Amidst some light to heavy drizzles, interspersed with a few minutes of bright sunshine, Mark Vieira and Ryan Rahaman completely dominated their respective group events at the South Dakota Circuit yesterday when the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMRSC) held its Mashramani Champion-of-Champions race meet.
Vieira in his Digicel/Shell-sponsored Mazda RX7, completely dominated the three Group Four races leaving in his wake his rival, Andrew King, who was behind the wheels of his newly-acquired tube framed Mazda RX7.
King had to settle for two seconds and a third, whilst Rahaman proved to be the superior competitor in the Group Three category, where he too dominated.
In what was being jokingly termed by many to be the settling of the battle of the telecommunications giants here in Guyana, Vieira wasted no time in displaying his superiority in a higher category of competition.
So fierce was he that, save for King, who started on pole position in the first race and Andrew Morgan, who proved to be no match for Vieira having settled for one second and two third place finishes respectively, the rest of the competitors were lapped in all of the Group Four races.
At one time, Vieira displayed to the large turn out of spectators the power of his machine when he came out of the gooseneck turn and powered down the home stretch while both King and Morgan were yet to enter the gooseneck.
“I must say thanks to Digicel and Shell two of the better companies in the Caribbean for the support they have given to me that made it possible for me to compete here today. We have changed form Group Three to Four and I must say that the car performed well although we were running with 200lbs more weight which was a disadvantage to me,” said Vieira
He added, “I was very aggressive throughout my races as I knew they would have been coming at me strong and even stronger after the first race, but like I said, we were prepared for the challenges and the car stop up really well today.”
As their slogan says ‘Expect more, Get more’, Marketing Director of Digicel Jamaican, Donovan White, told Stabroek Sport that to use the word happy in describing Digicel’s feelings on Vieira’s results today would be inadequate and promised bigger and better things in store for Vieira from Digicel.
“Happy does not explain our feelings on Mark’s achievements today or our relationship with him. His superiority was on display today and he made no jokes in proving to all and sundry that he is the champion of the track on this side of the hemisphere,” White stated.
He added:”Race meets are not about sponsors, but when you have someone like Mark proudly representing you at such events with success, it would be unprofessional if you don’t show some sort of gratitude to them and to this end, I am proud to say that Digicel will continue to back Mark all the way and we are also looking to expand our relationship with him as we seek to go forward together.”
Meanwhile, as Vieira was dominating his group, Rahaman, showed that he too can also dominate when he won all his Group Three events.
In the first race of that category, Rahaman displayed a stubborn and no nonsense mood to emerge victorious from Keith Evelyn.
Kemal Rahaman, the other competitor in the event, had to withdraw due to an oil leakage from his engine.
Prior to such, Rahaman, who was using a 1966 Ford Escort displayed his maturity when he passed both Evelyn and Rahaman (Kemal) at the first turn on the second lap of the 10-lap event.
In a Group Two race, Rahaman also took the first position from Vishal Sawh and Faizal Habibulah whilst he maintained his dominance in the Group three events.
“I felt confident about today regardless of the conditions. What may have worked in my favour, would have been my experience driving on slicks (wet tyres) having done so before in Barbados so I knew how to handle myself and my car. But whether or not the conditions were dry or wet, I felt confident and knew that I would have dominated the way I did,” Rahaman said.
“My car was working real fine today and it would be a shame when I have to put it aside for my new one (1996 Ford Sierra) that is scheduled to arrive soon. But as things do go you have to part with the old irrespective of its performance to make way for the new. Hopefully, my new one should be here in time for the meet in May.”
In other results, Jad Rahaman took the final Group 2B event after having to settle for third behind Mohammed Rasheedin who had also won the first event of the day.
Also in the winners’ circle was Romeo Singh, who completely dominated the Rookie events winning from Shawn Hassan and Ryaz Alli in one race and Hassan and Motilall Deodass in another.
Fortunes were shared in the three Go Kart events among Shane Ally and Kristian and Stephon Jeffrey respectively, whilst Habibulah tasted victory from Sawh and Jad Rahaman in one of the Group 2B events.
The final race on the 23-race card meet, the Handicap Event was called off due to the condition of the track along with overcast conditions in the interest of the drivers.
