Rajkarran and Da Silva still on top after Port Mourant meet
AFTER staving off some strong competition from their rivals, respective points leaders, Andy Rajkarran (Professional) and Junior Da Silva (Novices), still maintain such positions at the end of the second meet in the Titan Entertainment (TE)/Banks DIH grass track series which took place at the Port Mourant Turf Club (PMTC) last Sunday.

Not even the presence of local speed ace Stephen ‘Valentino Rossi’ Vieira or the fact that he will be riding on a virgin track for the first time fazed Rajkarran, who, despite losing the first race of the day to Bartica’s Andrew Wong, stormed back to take the next three to strengthen his lead at the top.

Unlike Rajkarran, the 16-year-old Da Silva who has been competing in this type of sport for four months, demonstrated to all and sundry, including both spectators and competitors alike, that he is here to stay when he won all five of his races to be the darling of the spectators at the end of the meet.

Wong won the first professional race of the day, convincingly from Rajkarran and Dave Gangadin in that order, with Vieira who had knocked his knee during the warm-ups, pulling out after three laps, but it was all Rajkarran after that race, as he proved to his competitors the championship is his.

He took the second, third and fourth professional category races, with Gangadin and Alvin Balgobin finishing behind him in that order, with Wong suffering a spill during the seventh lap of the second race and being unable to make the third one.

He did make the fourth race, where he proved to be a sturdy challenger to Rajkarran, Gangadin and Balgobin, but his bike refused to respond to him and he faded away for a fourth place finish, with Vieira who tried to pleased the crowd, opting not to continue with two laps to go, due to the pain along with mechanical problems.

The final professional race of the day’s event was certainly a crowd pleaser to all and sundry who were gathered at a venue that is known more for horse racing in the Ancient County over the years.

From the time the starters’ flag went down, Wong made a move to front leaving Rajkarran, Balgobin and Gangadin to battle for the other two paying positions at the back.

Prior to the actual race day, Rajkarran had said he was ready for all that would have been thrown at him on the day and ready he was, as he worked his way from the back of the pack and into second position after four laps in a 10-lap race.

From that point to the finish, Wong found himself staving off a strong and determined challenge from the group leader, something he managed to do as he won by half-a-motorcycle length from Rajkarran, with Gangadin and Balgobin finishing behind the two frontrunners.

Da Silva did not encounter such problems as Rajkarran, as he dominated all four of the scheduled Novices races from start to finish and when the organisers decided to throw in another Novice race due to insufficient Choppy motor bikes entrants, Da Silva maintained his supremacy over the field.

While Da Silva was a dominant factor at the front of every Novices’ race, Vickash Rampersaud, who was on his motorcycle tail throughout every race in the inaugural meet held last month at the Hampton Court ground in Essequibo, had a battle on his hands as he fought off both Ramesh Latchman and Raj Rajkarran, the younger brother of Andy Rajkarran.

At the end of the second meet in the series of 12 which will culminate next October and will see the leading competitor in the Professional category being presented with a trophy and motorcycle, Andy Rajkarran is sitting comfortably on 66 points.

Wong has taken over the runner-up position in this group from Charles Henry – who did not compete, as he is on an overseas visit – moving to 31 points while Henry is three points behind Wong, while Gangadin has 21 points and Balgobin 10.

In the Novices category, Da Silva has a whopping 72 points, with Rampersaud second on 47 points, with Raj Rajkarran in third place on 21 points and Peter Tulsie, who did not compete at PMTC, fourth on 10 points.