Daley, Ming, the Jeffreys set the stage for epic showdown

IN what many are calling the battle of the ages, Guyana’s premier drivers will put aside their differences as they strive to defend home soil against a host of foreign invaders.
The second round of the KFC mega cup karting event takes place today at the GT Motorsports headquarters in Georgetown.
Featuring the North American-style competition in Qualifying, pre-final and final, the event begins at 14:00hrs.

SHIFTER IS ANYONE’S GAME
With less than twenty-four hours to go before the Shifter karts battle, the drivers are playing mind games with one another. A visit to the GT Motorsports track yesterday found several of them preparing for the later free practice.
Friday’s unofficial session had the four drivers – Jamaica’s Collin Daley and the Guyanese trio of Kristian Jeffrey, Stefan Jeffrey and Calvin Ming – each separated by just over five-tenths of a second unofficially.

And they were all modest of their times and the gap to their opponents.
Additionally, their race is going to be a firecracker with all four having competed at the North American level.

LARGEST FIELD IN THE SENIOR CLASS
With the inclusion of the Trinidad duo of Kristian Boodoosingh and Zachary Boodram, this is easily set to be the largest group of competitors to line up on race day.
Mix in Daley, Kristian Jeffrey and Ming in this class as well and this is sure to be a warm-up to the shifter kart finale that everyone will be talking about.
Then there are the locals; Steven Nobrega who will be joined by the juniors in John Phang, Mikhail Persaud, Elan Rahaman, Gianai Carpenter and Faraud Mohamed, who will surely add spice to a battle that will require concentration.

JUNIORS TO BE CLOSE
With Rahaman, Mikhail, Faraud and Gianai joining Rayden Persaud, there is sure to be some left over adrenaline in the system.
All the drivers have dealt with one another more than a few times this year and it’s no doubt by now they have the requisite knowledge of one another’s driving abilities.
Passing will also be of utmost importance here, considering that several last-minute passes earlier this year have not worked out, to the detriment of earlier races.
It will be interesting to see how last round’s winner Mohamed prepares for the battle that lies ahead.

EASY CUP; ANYTHING BUT EASY
Last time out, Jean-Claude Jeffrey had an easy time in roping to the Easy Cup title but things will be different this time around. Competitors have been priming for the battle that awaits them and newcomers have been exploring new grounds for producing the passing needed in this class.

In the weeks leading up to the event, several competitors have been seen putting in the extra hours with the aim of beating the young Jean-Claude.
Who has been phenomenal in the opening round is Brian Woolford who has stormed the competition with some clinical passing. It is interesting to see if he can muster up the pace to get by Jeffrey. He is sure to string together a pass if he does.

THE RAHAMAN-TEN-POW BATTLE RENEWED
The defensive masterclass that is Nathan Rahaman went old school the last time out. He took the lead early and defended with the most sober of lines and this worked well.
Jeremy Ten-Pow had stomped the competition during round one’s earlier qualifying and pre-final, but Nathan made one move stick and it was 13 laps of pure concentration.

Don’t be fooled, however, the slightest of mistakes could be disastrous for them both, as Paige Mendonca was right in Ten-Pow’s exhaust for three-quarters of the race last time out, showing that she has the pace to match the frontrunners.
Also in that class is Jeremy Ten Pow, Nicolas Sawh and Benjamin Phang.
Tickets for the event cost $1 000 dollars and can be purchased at the gate.