‘Wurl Boss’ rules dexterity opener
MAURICE ‘Wurl Boss’ Whittingham was the winner of round one Tru-Juice AutoDex Championship put on by the Drivers’ Rallysport Club at Palisadoes International Raceway in Kingston, last Friday.
In his return to the sport, he outclassed the best Kingston had to offer in his newly rebuilt Toyota Starlet.
“I’ve been out of motorsport for a year-and-half now, and this was just to dust off my shoes, so to speak,” the Montegonian told Auto.
Claiming he was nervous in the early stages as his car had been untested with its new setup and engine, his first run saw him down nearly 10 seconds behind his closest competitor Kingston’s Joel Jackson.
“Joel was a threat. He was on the ball and offered good competition,” he said.
The cobwebs disappeared after the first run and Whittingham put on several crowd-pleasing drives to come out on top in the all-important championship run. He promised his fans this event wasn’t a one-off and he’ll be supporting dexterities in the foreseeable future. He finished the day nearly nine seconds ahead of Jackson’s Mazda Demio.
Jackson commended Whittingham on his great showing.
“They don’t call him the Wurl Boss for no reason. My car performed as expected. I just didn’t have the overall power of Maurice’s car,” Jackson said.
Jackson, however, vowed to extend the fight to the next dexterity event.
“I might bring the rally car depending on the next track,” he added.
Proving that anyone can be competitive in the dexterity format was Mark March. Using his well-worn Toyota Corolla, he managed to make it to the third step of the podium, sitting at occasions, only a second off several of Jackson’s posted times.
In fourth was Jackson’s regular co-driver on the stages, Dmitri Dawkins. Driving a Toyota IQ, it made simple work of the flowing course due to its compact size. However, its lack of power meant he couldn’t catch the two front-runners.
“It’s very agile. Short overhangs, wheelbase, and turning circle, meant I could just turn through the cones at will,” Dawkins said.
Winning the four-wheel drive class was Leroy Spence, who spent the day in a class battle with Nigel Wilmot’s Suzuki Samurai.
