The Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club staged the 2009 renewal of the Raynor King Memorial Rally at Lydford, St. Ann, on Sunday, August 16, on the old bauxite roads of the Jamaica Bauxite Mining Company. The first rally of the 2009 season after the two previously scheduled tarmac events did not materialize; this event was a must for the popular rally sport club, with fans braving the elements to see their stars in action.

Fastest on the day was the rally team of Richard Rerrie/Winston Dawson in the KIG/Puma/Leroy’s Auto Glass/Cal Doors/ B & B Auto/Pit Bull Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, with Rerrie winning the event named in his uncle’s honor for the first time after numerous attempts. Driving in the JA8 class, the team was pretty much unchallenged for the win, posting an accumulated time of 31 minutes 15:997 seconds over the eleven stages run on the day.

Team Tropical Battery driver Natasha Chang driving the Castrol/Goodyear/Forza/Full Throttle Energy drink/Blue Code Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V had Liguid Lightning’s emerging icon Matthew “The Magnet” Gore calling the notes for her on the fast marl stages, and the pair worked well to earn second place overall and first in class JN8 with a time of 35 minutes 2:261 seconds.

The most committed team on the day may well have been Jordan Powell/Gina Tomlinson driving the Goodyear/ Gunk/Lloyd’s of Montego Bay/Performance centre/Add-Vantage Auto Parts Toyota Corolla FX, who were scorching the stages from early on, setting fastest 2 wheel drive times on many of the stages. Despite getting a 30 second penalty on Special Stage 1 as a result of incorrect pace notes which was also to affect the team of Dean Corrodus/Pernell Fitz-Coy and Chang/Gore, third place overall was still the result for the young man from Montego Bay who was eager to finish this event well, as he was first introduced to the sport through the person who was being remembered by this event. The team also won fastest in Class JA2 in addition to being the fastest 2 wheel drive entry.

Fourth overall and first in Class JA4 was 2008 National Rally sport Driver’s champion Thomas “Cruz” Hall and co driver Andre Gordon in their Xsomo/Sunoco Fuels/Advantage Performance Parts Toyota Starlet turbo. This was the team’s second event after returning to competition after a major mishap on last year’s Rally Jamaica not far from where these stages were run. Despite having visibility problems like most of the other competitors when it started to rain in the afternoon and having to slow drastically when the windshield fogged up, the team still managed to soldier on through the elements to post an elapsed time of 36 minutes 5.441 seconds.

“Miserable” was the word chosen to describe the conditions when it started to rain in the afternoon for the team of Dean “Duct Tape” Corrodus and Pernell “ 20 valve” Fitz-Coy in the Tropical Battery/Kumho Tires/Performance Centre/Add-vantage Auto parts Honda Civic Type R. Already about 30 seconds down to the field when a wrong pace note caused them to run off and stall the car before regaining the road on the very first timed run of the day, they slowly clawed back a major portion of the time throughout the day, but were again to go 30 seconds down when penalized for making a mistake on the reverse run of the same stage! Nevertheless, they managed to finish first in Class JA3 and 5th overall, with the Horse P Racing built VTEC engine singing a song that echoed across the hills and valleys for miles around as the team attacked the stages in earnest.

Dion Gardner and Julian Gordon had a frustrating event as the Petcom/Autosource Mitsubishi Mirage suffered from the start with a lack of power and a consistent misfire, but they were still able to place 2nd in Class JA3. Son of Raynor, Daryl King took to the stages of the event with Rameses McGregor by his side to continue the King tradition in motorsport, and was rewarded with a 2nd place finish in the JA2 class in his newly built Rory’s Texaco/Ankara Auto Toyota Starlet. Jeremy Groves/Sean McDonald in a turbo charged rear wheel drive Impact Industries Toyota Starlet were quite the crowd pleasers with their signature sliding sideways driving action, but suffered a punctured tire on one of the morning stages that dropped them down the leader board before a last stage problem which saw them lose a great deal of time, but were still able to be classified as finishers of the event. Two teams failed to finish the day: That of Noel Sloley/Dorian Dolphy (left the road) and Salvador Solis/Nigel Lyn (broken driveshaft), both teams fielding Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions in the JN8 class.

For more photos from this event please click here: http://www.racejamaica.com/2009/08/raynor-king-rally-09-photos/