Watching the various races at Dover the uninitiated might very well be confused given the abundance alphanumeric designations being thrown around at the St Ann track.

But for starters, racing classes each have their speed, weight and modification criteria to protect drivers and patrons alike, ensuring that motor racing lives up to expectations as one of the largest spectator sports worldwide.

As a beginner at Dover, the first racing class to master is the Total Lubricants-sponsored Bracket 45 (B45).

The B45 category features unmodified streetcars doing about five laps around the 1.6-mile circuit. Drivers are not permitted to complete each lap in less than 1:45 seconds. Going any slower, a driver is deemed to have ‘broken out’ of their class and disqualified from the race.

Drivers are challenged to cross the checkered flag first, while remaining above the 1 minute 45 seconds time bracket that governs the B45 race.

Don Thompson, many-time B45 champion, believes that while the concept of this race can be unpopular, it teaches rookie drivers the fundamentals of motor racing.

“This race can be quite difficult and frustrating. You have to exercise tremendous control develop a strategy that doesn’t make you break out of the class,” said Thompson. “There are no timing devices allowed anymore, so you have to know when to increase the speed and when to slow down, plus you have to be aware of what’s happening around you with the other drivers. At the end of the day though it makes you a better and safer driver,” he added.

The Bracket 45 race is further broken down into two categories, the Bracket 45 for naturally aspirated street-cars (B45N) and the Bracket 45 for turbo charged street cars (B45T). The Bracket 37, 31, and 27 races (named for the prescribed time) are all governed by the same time concept as the Bracket 45.

As drivers become more experienced and the car transformed into a specialised racing machine, they compete in the Modified Production (MP) racing class, where modified cars, of varying cc ratings can compete in this category.

The MP1 race features cars up to 1600cc, MP2 see drivers with engine size ranging from 1600 to 2300, MP3 caters to engines 2300 – 3200 and the big juice MP4 category features any cc rating above 3200. Drivers such as Alan Chen, Kyle Gregg, Peter Jaggon, Tedroy Burton and Team Brown’s Town dominate the latter class.

However the must-see on the race day programme at Dover is the Thundersport 1 and 2 races, the pinnacle of racing at the St Ann raceway.

Champion drivers such as David Summerbell Jnr, Doug Gore, Chris Campbell, and Peter Rae, among others dominate this class. Category 1 sees 1800 turbo charged cars, while category 2 includes turbo charged cars above 1800cc.

The Alfred Chen Memorial race was instituted in October 2010 to commemorate the life and work of Dover founder Alfred Chen. This race is run every Heroes of Speed race meet in October, and all cars, except the B45 drivers, can compete n this race. Vice president of the Jamaica Race Drivers Club (JRDC), Marck Carey, and owner of the only homemade car at Dover, believes the categories are all designed with the driver in mind. “These race categories give the driver a chance to really excel, given the capacity of their car,” said Carey.

The JRDC executive, though being absent from the track for a little over a year, says is ready for the Thundersport race at the Independence of Speed race meet in his carbon-fibre body Mitsubishi Evolution 6.

This rare novelty car comes with a 2-Litre turbo engine, has 4-wheel drive capabilities and is embodied in a two frame chassis. Carey and his team have done much work to the AP racing brakes and the Mobil 1 sponsored Mitsubishi is equipped with racing tires to take around the track.

“We had some problems for most of last year and missed out on the first two meets of this year so the emphasis for us is to get a reliable car that can run and finish the race,” said Carey. “Next year we try to get up there with Doug and David and go for podium spots. With a car that is made from scratch there is much more development that has to be done opposed to a car that comes developed,” he told Auto.

The motorcycle racing is divided into two categories, Motorcycle race A (MCA) and Motorcycle race B (MCB). The “A” class features the more experienced riders like Adrian Blake, Stephan Chin, Halquin “Pugu”/”Money Bike” Rodney, and “B” class features rookie riders like Andre Norman, Jason Flyn and Norman Chung.