RACING ace Mark Vieira returned to the South Dakota circuit on Sunday, having overcome early computer problems, to dominate the prestigious Group 4 in the year’s first National meet, staged by Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club. It was a day filled with spills more than thrills but efficiently run off in a timely manner with action on the track finishing early.
Longstanding racer Rupie Shewjattan blamed the spills on inexperienced drivers who, he also said, slowed down racing.
Vieira failed to achieve his aim of smashing the lap record with the fastest time being registered in the final race of Group 4 but by his brother Paul Vieira, 34.637 seconds. Mark’s was 34.696 seconds.
Mark Vieira told Chronicle Sport that he got early computer problems, throwing the white Mazda Rx8 into idle mode and he could not open throttle. He had to restart the computer, taking about three seconds. He said he did realise that was happening in the first race, but recognised it in the second, having to restart four times and in the third two times.
“I used an engine designed for a longer course, so the car doesn’t come out of the corners strong. The longer track is needed,” he related.
The pre-race time trials never came off, so the drivers had to pull lots to determine their position on the grid.
“There were 12 cars and 12 lots; of course I had to pull number 12,” said a bemused Vieira.
The first race went to Danny Persaud in a red, black and white Mazda Miata, with Paul Vieira in a blue and white Mazda Rx7 second and Ryan Rahaman in a blue and silver Ford Sierra third.
Spills provided the excitement. Vishook Persaud in the high tech white Subaru ST1 first spun off the track in the second lap past the club house turn, hit by another. In the sixth lap, Shewjattan and Irfaan Kalamadeen collided. One lap remaining, Mark Vieira encountered problems going into the goose neck.
In the second race, Mark Vieira zoomed up into third position pretty early, with pole racer Persaud leading, followed by Paul Vieira.
The latter two ended in the sand after the club house turn and Kevin Jeffrey in a red Mitsubishi Evolution 8 took over the lead, followed by Rahaman. Persaud who resumed racing spun again on the second turn and was out, and so was Jeffrey.
Vieira then led the field, followed by Rahaman and Shewjattan. But Shewjattan spun after the club house turn and Vieira eventually lapped him, taking the chequered flag, with Rahaman second and Kalamadeen third.
In pole position for the third race, Vieira maintained the lead, with Paul Vieira challenging Rahaman for second and succeeding while registering the fastest lap time for the meet.
All three Group 3 races were cancelled, while Surinamese Oliver Tjin-Liep-Shie in a yellow Honda Civic dominated Group 2 B (fast) with two wins and a second. The first race went to Motilall Deodass in a white Toyota Starlet and third Vishal Sawh in an orange and black Toyota Starlet.
Sawh maintained his third place finish in the second race, with Syed Hassan in a brown and silver Toyota Starlet second. Sawh bettered his performance in the third race, and Mohamed Bhana in a red and silver Mazda Rx 7 came in third.
The day began with the Group 2A (slow) racers, and Chet Singh triumphed in his blue Honda Civic, followed by Mohamed Roshandin in a white Honda Civic, with Raj Singh in another blue Honda Civic like his brother, third.
No one dominated this group and the second race went to Roshandin, Raj Singh second and John Joseph in a yellow and white Honda Civic third. Joseph zoomed to the lead in the third race to cross the finish line first, followed by long time racer Kamal Seebarran in a white Toyota Levin AE91 second and first-timer Dezil Hopkinson, the oldest racer, in a black Honda CRX third.
One Novice race came off and Mohamed Ali in a white, blue, yellow and red Toyota EP82 took the chequered flag, followed by Ambrose D’Ornellas in a green and yellow Honda CRX second and Kassim Hossein in a red and yellow Toyota Starlet third. The second race was cancelled.
Local two-wheel ace Stephen Vieira on a yellow 600cc Suzuki GSXR won two Superbikes A-Class races, with Canadian Kevin Graham on a yellow 600cc Yamaha R6 second, but to probably show he was playing with the field the experienced Graham, who raced at higher levels, won convincingly the third race, even showboating during laps.
Joel Neblett on a yellow and white 600cc Yamaha R6 placed third in the first and third races. In the second race, though crossing the finish line a few centimetres ahead of Graham, did not complete the turn after the finish.
All three races for the Superbikes Class-B went to Ricardo Fagundes on a blue 750cc Suzuki GSXR, with Carey Griffith on a similar machine finishing the first and second races in second place, while Kwame Ridley on a black and silver 600cc Honda took that position in third race.
Ridley was third in the second race and Heeranand Boodhram on a red and black 600cc Yamaha R6 filled that slot in the third race.