DEFENDING dexterity champion Maurice ‘Wurl Boss’ Whittingham signalled his intention of continuing his reign when he took the first round of the 2012 competition at the ATL Autohaus’ Bogue City parking lot, Montego Bay last Saturday. The modernday daredevil won four first-place trophies.

Set on the wet tarmac, the Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club (JMMC) event saw Jamaica’s top stunt drivers, ‘drifters’ and ‘spinners’ reigniting old rivalries and stoking the flames of new ones before a crowd hungry for the hair-raising entertainment.

‘Wurl Boss’ Whittingham posted the evening’s fastest overall time of 37.35 seconds in the Rear-Wheel Drive with limited slip differential class in his Team Mad Dem/Carz Rehab Toyota Starlet. The defending champion also won the two-lap championship run clocking 1.08.58 seconds beating top contender and one-to-watch Jordan Powell in his spanking stock ATL Autohaus Volkswagen Polo by just over two seconds (1.10.49).

Young Powell had the second fastest time of the evening with 37.75 seconds.

Whittingham shared his strategy for victory with Auto.

“When I first looked at it, the course seemed more configured for a Front-Wheel Drive or a Four-Wheel Drive vehicle. So it would seem like a challenge for my Rear-Wheel Drive Starlet but it was actually easy to pull off the win,” he told Auto.

“I have driven many courses and I know how to adjust to these things. I had to almost drive my vehicle like a Front-Wheel Drive in order to knock out the competition, but that wasn’t really stressing me at all,” he continued.

Competitors were allowed three timed runs of the obstacle course with the 10 fastest drivers competing in the two-lap overall championship round.

Whittingham admitted that though he knew Powell was hot on his tail he put extra spins into his final run just for fun. Powell, who was driving the ATL Autohaus VW Polo for the very first time, believes that given more time to get to know the vehicle (and if the packed motorsports calendar permits) he will be a strong contender for the 2012 National Dexterity Championship.

“I had never even tested it, that was the first time I had ever driven the car more than 10 feet and it was very impressive,” Powell told Auto.

“I’m not going to lie it was one of the best cars I’ve ever driven on a dexterity course, if not the best. I know Maurice Whittingham is a master at these type of events and it’s going to be very tough to beat him but I believe that with more time in that Polo and more practice I definitely can achieve that,” he continued.

Powell also walked away with first place in the highly competitive Front-Wheel Drive Class. In second place was multiple championship winner Christopher ‘Teach’ McFarlane, driving the Mitsubishi ASX. In third place was Courtney Wilson also driving a Mitsubishi ASX. Second place in the Rear-Wheel Drive class belonged to Cleve ‘Cutta Hype’ Ottey, the only person to have beaten Whittingham in 2011. Young gun Jamar ‘Schoolaz’ Kinkaid, placed third with solid, entertaining performances in the Kinkaid Cellular Toyota Corolla Levin.

Team Mad Dem was victorious in the 4×1 relay, which saw loud cheers from the crowd in attendance when their favourite drivers displayed death-defying skills and car control in manoeuvring their vehicles around the cones that marked the course. Two teams comprising of four cars and four drivers battled for bragging rights. Each vehicle comprised of a driver and a passenger. The passenger in vehicle number one became the driver of vehicle number two on completion of the first lap. This quick switch continued until all four cars had completed the course. Team Mad Dem is comprised of drivers Maurice Whittingham, Christopher Addison, Christopher McFarlane and Ameer Johnson.

Among the crowd favourites included Ian Wright in his ‘Big Red Truck’ and Douglas ‘Hollywood’ Gore who won the Four-Wheel Drive class in his ATL Automotive Audi S4 Coupe.