(By Stephan Sookram in Jamaica, compliments of B.M. Soat Auto Sales, Buy Me Auto Sales, Rent-a-Tent and Fly Jamaica)
ANOTHER classic display by the Guyanese super-stock riders was one of the few bright sparks in this weekend’s season-opening Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) at the Jamwest Raceway in Jamaica.Led by Stephen Vieira and his cousins, the Guyanese mopped the floor with their Jamaican counterparts in each of the three CMRC bike races.
In race one, Stephen took off like a bullet and never looked back, leading from flag to flag and leaving defending champion Elliot Vieira second and Jamaica’s Robert McDonald third.
In his pursuit of Stephen, Elliot reset his old lap record of 1.11.6 with a new time of 1.11.1, while the nearest competitor was more than a second off the time.
Race two had its own thrills with Elliot exiting the first corner in the lead, which he held over Stephen and Matthew Vieira for three laps before colliding with a backmarker on the exit to the straightway.
This left Stephen the winner, Matthew second and McDonald third. Elliot was unhurt and in high spirits but he missed out on valuable championship points.
In the final race, Elliot, riding like a man possessed, shot off the line and immediately assumed the lead of the race. But halfway through, the race had to be stopped due to an incident involving Matthew.
Heading into the first section of the track, Matthew miscalculated the corner and ended up in the gravel, which led to the medical teams halting the race in order to check on him.
A smiling Matthew, however, got up on his own and after a brief medical assessment, the race resumed the way it was stopped, leaving Elliot to his first win of the day, Stephen second and McDonald third.
At the end of the day, Stephen was adjudged the Champion rider.
Group 4 troubles
For the first time in two years, Kristian Jeffrey failed to score a single point in a CMRC Group 4 race after his engine connecting rod came through the block and ended his day.
Jeffrey was in pursuit of Jamaica’s new-found hero Kyle Gregg and his Radical but ended his day prematurely, as Gregg took the chequered flag ahead of countryman Doug Gore’s Audi and Guyana’s Kevin Jeffrey’s Mitsubishi Evolution.
On the two-wheel drive end of things, Jamaica’s Peter Rae finished ahead of Trinidad’s Franklyn Boodram and Guyana’s Mohan Rangasammy.
Race two saw the return of Kristian in his father’s car but that fizzled out before a lap was completed due to mechanical troubles again, leaving Doug Gore to finish first and Cayman’s Paul Bodden second; Jamaica’s Peter Rae winning the two-wheel drive class.
Race 3 saw Gore finish ahead of Greg who, in that race, reset Kristian Jeffrey’s CMRC lap record with a blistering 1:05.614; in the two-wheel end of things Barbadian Mark Maloney (Mazda Rx3) registered his first win.
Valuable Gp3 points
While Nazim Gafoor picked up two third-place finishes in the CMRC Group 3, Danny Persaud suffered some amount of mechanical troubles, Danny Persaud also made it to the podium despite having his fair share of mechanical troubles.
The day was dominated hands down by Trinidad’s Paul Vieira, with three straight wins.
Rameez Mohammed never made it to start any of the three races after mechanical troubles with his engine forced him out on qualifying day.