Great start to season
ORGANISERS of Easter Monday’s Carnival of Speed are pleased with the circuit racing opener, which was held at the Dover Raceway in St Ann.
The meet, put on by Jamaica Race Drivers’ Club (JRDC), had an exciting 14-race card.
“The meet was excellent. We had a good turnout of motorsports fans. The competition among the racers was intense and the operations ran smoothly,” Peter McConnell, JRDC chairman, told the Jamaica Observer’s weekly Auto magazine.
He said the feedback from all corners was positive.
“Our fans seemed to enjoy themselves…..especially with the increased excitement in the Thundersport class. Our competitors were also very happy with the level of organisation and execution of race operations,” he said.
And it was indeed the Thundersport class two that brought fans out in their numbers. 2018 champion Kyle Gregg, driving his Radical RXC, would be up against newcomers, William Myers, Trinidadian Kristian Boodosingh and a returning Doug “Hollywood” Gore. Myers and Boodosingh were also driving Radicals, while Gore was back behind the wheel of his KIA Rio race car.
It was Gregg who came out swinging, setting a new lap record in qualifying. He lowered the all-time single lap record from 1:16.10 seconds to 1:15.8 seconds.
Gregg’s dominant form didn’t last and the eventual result was a victory a piece for Gregg, Myers, and Boodosingh across the three Thundersport (TS) races. Boodosingh was first winning race one.
“This would not have been possible without the support of Dwight Lue, team owner of Lue-Boyz Racing and the amazing team behind me. These guys really worked some magic to get the car as competitive as it was and out on a show for the Jamaican fans,” Boodosingh said.
Gregg, who suffered mechanical problems during the opening race, fought back during the second and took a win.
“It wasn’t the best of meets for the team. The car ran flawless during practice and broke the track record in qualifying. However, in race 1, the oil pressure sensor failed, which then caused the car to shut down. In race 2, we stared from the back and we won that race. For race 3, the car was ready to go. We warmed it up 10 minutes prior to the race and when we backed out onto the grid, the ignition switch decided to fail which resulted in the car not being able to start the race,” Gregg said.
With Gregg out of the third race, it was Myers time to prove he had the pace taking victory there.
“This meet was a success for us. First time running this class in an underpowered car and we came out on top. We couldn’t have asked for a better result,” Myers said.
For all three, the challenge moves to JamWest Raceway in Westmoreland on May 26.
Nigel Wilmot-led Thundersport class one, winning both his races. Nicholas Barnes dominated Modified Production (MP) class one winning all three races. Collin Daley Jr and Peter Jaggon did the same in MP2 and MP3. In MP4, Matthew Lee, Justin Sirgany and Patrick Patterson took a race win each.
The hattricks continued in Improved Production (IP) as Charles Phillips, Senna Summerbell swept IP1 and IP2, respectively.
Sheldon Morgan would have two IP3 wins to Alan Gordon’s one. In the Super Street Naturally-aspirated class, Steven Scott topped all three races as did Denniston Graham in Super Street Turbocharged.
Kyle Reynolds continued his tight hold on the Motorcycle A class. Norman Chung and Al Woon took a win each in the Motorcycle B class.
