan Mohammed. Although our local boys continued to post the top times in Group 2-4, they would continue to play second fiddle to the Gill for top 2WD honours.

Saturday night event occurred over the ‘Zig Zag’ and ‘Indian Trail’ stages where all the teams clipped their lighting pods to their hoods in preparation for what proved to be a tricky night of racing due to the heavy dust left by each competitor. As the huge crowd prayed for a little rain to settle the dust, the competitors battled with extremely low visibility leading to the unfortunate cancellation of Stages 11 and 14. Safety would be priority as the competitors started almost 4 minutes apart simply to allow the dust from the previous car to clear.

Stages 12 and 13 proved to be just as entertaining however, with Robert Cadiz/Randy Lee Young putting their Tropical Power Chevron Hyundai up on two wheels while exiting the round-a-bout hairpin. Team mate Ansel Ali/Roger Smith tried to better this feat and ended up rolling the Tropical Power 323 on the very next run. Ali landed perfectly on all 4 wheels and continued to finish the stage thankfully only with body damage.

Saturday finished almost exactly how it had started with Bourne leading the 4WD and overall standings with Powell snapping at his heels. Lochan was lying in third place patiently awaiting a mistake from the 2 WRC Subaru’s to give him just the slightest chance at reducing the deficit. Sean Gill continued his dominance in the 2WD category emphasising that his team came very well prepared for any local challenge. Roger Mckenzie fought to keep close to lone Jamaican entrant Bobby Marshall in the 2WD Group 2-3 but could only manage 3rd place in group at the end of Saturday.