Barbados Rally champion Bourne dies

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Motor racing officials and fans described the death of rally champion Paul Bourne as a “huge loss” for the sport.

The two-time winner of the prestigious Barbados Rally and former competition secretary of the Barbados Rally Club died on Wednesday after a battle with cancer. He was 59.

Bourne was one of the island’s most formidable and most popular competitors for more than two decades until he stepped away from active motor racing about a decade ago.

“The passing of Paul Bourne is a huge and very sad loss,” public relation officer of the BRC, Neil Barnard said. “He was an intense competitor and had a marked impact on island – and indeed regional – motor sport.

“Even though he had retired from active competition, he had built such a passionate fan base that he still would create a buzz when he turned up to spectate at events. His energy was infectious. A remarkable man.”

Bourne earned his nickname, ‘The Surfer’ on the sea as both a competitor and organiser of sailing and surfing events in the island before he arrived in motor sport in the late 1980s, first with an Austin Maestro, then a Peugeot 205 GTi.

From the early days of the all-stage rally, Bourne was a regular podium finisher, and he claimed his first win in 2003 during a successful partnership with co-driver Louis Venezia.

It was the first win for a world rally car (WRC), and it might have come the previous year, when his Subaru Impreza became the island’s first resident WRC, but for a massive accident on the opening stage.

Bourne was a regular winner of rallies and speed events in the island, and he won his class in the local drivers’ championship eight times between 2002 and 2012.

He was also active across the island’s other motoring clubs and disciplines, being very competitive in rally sprints in the early days of the Vaucluse Raceway and a circuit racing group champion at the island’s prime motor racing facility at Bushy Park.

Bourne also made a name for himself outside of Barbados, finishing third in Rally Jamaica in 2003 and won Rally Trinidad the following year before he went on to win his second Rally Barbados in 2007.

Behind the scenes, he was ever-present at motor sport events in the island, advising and encouraging emerging drivers, returned to his role of president of the Barbados Surfing Association six years ago, while developing a popular biodynamic farm, nature sanctuary, and tourist attraction in the eastern parish of St Joseph.