After he celebrated his birthday mid-week, Leslie Alleyne’s MudDogs friends named one part of the lunchtime Driver Challenge ‘Wing’s 50th Birthday Hole
Leslie Alleyne and Chris O’Neal won Sunday’s (November 19) Old Brigand Rum November Safari, the final round the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) 2023 Chefette MudDogs Safari Championship in their Pod Store/Maxxis/Lucky Locks Suzuki Jimny. As he celebrated an eighth Champion Driver title and O’Neal’s seventh as Navigator, Alleyne described it as “the perfect event to finish the year”.
Alleyne and O’Neal won both morning and afternoon routes, amassing a total of 1255 penalties to beat Christopher King and Warrick Eastmond (Jimny) into second place by 897, with father and son crew Stephen and Ben Moore third in the Moore & Moore Services/Maxxis Isuzu DMax another 383 adrift. With their third top three finish of the season, the Moores are confirmed as third overall as well as Class B Champions.
Sunday’s route was set by Simon Parravicino and Andrew Croney, who have finished second in the Driver and Navigator standings respectively after tackling three of the earlier events together in the Realtors Ltd Jeep Wrangler. The first crew left Mahogany Ridge, St Thomas, at 7.30am heading north on route one, which ended after roughly four hours back in Bucks, St Thomas, where two Driver Challenges were held. After the restart, route two headed east to conclude just before 5.00pm at Bushy Park in St Philip.
Alleyne said: “Wow, what a year and what a rally! This was the perfect event to finish the year with as we finally got a decent amount of mud! Simon and Andy did a fabulous job in an event which was both tricky for the navigator, and for the vehicle and driver. After the remarkable feat of pumping water onto the challenge, we had a really enjoyable soupy, slippery course which provided the perfect balance of fun and complexity. Once again Brett Barber and crew did an amazing job.”
On the challenging first route heading north through areas such as Black Bess, Lamberts and Rock Hall, Alleyne and O’Neal eased into the lead, with 590 penalties, 146 clear of the Moores. The Suzuki Vitara of George Mendes and Leslie Evanson, one of five female navigators on the event, was initially third, another 184 points away, also second in Class B behind the Moores. Alleyne and O’Neal also won the afternoon route through Vaucluse, Andrews, Fisher Pond and Lower Greys by 267 penalties, this time with King and Eastmond second and the Moores third.
A stand-out performance from the only all-female crew on the event, navigational rally legend Biddy Barber and Bridget Garity, saw them finish fourth on Sunday, promoting them to sixth and fourth in the Driver and Navigator standings respectively at year-end. They also came fourth in the two lunchtime Driver Challenges, which were both won by Alleyne and O’Neal, with the Moores second and the Class B E-Travel Services/Executive Auto Center Inc Suzuki Vitara of Tyrone Chase and Sameisha Williams third.
After the Prizegiving on Tuesday evening (November 21) at Savvy on the Bay, BRC MudDogs Chairman Ricky Holder said: “I would like to thank Old Brigand Rum for the awards we presented this evening and join Leslie in thanking our route setters and the enthusiastic body of marshals who are so vital to our events. Congratulations to the newer competitors, who turned out all year and thanks to those who may have done a one-off event. Let’s all come together to make 2024 even better!”
Alleyne, who also won the separate Driver Challenge title, added: “I would like to take a moment to thank Chris for being an amazing navigator and friend throughout the many years we have been doing this. To this day we still get the same excitement waking up on rally morning! Also, Maxxis Tyres, Lucky Locks and Pod Store, for their very kind support, without which we would not have these achievements.”