Drag racing returned to Vernamfield, St Catherine, on Sunday, December 4, courtesy of Drag Rivals as staged by organisers KenT Racing.

“The event was a success. It is true when you hear persons say you learn from your failures. The last time we were here there were so many things that happened that we took notes of, and we came back this time learning from our mistakes and correcting all of them,” Kenneth Timoll, director — KenT Racing, told the Jamaica Observer‘s weekly Auto magazine.

Timoll and his team have been successful drag racing event organisers for several years now on the western end of the island, using the purpose-built drag strip that is JamWest Speedway in Westmoreland. As legal drag racing last graced Vernamfield in 2018, KenT Racing surprised the motorsport community when it announced it had secured use of the venue and would be bringing its Drag Rivals series to a more central location. Unfortunately, the inaugural event was cut short by an incident that injured four, and saw one succumb to their injuries later. Questions about safety and responsibilities swirled, throwing the revival of the sport at the venue in limbo, as well as the future of KenT Racing.

“It takes a lot of work and coordination and at the end of it you ask yourself is it worth it, because it’s just an event. But when you have the passion for motorsports you’re driven that love for the sport, so you don’t live off the sport, you live for the sport,” said Timoll.

Using that mantra Timoll explained his team went back to the drawing board. The improvements were obvious from the entrance with revised parking that took the pressure off the connecting roads, to a secured paddock that kept the crowd away from the race cars. On the drag strip itself, there were concrete barriers that ran the span of the spectator area on both sides providing an extra layer of protection. Timoll, thanked his security team and the May Pen police for their assistance in crowd control, another area he had increased efforts toward.

Drag Rivals retained its original multi-day format, with testing and qualifying done before hand, allowing Sunday to be eliminations only. While there were some stoppages due to issues with the timing gear, and the usual clean up from failed runs, the event ran smoothly and kept everyone entertained to the very end as they were able to finish the big races patrons wanted to see under daylight.

One hundred and twenty-nine competitors across eight classes were whittled down to their eventual winners. Robert Smith was the fastest man taking the Pro Race 9 class with a 9.71 run. Pro Modified 10 went to Andre Kerr, as did Pro Modified 11 to Damion Davy. Pro Street 12 was won by Jevaughn Brown. Tyrese Hayden won Pro Street 13. Johvaney Deer won Super Street 14. Romonne Facey and Noel Golding Jr took Super Street 15 and 16, respectively.