Two-time Rally Barbados winner Dane Skeete won the First Event of Motoring Club Barbados Inc. (MCBI) and the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) 2025 Championship event which took place in St John on Sunday.
Dubbed the MCBI/BRC SPRING BLAZE ’25 Double Header Speed Event, Skeete had no equal on the road for the event which took place from Kendal Woods to Cherry Grove, a reverse test, for which 42 cars lined up for a battle against themselves and the clock.
Skeete, driving his Subaru Impreza WRC, was the speediest overall competitor after clocking a fastest time of 2:20.25 minutes ahead of Stuart Maloney in his Skoda Fabia Rally2 who was second overall and first in the R5 class.
Third overall in the first and second in R5 was Jamaica’s Kyle Gregg with a fastest time of 2:21.33 minutes, continuing his great form from the previous day’s event in Hangman’s Hill, St Thomas Meanwhile, Gregg’s compatriot Jeffrey Panton was third in R5 and fourth overall in 2:21.46 minutes, with Mark Maloney Fourth in R5 and fifth overall in 2:23.55 minutes.
Ironically, Rob Swann who finished fifth in the R5 class, was the fastest man out the gate in the first run, with Dane Skeete bedding himself into the car again, having not driven it since last season.
Skeete has had some mechanical issues with the car in recent times but with things seemingly sorted he was progressively faster and found pockets of time along the stage until he stumbled upon his winning time.
The battle in the R5 class is always tight in the sprint format events where drivers chase the perfect run. Stuart Maloney loves the prospect of chasing Dane which in turn improves his times while Gregg and Panton were flying high with Gregg’s approach reaping dividends again.
This hectic action amongst the R5s bodes well for the rest of the season.
Kurt and Mark Thompson didn’t have another round of sibling rivalry on the stages, with Mark
not competing. However, Kurt was consistently quick throughout the day in either direction, and he finished just outside the top ten in the first, with his time of 2:30.64 minutes. Rhett Watson was on home turf and drove to suit, attacking with fervour and winning the two-wheel-drive battle in 2:26.38 minutes.
The specular Andrew Jones entertained the crowd while still being fast and was second in 2WD with a time of 2:30.36. Third in 2WD was the returning, Nigel Reece. After purchasing this now famous Starlet from Josh Read earlier this year, he attacked the stages for the first in years and steadily improved over the day to set a fastest time in direction one of 2:34.79 minutes.
Niel Corbin was victorious in M2, Edward Corbin was dominant in SM1, and Kevin Armstrong won C3.
Skeete set a time of 2:22.46 to be fastest in the reverse direction. Stuart was a second slower this time around in 2:23.54, while Gregg (2:24.32) and Panton(2:24.70) were split by a few tenths of a second in third and fourth overall. Meanwhile Swann and Mark Maloney swapped positions in the reverse direction.
Watson was first once more in 2WD (2:29.96) while the returning Reece was second (2:33.81) and while Jones was third (2:39.06.). Neil Corbin and Tramane Forde-Catwell were first in the respective classes again much like Kevin Armstrong while Sean Merrit drove away with group B in both directions. (SW)
