COMPETING in his second dirt sprint event, Spencer Whittingham won the first event in The Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club’s (JMMC) 2012 season at Jamwest Speedway in Westmoreland on Sunday, January 15. The event was dubbed ‘Race of Champions’.

The event is the first of six dirt sprint events in the JMMC 2012 National Sprint Championship.

Clouds of dust filled the air as Jamaica’s top-shelf drivers battled on the widest 2.3 km dirt track surface on the island.

Second-generation racer Spencer Whittingham, in his MegaMart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V, posted the fastest time of the day with Team Challenger Racing’s Richard Chan driving the Excel Electronic Security Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV taking the first runner up spot. Husband and wife pair of Peter and Jackie Jaggan followed in the JN8 class in Island Gases Subaru Impreza WRX.

“I feel very good about the win and I am very proud of my first ever overall victory,” the 22-year-old Spencer Whittingham told Auto.

“I was not expecting this result as we were entering the event with a gearbox that had been badly damaged since Rally Jamaica and the car was unable to select second or reverse gear. Luckily, we were at a very high-speed dirt circuit and I was able to “nurse” the car through the event. However, the gearbox completely failed while returning home that evening and it goes to show how close we were to not completing the event,” he continued.

Whittingham began his racing career eight years ago with basic go-karting and though he has only been competing on dirt for about six months he is determined to pilot the MegaMart Evolution V to not only rally and sprint class victories, but also towards the overall championship.

“Driving on dirt is completely different from competing on any other surface. My strategy is to ensure that I finish each event and to avoid mistakes at all costs. I do this by making sure that I enter each event with my car as best prepared as possible and also to drive as aggressive as is necessary based on my competition,” he said.

The sprint event also saw victories from Alan Chen (JA4 class) in his rear wheel-drive Toyota Corolla and Dean Corrodus (JA3 class) driving the Maxxis Tyres /Automotive Performance Centre Ltd/Superior Auto Parts/ATL Automotive Honda Civic Type R.

The closest battles of the day occurred in the JA2 class among a group of five Montegonians: Jordan Powell in the R & B Auto Parts Toyota Corolla FX, Daryl King in the Thrifty Gas Honda Civic SIR, Matthew Gore in the Cran Wata Team Mobay Racing Toyota Starlet, Maurice Whittingham in the Carz Rehab Toyota Corolla Levin and James March in the Team MoBay Racing Toyota Corolla FX.

Powell got the better of the field with a scorching second run time of 3.19.833 seconds to be followed by King with a time of 3.20.24 set on his first run and Gore in third with a best time of 3.24.45. Whittingham and March were a bit further behind at 3.29.22 and 3.29.70 respectively.

Daryl King won the three-lap championship section of the event, posting a time of 5.01.01 a mere .06 seconds ahead of Jordan Powell who posted 5.01.07. They were followed by Matthew Gore, Maurice Whittingham and Dean Corrodus as the sun set in the western sky to end a day of close racing.