–Matthew Vieira relives his 2016 odyssey

MANY racing fans may know him as the son of ace driver Mark Vieira, or “That little Vieira boy.”
But not many know of the highs and lows; the down-and-out times and the high-and- mighty times.
To all and sundry, he’s Matthew Vieira, the 2016 Caribbean Motor Racing Association Super-stock Champion.
From his dominance at the CMRA Round Two in Trinidad to his horror-stricken weekend at home in Guyana in front of his biggest fan-base, the 2016 Champion has earned his place among the two-wheel Caribbean greats.

NO EASY SEASON
We at the Sunday Chronicle took the time to understand the Journey of Vieira, who has had no easy season, having to firstly brush off a high-speed crash in Jamaica in the first round earlier this year, before returning to rule the roost in Trinidad.
“It feels amazing to know that I am, and to know the kind of season I had wasn’t an easy season,” Vieira said, adding:
“And it ended kind of hard, too, but the victory tasted very sweet, knowing that I had to battle with Elliot and Stephen. And for all the pressure, the merit is amazing and the reward is great.”

In the final race of the first round in Jamaica, the head-strong Vieira, who was on a push up the pack, crashed out of the race at the first corner of the Jamwest Circuit, with the bike cartwheeling several times before it came to a halt.
Many men would have taken time-out after that incident, but not Matthew! He turned that around into sheer gold in Round Two at the Frankie Boodram International Raceway in Trinidad, snagging three perfect races.

On to Barbados, and Matthew again managed podium finishes, entering the homestretch in the lead of the championship. But the battle was not over; not by a long shot! Especially with what lay ahead!
“Friday midday I was heading to the track, looking forward to a great day of testing, and knowing that we were going in the right direction. Thursday proved that we had the pace,” Matthew recalled.

THE ULTIMATE SCARE
However, after swapping the old rubber for fresh meat on the bike, a ‘high side’ through the South Dakota’s ‘Goose Neck’ caused the ultimate scare to his championship.
“I crashed really hard, really fast, entering the ‘goose neck’. The bike was totalled! Nothing was good! And I think the engine and all was damaged; everything was bent and messed up,” Matthew said.

Without a bike, and a championship on the line, Matthew turned to longtime friend and former racer, Nikhil Seereram for a ‘loaner’, and faced a race against the clock when he finally received the bike on Friday afternoon.
“We had to fight to set that bike up because it was down,” he said. “We started setting the bike up from Friday night until Saturday morning, and we went up for qualifying. We had 10 qualifying laps; that was it.”

Realising that time and tide were against him, Matthew said, “At that point, I was feeling a lot of pain; I was under a lot of pressure, thinking about my championship.
“It was very hard; probably the hardest race of my career so far. I didn’t know the bike, so I wasn’t going to push it hard.”
And while he may be the reigning champion; King of the Caribbean super-stock world, his worries are far from over.

He is King of the Caribbean, right enough, but that crash left him bike-less; a warrior without a weapon, but a warrior nonetheless.
“I’d like to get a new bike and start practising as soon as possible to catch myself from the crash, and try to defend my title as the Caribbean Champion, Matt said, adding:
“Special thanks to Rio Inn, Cyril’s Garage, Kisco, my father Mark, and Stephen Nobrega.”
But for the time being, all pains aside and pride fully intact, he is still the undisputed Czar of the Region, and nothing, or no one, can dispute that.