THE first national motor racing meet was a day of satisfaction for local speedsters as Mark Vieira was the champion of the prestigious Group 4, and lap record breaker Kevin Jeffrey consolidated his feat from the previous, but teenager Nikhil Seereeram was the unheralded star of the day.

In just his second outing on two wheels, 17-year old Seereeram dominated the Group B Super Bike races, zooming away with all three chequered flags, while crossing the finish line behind local superbike ace Steven Vieira for a second in Group A, along with another third and a fourth.
But Seereeram had his sights on a higher performance. He told Chronicle Sports: “I’m absolutely happy with my results in Group B, but a little disappointed with my performance in Group A.”
Another teenager, also, ate up the track on a superbike, 15-year old Matthew Vieira, who placed second in one Group B race, while Carey Griffith and Ricardo Fagundes claimed that position in the other two races respectively,
Young Vieira, the son of former superbike star Mark Vieira, told Chronicle Sport he only hopes to improve in the races to come.
The older Vieira who now campaigns in Group 4 and broke the lap record three times, emerged the winner after claiming the chequered flag in the first race and rolled in second in the remaining two.
“Though we did not win all the races, we still happy because we got the champion title for the group,” Vieira said.
Pole holder Jeffrey was a non-starter in the first Group 4 race, while Andrew King was out when part of the car’s body flew up after he was touched in a battle for positions.
Vieira zoomed past the finish line first, followed by Paul Vieira and Mohan Rangasammy, third.
In the second race, Vieira used his pole position well, retaining lead until the eighth lap. The race began in slight drizzle, almost dew-like, and in the first lap, King moved up to third, overtaking Jeffrey on the club house turn. By the third lap, he was in second, surging past Paul Vieira in the club-house stretch.
King began challenging Vieira going into the gooseneck, but Vieira kept powering ahead and the duo extended the lead over the rest of the field.
Then in the seventh lap, King pressed Vieira on the club house stretch, and the two machines kissed momentarily, then King surged into the lead, extending it in the remaining laps, to finish first, followed by Vieira, Paul Vieira, and Kevin Jeffrey in that order.
Rain poured just before the third and final Group 4 race, and that was where the suitability of Jeffrey’s four-wheel driven Mitsubishi was proven for such conditions. Vieira’s two-wheel driven Mazda Rx8 and King’s Mazda Rx7 proved no match.
But Jeffrey had to still skillfully manuoevre, moving into second from fourth in just two laps. Then two laps later, he closed in on Vieira going into the gooseneck and surged into the lead in the back stretch to claim the chequered flag. Vieira crossed second, Paul Vieira third and King fourth.
Jeffrey was elated with the day’s performance, riding high on his record breaking feat in the time trials.
He made a new lap mark, clocking 33.49 seconds to eclipse the 33.50 mark set by Barbadian Roger Mayers.
“I’m happy that the lap record is back home where it belongs,” Jeffrey told Chronicle Sport.
But in achieving the feat, he blew the engine head gasket of his Mazda. The team worked all night, loosing down the engine and repairing it. They were finished by midday but missed the first race.
“But in their tiredness, they mixed up the spark plugs for the second and put in the wrong ones, so the car could not perform as it should,” he said.
Jeffrey was still grateful that he could show motor racing fans that the car could perform in all conditions.
Stanley Ming Jr carried the chequered flags for both kart races, with Elliott Vieira placing second in the first race and Michael Gonsalves third.
The 15-year old held on to the lead in the second race, beating his father to second, while Vieira was third.
Results for the other groups will follow in subsequent reports on the day’s meet.