The 2007 renewal of the Digicel/Shell Raynor King Memorial Stages Rally, the third in the five event Jamaican National Rally Championship series, was run in Jamaica’s most westerly parish in the cane fields of the Jamaica Sugar Company at Frome, Georges Plain, Westmoreland,.this past Sunday, September 23, as the Montego Bay Motoring Club in association with the Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club and sponsors Digicel, Shell, Xsomo, Young’s Service Centre, Easi Spice, Gray’s Pepper Products, Lloyd’s of Montego Bay, Sambull Wrecking Service, Linkz96FM, JLC Distributors, Tropical Battery, KFC and The Wexford Hotel brought the fast paced action to the parish.
Text:Dean Corrodus –
Photos: Shane Munroe
Eighteen cars took the start of the ten stage, 160 klm. event, with the first car, that of defending champions Douglas “Hollywood” Gore/ Mark Nelson in their Motor Sales & Service Ltd/Walkerswood/Rick’s Café/ Slam Condoms/Boomerang Tires/Exmil Security/Value Buys Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII, leaving Shell Savanna-la-mar at 10.01 am. Sadly, they were not to progress very far in the event, as they registered the sole DNF (did not finish) of the event, going out midway onstage 1 due to electrical problems. This whittled down the JA8 class to two competitors, Gary Gregg and Hugh Hutchinson in the BD Gregg & Bros/KFC Ford Focus WRC and Richard “Sir Rich” Rerrie/David “Neil” Baugh in their Puma/KIG/Leroy’s Auto Glass/Kinn’s Auto Parts/Knot Guilty Subaru Impreza WRX Sti also known as “Trauma” or “Warhead”. These two would put on the best show throughout the day as they went head to head, with the Focus WRC coming out on top in the end to place first overall and first in the JA8 class, to the Subaru’s second in both categories. Gregg/Hutchinson had an off road excursion on the last stage, as they were well aware of the continued pressure being put on them by the boys in blue.
First in the JN8 class running on Shell V Power fuel were the team of dave Lee/Colin “Stuffy” Chambers in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII, closely followed in fourth overall and first in both the 2 wheel drive category and class JA2, Tarik Monott/Peter “ Busha” Clarke in the Miphone Suzuki ignis. 5th overall and ist in the JA3 class for normally aspirated 2wd cars with an engine displacement between 1601 and 2000cc were the team of Raj “Tarmac Terrorist” Jadusingh and David “Stinger” Anderson debuting the Team Xpress Racing Honda Civic on dirt. Strut mount failure on the first stage of the day saw the top of the strut poking neat holes through the cars carbon fibre bonnet and hampered his charge for a better overall result, in addition to the win of the class. In class JA2, the Jamspped Adrenalin Rush TV/b mobile entry of Jordan Powell/Gina Tomlinson tasted success of the silver kind (2nd place) on their maiden event on dirt, with newcomers to rallying Maurice Whittingham Jr.Phillip Ogilvie in the Yardy Vibes/Mad Dem Racing/Spot Valley Toyota Corolla FX in third. Marvin Porteous/Tricia Groves, Michelle Delfosse/Xanu Field and Pernell Fitz-Coy/Dean Corrodus rounded out that class.
Second in JA3 were Bobby Marshal/Daneisha Green in the Singer/Motor Sales & Service Ltd/TGIF Mitsubishi Mirage RS while 3rd were the Mack Attack team of Gordon McDowell/Gayon Cummings in a similar car.
The top two places in JA4 went to Thomas Hall/Marcel Brandon in a Toyota Starlet Turbo and Rohan Jones/Walton Small in a turbo-charged Hyundai Excell.
17 tired teams, all with cars needing a proper power wash, arrived on time at the finish to hear the results and for the trophy presentation, which took place from the platform on the “Digi-rig”, Digicel’s mobile entertainment centre, after sponsors Shell, Digicel and Castrol addressed the large crowd. Once again the event lived up to expectations of speed, preparation and driving excitement, as the 2007 renewal of western Jamaica’s favourite rally came to a close. The next event on the calendar will be the JMMC/MBMC Tropical Battery Sprint # 5 to be held at Badda Badda Raceway in Priory, St. Ann on October 7, starting at 10 am.
Final classifications
CLASS: JA8
DRIVER/CO-DRIVER
CAR
TIME
1. Gary Gregg/Hugh Hutchinson
Ford Focus WRC
29:30:00
2. Richard Rerrie/David Baugh
Subaru Impreza WRX
30:68:00
3. Douglas Gore/Mark Nelson
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII
D.N.F.
CLASS: JN8
DRIVER/CO-DRIVER
CAR
TIME
1. David Lee/Colin Chambers
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII
33:57:00
CLASS: JA4
DRIVER/CO-DRIVER
CAR
TIME
1. Thomas Hall/Marcel Brandon
Toyota Starlet
38:30:00
2. Roan Jones/Walton Small
Hyundai Excel
44:45:00
CLASS: JA3
DRIVER/CO-DRIVER
CAR
TIME
1. Raj Jadusingh/David Anderson
Honda Civic
34:66:00
2. Bobby Marshall/Daneisha Green
Mitsubishi Mirage RS
37:24:00
3. Gordon McDowell/Gayon Cummings
Mitsubishi Mirage RS
38:33:00
CLASS: JA2
DRIVER/CO-DRIVER
CAR
TIME
1. Tarik Minott/Peter Clarke
Suzuki Ignis
33:79:00
2. Jordan Powell/Gina-Kay Tomlinson
Toyota Starlet
35:20:00
3. Maurice Whittingham/Phillip Ogilvie
Toyota Corolla FX
38:71:00
4. Pernel Fitz-Coy/Dean Corrodus
Toyota Corolla FX
40:74:00
5. Michelle Delfosse/Xanu Field
Isuzu Gemini
42:07:00
6. Marvin Porteous/Tricia Groves
Toyota Levin
49:93:00
OVERALL RESULTS
DRIVER/CO-DRIVER
CAR
TIME
1. Gary Gregg/Greg Hutchinson
Ford Focus WRC
29:30:00
2. Richie Rerrie/Neil Baugh
Subaru Impreza WRX
30:68:00
3. David Lee/Colin Chambers
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII
33:57:00
4. Tarik Minott/Peter Clarke
Suzuki Ignis
33:79:00
5. Raj Jadusingh/David Anderson
Honda Civic
34:66:00
6. Jordan Powell/Gina-Kay Tomlinson
Toyota Starlet
35:20:00
7. Bobby Marshall/Daneisha Green
Mitsubishi Mirage RS
37:24:00
8. Thomas Hall/Marcel Brandon
Toyota Starlett Turbo
38:30:00
9. Gordon McDowell/Gayon Cummings
Mitsubishi Mirage RS
38:33:00
10. Maurice Whittingham/Phillip Ogilvie
Toyota Corolla FX
38:71:00
11. Pernel Fitz-Coy/Dean Corrodus
Toyota Corolla FX
40:74:00
12. Michelle Delfosse/Xanu Field
Isuzu Gemini
42:07:00
13. Rohan Jones/Walton Small
Hyundai Excel
44:45:00
14. Marvin Porteous/Tricia Groves
Toyota Levin
49:93:00
15. Douglas Gore.Mark Nelson
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII
D.N.F.
