GUYANA will have to come out swinging if they plan to retain the Seaboard Marine Caribbean Motor Racing Championships 2015, as they currently lie third in the five-country event. The Guyanese (533 points) sit third, 147 points behind current leaders and second-leg hosts Trinidad and Tobago (658), and third-leg holders Barbados (533). They will have no easy task in retaining their crown at the South Dakota Circuit.
The Trinidadians have already confirmed a 13-man strong racing team, nine of which will line up in Group 2, three for Group 3 and one for Group 4 and as the current point-leaders, will be looking to upset the defending champions.
The likes of Chet Singh, Shairaz Roshandin and Shan Seejattan will be called on to defend against the Trinis team of Marc Gill, Haresh Nanan, Mark Williams, Damien Nesbit, Daryl Ali, Saleem Deen, Justin Sanguinette, Aqeeb Ali and Rainier Amar.
Gill (150 points) currently leads the championship after three rounds, leaving Barbadian Mark Thompson (90) points and Jamaica’s Jordan Powell (75) the only realistic title challengers.
Thompson has formally indicated that he will make the Guyana leg while Powell has pulled up short of the Championship.
At the Group 3 Stage, Garey Barrett of the Cayman Islands sits ahead of the pack with 138 points, his realistic challengers being Trinidad’s Paul Vieira (108), Guyana’s Danny Persaud (70), Jamaica’s Natsha Chang and Barbados’ Kurt Thompson on 62 each.
Vieira, Chang and Thompson are also expected in Guyana.
At the Group 4 Level, defending champion Kristian Jeffrey has already taken the Championship with 183 points with his nearest competitor and namesake Kristian Boodoosingh (101) giving his commitment to being here nonetheless.
This time around, the battle for the young Jeffrey will be to secure the CMRC lap record at home in Guyana, as he inked his name on three of the four host countries.
On the two-wheel end of things, a Guyanese will surely be crowned and a Vieira at that, with the battle between the veteran Stephen and his younger cousin Elliot.
Stephen currently leads with 133 points with Elliot 14 points adrift and any mistake that the veteran makes could cost him dearly.
The multi-time Caribbean champion set the lap record at the Jamwest raceway In Jamaica earlier this year (1 min 11.665 sec) with Elliot hitting back by shattering the Barbados record (1 min 04.269 secs). All eyes will be focused on Guyana to see who comes out riding when the dust settles.
Race weekend in Guyana will be November 14-15.

By Stephan Sookram