TEAM Streetz went out with a huge bang as their season-closer Asphalt Assault: Dexterity Last Slide on Sunday, November 27 over-delivered on its promise of exciting motorsports action at the Tru-Juice Orchards in Bog Walk, St Catherine.

“It was epic. Everybody came to battle, and battle they did. The times kept falling,” Christopher James of Team Streetz told the Jamaica Observer‘s weekly Auto magazine.

Fans who came early and had attended the first event in August would have noticed the significant increase in competitors and the types of cars. Rajendra Jadusingh threw down the gauntlet at the opener by claiming decisive victory over much more powerful machinery in his front-wheel drive 2003 MINI Cooper One. On Sunday, his attendance was taken much more seriously, leading to a slew of big names and rally cars ready to wrest a first-place finish from the MINI driver.

And wrest they attempted as the crowd held their collective breath every time a car entered the stop box, because despite the increased challenge from a slew of rally-prepped Subaru WRX STIs, Jadusingh held his own to the very end. The first to best him was 21-year-old Demar Lee. The youngster, who now campaigns a Subaru Impreza, kept posting faster times, but would fail at the very end of his first two attempts at the course, hitting the stop box; thus incurring a time penalty. In the end, he got it right.

Lee was followed by the K series-powered Toyota Corolla of Maurice Whittingham. The Montegonian, known for his drifting and dexterity prowess on the western end of the island, suffered the wrath of the MINI in August. Whittingham was back and motivated to not repeat the mistake and second place, above Jadusingh was his reward. He ended the day .4 seconds behind Lee’s rally car.

Jadusingh still made it to the podium, in third, after driving the MINI Cooper to its limits on the dual surfaces of the course.

“It was a mixed event for me. I was first in my class and third overall, but me versus full race turbo all-wheel drive cars is a good result for a 75-wheel horsepower non-limited slip differential equipped front-wheel drive street car,” explained Jadusingh.

Still, he felt he could have seen better results.

“I’m very competitive by nature, and machinery notwithstanding, I should have done better. I made a mistake on two of my runs which should have seen me at least in second overall, and potentially even first,” Jadusingh added.

Behind Jadusingh were two rally Subarus doing their best to keep him honest. Lee Vaz finished fourth in his Impreza, joined in fifth by Brandon King, who was using the event to fine-tune his transition to the turbo all-wheel drive rally car platform.

Due to the truncated season, Team Streetz had been unable to run more than the two dexterity events for 2022. With 2023 fast approaching, James and his team are ready to head back to normality.

“We see 2023 as the dawn of a new era. We’re planning more practice events and want to create a structure for the development and growth of the drivers, and the sport overall,” said James.