Round four of the BMF R5 Championship presented by First Citizens was hosted by the Barbados Association of Dragsters & Drifters (BADD) at its first points-scoring event of the year, Versuz 2, on the one-eighth mile drag strip at Bushy Park. For most of the R5 competitors, drag racing was a new experience so the outcome would be difficult to predict, not least as there was a new face in the line-up, Brian Gill returning to motor sport after a few years away, driving Andrew Mallalieu’s Fiesta R5.

Each driver had three practice runs, matched against a different opponent each time, with Mark Maloney’s 7.585 seconds the fastest time and everyone within six-tenths of that. In the Qualification Runs, Gill, Stuart Maloney (Fabia Rally2) and Rob Swann (FiestaRally2) jumped the lights so had their times disallowed, Roger Hill (Fabia R5) now the fastest (7.726s) from Paul Horton (Fiesta R5), Mark Maloney (Fabia R5) and Jeff Panton (Fiesta Rally2). All then progressed to the Knockout, seeded fastest against slowest for each round, with the winners going on to the Semi-finals; despite winning through, Horton did not run again, giving Hill a Bye into the Final, which was against Mark Maloney, as his brother Stuart had jumped the lights in their Semi-Final. The remaining positions were decided by each driver’s best time.

Round 4 – Versuz 2 (Barbados Association of Dragsters & Drifters)

Bushy Park – April 23

Results

1st Mark Maloney (Skoda Fabia R5)

2nd Roger Hill (Skoda Fabia R5)

3rd Stuart Maloney (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo)

4th Paul Horton (Ford Fiesta R5)

5th Brian Gill (Ford Fiesta R5)

6th Jeff Panton (Ford Fiesta Rally2)

7th Rob Swann (Ford Fiesta Rally2)

Championship points

After round 4

1st Stuart Maloney 66

2nd Jeff Panton 43

3rd Roger Hill 34

4th Mark Maloney 29

= 5th Suleman Esuf 26

= 5th Rob Swann 26

7th Andrew Mallalieu 22

8th Paul Horton 18

9th Stan Hartling 8

10th Brian Gill 4