TTRC - March 30th 2008

Rally Trinidad Celebrates 5th Anniversary

Written by Robert Cadiz and Jacqueline Alexis, TTRC executives

Rally Trinidad celebrated its 5^th anniversary this year and was the largest since inception. The Trinidad & Tobago Rally Club was proud to host this FIA sanctioned event, its International and Premium High Speed Stages rally, at the end of March that attracted 27 competitors in all, of which 10 were our regional counterparts from Barbados, Jamaica and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

 24 stages and 85 km long, the rally was characterised by fiercely fought battles on several fronts, disappointments and triumphs, all covered in a loving layer of dust. Event Chairman Barry Mckenzie aided by Rezan Mohammed with invaluable mechanical assistance from Junior Sammy Contractors Limited, spent the last 2 weeks preparing the stages, not to mention the months expended by the TTRC executives in planning the rally.

 The Bajans came to wage a war in well prepped rally machines, prettily decorated in the decals of their many sponsors. Don’t let the gay colours fool you .. for beneath those hoods, beat the rhythms of finely tuned engines, all parts and pieces well oiled, interlocking and battened down … many an internal battle they have fought on their home ground. They came, they rallied, they conquered… but T&T lives on and will rise out of the ashes of disappointment like a phoenix taking flight, using lessons learnt to forge ahead.

 We were fortunate to have in our midst, 2 WRC Subarus, driven by arch-rivals – T&T’s John Powell and Barbados’ Paul Bourne. They sounded off the trumpet and that set the tone for the weekend.

 TTRC is proud to announce the winners of STAG/ULTRA sponsored RT08:

Overall RT08 Champion

WRC

Overall - 4WD

Overall - 2WD

4WD - Group  3-A

4WD - Group  2-N

2WD - Group 2-2

2WD - Group 2-3

2WD - Group 2-4

HIGHLIGHTS

 3 days of hard rallying took its toll on both man and machine. Friday afternoon saw the police escorted motorcade of rally cars from the Savannah to the National Stadium, where began the first and second stages – 2 tricky laps each.

 T&T’s local favourites John Powell/Nicholas Telfer, first on the line in their Stag/NP Ultra/Intercontinental Subaru WRC S9, set a blistering pace to the finish line, before a badly negotiated turn forced an engine stall and precious lost time to his weekend arch rival - Paul Bourne (Barbados) driving the same model car.

 Ainsley Lochan in his brand new Stag/NP Ultra/Josef’s Evolution 9 needed all his skill and experience to keep up with the leaders. Sean Gill/Michael Cummins of Barbados in his 300bhp Suzuki Swift, posted the best 2WD time of 2:00 seconds, a mere 2 seconds off the fastest 4-wheel drive time (John Powell) of 1:58.  

 The Bajan contingent did in every category except Group 2-4, held firmly from the start by Trinidad’s very own Rezan Mohammed in the Vigourade sponsored Mirage.

The local drivers tried to claw back some time from the foreign teams on Saturday at the infamous ‘Rollercoaster’ stage in Longdenville, known for its steep up and down hill runs and the tightest 90-degree corners. John Powell pulled back almost 2 seconds on the very first run but Barbados’ Sean Gill increased his lead over 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. 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 and 8 in the ‘Jack and Jill’ course in Couva, 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, 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.

 Saturday night event occurred over the ‘Zig Zag’ and ‘Indian Trail’ stages where all the teams clipped their lighting pods to their hoods to prepare for a tricky night of racing due to the heavy dust left by each competitor. Stages 11 and 14 had to be cancelled due to low visibility caused by the heavy dust. Safety would be priority as the competitors started almost 4 minutes apart. Stages 12 and 13 were 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 but landing perfectly on all 4 wheels and ‘rallied on regardless.’

 Saturday finished with Bourne leading the 4WD and overall standings with Powell snapping at his heels. Lochan was lying in third place patiently awaiting the slightest chance at reducing the deficit. Sean Gill continued his dominance in the 2WD category. Roger Mckenzie fought to keep close to lone Jamaican entrant Bobby Marshall in the 2WD Group 2-3 but could only manage 3^rd place in group at the end of Saturday.

 Powell and Bourne clocked the exact same times for all 3 runs on Sunday morning going Up the hill in Couva’s ‘Jack and Jill’, testament to how close this battle was becoming. T&T’s Darrel Ramesar’s EVO 3’s busted gearbox left him out for top honours in the 2WD Group 2-4 and also a major loss to the local boys for the overall 2WD. However, Rezan Mohammed continued to race well, posting very fast times in the morning stages to hold off Bajan driver Ian Warren in the Peugeot 206. With Gill way ahead, Mohammed and Warren now waged their own war holding on to 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

 Sunday afternoon’s ‘Snake Run’ was threatened by the onset of some heavy rain. As the weather held up nicely, Bourne’s and Gill’s flawless performance may destine them for top 4WD and 2WD positions. Lochan, ‘stung’ by the Snake, suffered his slowest times with engine trouble. Although this provided a nice opportunity for Vishal Dhanraj in his Scotia Bank Esso Subaru, Lochan was comfortably leading in the 4WD Group 3-A and eventually took top honours at the end.  His overall standings however, were impacted, allowing the Bajan trio of Sean Gill, James Betts, Harold Morley and SVG’s Steve Ollivierre to go forward.

 The final stages of Rally Trinidad 2008 returned to Indian Trail into Zig Zag, Going into the second to last stage, a mishap on the approach to the jump forced Powell into an evasive manoeuvre, causing him to roll his Subaru. This meant a definite end to the title chase and Bourne finally breathed a sigh of relief as his fight for overall winner of RT08 was finally over.

 Gill who had raced flawlessly over the weekend powered his Suzuki Swift to an impressive win in the overall 2WD class and managed to take 4^th overall beating many 4WD cars in the process. Mohammed put up a brave effort to earn 1^st in the 2WD Group 2-4 class and 2^nd overall 2WD for his Vigourade team. This is Rezan ‘Consistent’ Mohammed/Arshad Mondro’s 4^th local consecutive win of Rally Trinidad, a magnificent feat for this team !!! All in all, the local drivers did well to compete against the noticeably better prepared cars from Barbados, Jamaica, and SVG, and the local boys will take many lessons and a great experience away from this event.

 This rally could not have been possible without the generous corporate sponsorship of Stag and NP Ultra and the contributions of other sponsors. Thanks to Ainsley Lochan, Junior Sammy’s efforts in the stage preparation resulted in the best conditions for Rallying that Trinidad and Tobago have ever seen,  The Club is also indebted to all its officials, marshals and volunteers, the unsung heroes who helped to make this event historic. Chalk one up for T&T motorsport!!

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