While no stranger to night dexterities, Saturday, July 4 was a first for the group, as they had competitors manoeuvring cones under floodlights at their Bog Walk, St Catherine, venue.

“We had to hold the event in Bog Walk because our alternate night venue, the parking lot at the Palisadoes International Raceway, was unavailable, and then the motorsports calendar was so structured that there really wasn’t any available date until later down in the year. So, it was a now-or-never kind of thing. But it forced us to see another side of the Tru-Juice Orchards. The move worked out well. It opened our eyes to what’s possible under the lights out there,” Christopher James of Team Streetz told the Jamaica Observer’s weekly Auto magazine.

The venue is normally used during daylight hours for the Asphalt Assault Dirt Splurt series. To accommodate the lack of light, the course was adjusted onto as much of the usable concrete surface.

Daren Givans in action (Photo: Rory Daley)

“Our biggest challenge was the cost of the lighting; not just renting them, but transporting them there. Our events don’t make a profit, so the sponsorship that we do receive just sort of balances the books. When you have to fork out an extra $100,000 for lighting, that $100,000 isn’t coming from gate receipts, because you’re not getting more people. It’s not coming from entry fees, because you’re not getting more competitors, but it has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is our pockets. We do this for the love as well, so we had to make the sacrifice,” James explained.

For those in attendance, it was an exciting night of dexterity action.

“Our first night dexterity at Tru-Juice was amazing. The lights worked well. The drivers loved the competition. The quad bikes came out and shook up everything. The event showed growth, and that was nice,” he said.

The rear-wheel drive non-limited-slip differential class was won by Garth Chin.(Photo: Rory Daley)

The night may have been cool, but the driving was on fire, and at the end it was Kai Chuck-Dion in his Honda Civic that posted the fastest time, besting pre-event favourite Maurice Whittingham by 0.4 of a second after their four attempts at the artificially illuminated course.

Chuck-Dion also won his class, front-wheel drive with limited slip differential. Whittingham took home the rear-wheel drive with limited slip differential class honours.

Brandon King narrowly misses out on a podium finish. (Photo: Rory Daley)

Keith McGhie, while sharing driving duties in a Toyota Vitz with rally driver Brandon King, was able to win that small battle. Both men finished third and fourth, respectively.

Completing the top five was Stephen Dixon, in what is a very popular choice for dexterities, the Toyota GT86.

McGhie would take the front-wheel drive non-limited slip differential class, with his podium position. Rear-wheel drive non-limited-slip differential went to Garth Chin.

Maurice Whittingham finishes second overall. (Photo: Rory Daley)

Providing even further action throughout the night were the quad bike competitors. The nine entrants were in do-or-die mode from the drop of the flag, going all out for a sub-one-minute course time, resulting in riders either posting a “Did Not Finish” or finishing milliseconds from each other.

James does hope to hold another night event at the location, given the more than positive response from both spectators and competitors alike; however, he and his team are looking at ways to offset the increased costs associated with the necessary lighting.

“Our next event will be our grand finale at the end of November,” he added.