Interviewed on-line by Red265 Motorsport ahead of the Motoring Club Barbados Inc’s Hammertime Double Header Sprint, three-time British Rally Champion Matt Edwards talked about “shaking off the cobwebs” and “hopefully constructing a good stage time”. The Welshman is no stranger to Barbados, having coached Paul Horton of the Turks & Caicos Rally Team since he acquired his Fiesta and more recently joined him as regular co-driver . . . but now he was back behind the wheel of an R5, sharing with its owner.

Unsurprisingly, he had no problems constructing that stage time, fastest by more than 2secs on the first run (2m 20.14s), with Josh Read second (2:22.26), now much happier with his Fiesta having sorted the pop-off valve and brakes, and points leader Stuart Maloney third (2:22.74). Back after missing the previous round while away on FIA F2 Stewarding duty, Andrew Mallalieu was fourth (2:23.87) in his Fiesta, with the Fabia of Roger Hill fifth (2:24.10). While Maloney chopped 1sec of his time on run two to move up to second, an impressive Hill hacked nearly 4secs off his to climb to third, as a spin dropped Read to ninth, joining Stan Hartling at the bottom of the field, after the Canadian had picked up a puncture striking some cut rock.

More familiar with the stage each time, Edwards cut his time by 2secs on his second run and a further 3secs on the third (2:14.89), brothers Stuart (2:17.10) and Mark Maloney (2:17.72) now leading the chase, as Hill slipped to fourth and Read clawed his way back to fifth. Run 4 would settle it, a further 1secs improvement for the leader giving him a winning margin of nearly 2secs over Stuart Maloney, despite him improving his own time again, while brother Mark failed to better his, slipping behind both Hill and Read, less than four-tenths spread across the trio. With Edwards not registered for points and Maloney claiming the maximum, his grip on the crown looked more secure.

Round 12 – Hammertime, Event 1 (Motoring Club Barbados Inc)

Pickerings to Luke Hill, St Lucy – October 15

Results

1st Matt Edwards (Ford Fiesta R5), 2m 13.79s

2nd Stuart Maloney (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 01.90s

3rd Roger Hill (Skoda Fabia R5), + 03.60s

4th Josh Read (Ford Fiesta R5), + 03.80s

5th Mark Maloney (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo), + 03.93s

6th Rob Swann (Ford Fiesta Rally2), + 04.57s

7th Andrew Mallalieu (Ford Fiesta R5), + 05.94s

8th Paul Horton (Ford Fiesta R5), + 07.26s

9th Ben Hartling (Ford Fiesta R5), + 09.02s

10th Stan Hartling (Ford Fiesta R5), + 10.61s

Championship points

After round 12

1st Stuart Maloney 228

= 2nd Mark Maloney 152

= 2nd Roger Hill 152

4th Josh Read 147

5th Rob Swann 139

6th Jeff Panton 89

7th Paul Horton 83

8th Andrew Mallalieu 73

9th Suleman Esuf 36

10th Stan Hartling 33

11th Ben Hartling 16

12th Brian Gill 11