Four hard-fought BimmaCup races were the highlights of the Barbados Auto Racing League’s (BARL) second visit of the season to Bushy Park Barbados last Sunday (July 7). Winner of two of the four races, Ryan Wood overcame a first-lap spin in the day’s final race to top the category points for the day, while David Small is now the provisional leader of the overall BARL Championship with two class wins.
While the invitation races at the BARL fixture were not part of the Vaucluse Raceway Motorsport Club’s (VRMSC) BimmaCup BB Championship, a healthy entry of front-runners was assembled, including Reigning Champion Chris Hoad, former titlist ‘Woody’ and regional drivers from Antigua and Trinidad & Tobago.
Hoad claimed pole position with a time of 1m 16.766s, just two-hundredths better than T&T’s David Coelho, with Wood and Antiguan Xabier Ross also within six-tenths of the pole time. Wood took the lead soon after the start of the first six-lap race, Coelho holding second while Hoad slipped to third, which remained the order at the finish.
With the grid based on Race 1 results reversed, Antigua’s Luca Ascarelli sat on pole for the second race on his first visit to Bushy Park alongside fellow-countryman Ronald Spencer, with former BARL Group 2A Champion (from 2003) Arron Parris on row two with Spencer Hutchinson. Row three comprised Darrin White, enjoying his first-ever circuit race action, and Kyle Proverbs, better known as a rally co-driver.
As expected, the reverse grid formation made for an action-packed race, with Spencer the early leader. He was passed on lap three by eventual winner White, while Parris passed him for second a lap later. Wood claimed the final podium place on the last lap, with Hoad following him past Spencer.
Points scored in the first two races decided the grid for race three, placing Wood and White on row 1, Hoad and Parris on the second row, Coelho and Ross on row 3. After the fraught action of the previous encounter, this was a more sedate affair, albeit producing the closest BimmaCup finish of the day and the category’s fastest lap. Wood led from lights to flag, his winning margin being half-a-second over Hoad, who clocked the fastest lap (1:16.173), with Wood third.
With points again dictating the grid, the top six remained the same for Race 4, although Coelho had moved ahead of Parris on to the second row. Having led the standings all day and with a 12-point cushion over White going into the final race, former Suzuki Swift Cup Champion and pole-sitter Wood was looking like a shoo-in to top the BimmaCup results at the end of the day.
It was wet for the final race, however, making conditions tricky for everyone. Wood led away from the grid, chased by Hoad, but contact between the two as they fought lack of grip resulted in Wood spinning to the tail end of the 11-car field and Hoad being delayed. A Stewards Enquiry ruled it a racing incident, but both faced an uphill task in the race.
Hoad passed Coelho on lap 4, Parris on lap 5 to win by 2.6secs, while Wood recovered to finish eighth, netting 12 points, just enough to be the day’s Champion by one point from Hoad. Second-placed Parris finished third at the day’s end.
In the BARL Group 2B races, former circuit and drag racing Champion Andre Walcott (Suzuki Swift), who led the points after the opening round in April, won Race 1. Small took the chequer in the other two in his Toyota Starlet, which promoted him to the class and overall championship lead, with Walcott now second and Stephen Elliott (Swift) third after a consistent day of second places.
BARL’s next visit to Bushy Park is slated for October 27.
