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Josh Read has won the 2024 Barbados Rally2 Championship sponsored by CIBC Caribbean and Ace H & B Hardware, following his victory in Sunday’s (December 1) final round, the Motorsport Island Stages. Jamaica’s Kyle Gregg finished second in the single-venue rally at the Vaucluse Raceway in St Thomas, 16.7 seconds down, and in the championship standings, one place higher than last year.
  Organised by the Vaucluse Raceway Motorsports Club (VRMSC), the event was also the final round of the BimmaCup BB and Motoring Club Barbados Inc (MCBI) Championships. With four runs in each direction, the 5.6-kilometre stage, running from the southern entrance near the top of Hangman’s Hill to just inside the pit entry, included long straights, sweeping curves and a tight technical section on the infield kart track.
  A heavy rain shower an hour or so before the scheduled start rendered the track surface extremely slippery, even former race and rally driver Martin Atwell driving a four-wheel-drive pick-up as the Zero Car spinning on his first pass through the stage on a surface he later said he wouldn’t have been able to walk on.
  With regular co-driver Mark Jordan unavailable, Read (Ford Fiesta R5) was joined by Stuart Maloney, the first winner of the Barbados Motoring Federation’s (BMF) R5 Championship in 2022. Read, who finished second to Maloney that season, mastered the tricky conditions on the first northbound stage, opening a gap of around six seconds to a more apprehensive Gregg (Fiesta Rally2), accompanied by local co-driver Orry Hunte.
  Third was the championship’s youngest competitor, Adam Mallalieu (Fiesta R5), a further 1.5secs back, adapting to the unfamiliar surroundings of VRW with experienced British co-driver Steve McNulty. Logan Watson and Barry Ward (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) wrong slotted at the end of the first stage, missing the finish line. Although not seen for the rest of the day, Watson finishes third in the standings.
  As the day brightened up and track conditions steadily improved, Read grew his advantage over Gregg to just under 10secs by the lunch break. Mallalieu was fastest of the trio on the morning’s third stage and had pretty much kept pace with the Jamaican, sitting just 2secs behind.
  Read further increased his lead on the first two stages after lunch, although Gregg fought back with his only stage win of the day on SS7, these two season-long rivals split by just tenths on the day’s final two stages, a fitting end to a hard-fought season. A couple of errors later in the day dropped Mallalieu back, 18secs behind Gregg.
  Read said: “It was an enjoyable day and a great way to end the season. Conditions in the first stage were a bit tricky because it was wet and very, very slippery in some areas. But that seemed to work in our favour, as it gave us around six seconds on Kyle and eight seconds on Adam in that first run. And then we built a bit more of a buffer on the stages that followed and the pace improved as the track dried out.
  “And then when it went into the afternoon, it took a bit of adjustment getting the flow in the opposite direction. But after the first pass we were swapping times with Kyle, we were within tenths of each other, so it was exiting from that standpoint.”
  Read won four of the eight rounds on his way to the title, Mallalieu won two, Gregg and Watson one each. The only driver who needed to drop a score (12 points), as all the others shed a zero for either failing to finish or missing a round, Read ended the season on 140 points, with Gregg on 130 and Watson on 105.

Barbados Rally2 Championship
Round 8 – Motorsport Island Stages (Vaucluse Raceway Motorsports Club)
Vaucluse Raceway, St Thomas – December 1
Results
1st Josh Read/Stuart Maloney (Ford Fiesta R5), 37m 16.30s
2nd Kyle Gregg – JAM/Orry Hunte (Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 16.75
3rd Adam Mallalieu/Steve McNulty - ENG (Ford Fiesta R5), + 35.57
DNF: Logan Watson/Barry Ward (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo)

Final points after round 8:
1st Josh Read (Ford Fiesta R5), 140 points
2nd Kyle Gregg – JAM (Ford Fiesta Rally2), 130pts
3rd Logan Watson (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), 105pts
4th Rob Swann – ENG (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), 95pts
5th Roger Hill (Skoda Fabia R5), 90pts
6th Andrew Mallalieu (Ford Fiesta R5), 64pts
7th Adam Mallalieu (Ford Fiesta R5), 63pts
8th George Sherman – USA (Ford Fiesta Rally2), 59pts
9th Paul Horton – TCI (Citroen C3 Rally2), 29pts

For media information only. No regulatory value.

For further information:
please contact BMF Vice-President - Sport, David Williams - e-mail: vicepresident@bmf-fia.com
web site: https://bmf-fia.com/