By Stephan Sookram in Barbados 

Compliments of Ming’s Products and Services

THE Guyanese competitors at last weekend’s Barbados Festival of Speed described the feel as an ‘up and down’ one but have pledged better performances when returning to the Suzuki Challenge Series.Chronicle Sport had an extended ‘sit down’ with both Calvin Ming, who returned to Suzuki Challenge SR3 cup action as well as Kristian Jeffrey, who debuted in both the SR3 cup as well as the Suzuki Challenge Series Swift cup.
Coming off last weekend, Ming returned to action in the F1600 series while Jeffrey has confirmed the purchase of Lewis Hamilton’s demonstration radical.

OLD FAITHFUL
Calvin had one of the most torrid weekends in Barbados after his newly acquired 2016 SR3 Radical developed a host of problems all through qualifying and even through race one.
“During the first race, we had established that the car had an engine problem and wasn’t handling, so then we swapped over to the old car and then we changed a part over from the new car to the old car the last time I was here and it worked out pretty good,” said Ming.
The Guyanese who heads to Watkins Glen this weekend for the continuation of the F1600 series was a force to be reckoned with after the swap, undoing a three-second gap at the start line due to clutch failure to move into P3 in 15 laps.
The hair-raising drive through the pack of experienced radical drivers including Stuart Maloney meant that Ming, who was passing competitors at will, had produced the comeback of the day.
“Coming into this weekend, I was always determined; you’re not going to race if you’re not aiming for victory; so it was just little mechanical problems and mistakes here but I was just trying to keep focused and it worked out to a higher position on the grid.”
He continued, “The weekend went pretty good, it was a little up and down but in the end I can say it all worked out, so I wouldn’t say anything bad but I’d like to thank everyone that came out to support me.”

Jeffrey snaps up a collector’s dream
Meanwhile the ‘Radical’ experience for the two-time defending Caribbean Group Four champion Kristian left a bitter-sweet taste in his mouth, as he confirmed that there will be another outing.
The taste, he said, was more sweet than bitter as he is in talks to secure his own radical; no ordinary one at that.
The radical that he intends to buy, was only used once; by three-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton during a demonstration run on Sunday.
“It looks like we are going to purchase this car that Lewis Hamilton just demonstrated with and I look forward to joining both the radical and the swift series.”
Rating his debut weekend, he said, “It was an up and down weekend; we didn’t have a chance to qualify in both the Swifts and the Radical. We had an overheating issue with my radical that I rented. The head gasket actually blew in the engine; I had one lap and the car shut down while it was on track.”
“While I was coming in, the Suzuki Swifts were going out so I didn’t get to put in a hot lap with the swift so I started at the back today in both races,” Jeffrey, who returned to Guyana yesterday said.
He continued, “I didn’t get a good start (swift) I never really got into it this outing but when you’re jumping from car to car, it takes a little while to get used to it so but a lot of track time this weekend was a positive.”
“Everything is just positive from here; everything is going to be going forward and not backward.”