Jamaican racers pressed the home field advantage to walk away the points leader in the Country Category in the first round of the Seaboard Marine Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) at Jamwest Speedway in Westmoreland.

“It was good overall as Jamaica stepped up to take the lead in the CMRC with 506 points,” Silbourne Clarke, local CMRC representative told the Jamaica Observer’s weekly Auto magazine.

The points haul is more than Jamaica has scored in past years. Antigua sits in second with 205. Trinidad and Tobago is third, gaining 144 points over the race weekend. The United States is fourth on 80 points. Barbados has 54. Cayman Island’s scored 32 points and Guyana sits on 12.

Jamaica’s record haul was led by a series of significant performances across the five groups and the motorcycle class. The country squeezed 175 points out of Group 5 led by Kyle Gregg, David Summerbell Jr, Peter Rae, and Samantha Summerbell. Bajan Mark Maloney would be sandwiched between Gregg and Summerbell Jr in second position at the end of the day. Gregg would set the course record to 1 minute 11.1 seconds on his way to winning all three of his CMRC Group 5 races.

“I’m quite happy. I didn’t expect to beat David and Mark. The car ran superbly. Everything was just dialled in,” he said.

Despite the success, Gregg is still 50/50 about continuing in the CMRC, which moves to Trinidad for the weekend of June 23 through 24.

“Right now the focus is defending the 2017 championship for my sponsor Texaco. I’m looking forward to the August meet because I’ll have David and a Kia to deal with then.”

Summerbell Jr was surprised at his third-place finish, given that his Radical has set similar times as Gregg’s during the practice sessions.

“It was our first time at this circuit in this car and we noticed that after a few laps the car would just go off, affecting the handling,” Summerbell explained.

He said the issue was traced to the type of tyres being used on his car and it would be rectified for their next venture back to Jamwest.

In Group 2, Fraser McConnell held the Jamaican flag high, leaving the event as the top driver with a clean sweep of all three races. His winning ways was matched by his Dover Raceway rival William Myers, who also swept his class, Group 3.

With Jamaica’s lead, Clarke is hopeful that it will continue to the next event.

“Our lead and success has revived interest in the CMRC and I hope to see a record turnout of Jamaican competitors in Trinidad in June,” he said.