By Ravendra Kishore
It was billed as the `Ultimate Race of Champions’ but while Andrew King lived up to his word Ryan Rahaman, unbeaten earlier this year, was forced to fight for second and third places in his group at the meet which saw several no shows among them being Mark Vieira.
In Vieira’s absence King ruled supreme. King, in his Blue Power-sponsored Mazda, lived up to all of the pre-race hype winning three out of three in the group four category.
The first group four race started in the face of a slight drizzle and the small field, which was made up of King, Andrew Morgan, Kevin Jeffrey, Canadian Shawn King and Trinidadian Ravi Singh saw Morgan taking a slight lead over King.
However, his steering ceased up in front of the Club House causing him to crash out after which he took no other part in the day’s meeting.
King was therefore able to take a comfortable win with namesake Shawn King in second place.
The second group four race saw King leaving the rest of competitors in the dust from the get go as Mohan (only name) came in a distant second followed by Kamal Sebarran who had moved up from his regular group three category.
And, in one of the better races of the day, King turned back the challenge of Kevin Jeffrey in the third group four race.
Jeffrey led for most of the race but King upped the pressure in front of the Club House and Jeffrey faded before eventually placing third behind Seebarran.
King was in killer mode and missed equalling his lap record by a few seconds in this race where he almost lapped the podium finishers.
The much anticipated clash of the cell phone giants Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) in the form of King and Digicel, in the form of Vieira, never materialized as Vieira’s car never took to the track.
In group three, Kem Lall mesmerized his opponents taking all three races. The highly touted Ryan Rahaman was left to rue his luck after giving up his faithful Ford Escort for a modernized Ford Sierra in which he lost all three races as well as the handicap event.
Lall, meanwhile, driving flawlessly, turned back the challenge of Seebarran to win the opening group three race with Rahaman third.
The second race followed the same pattern as Lall again ate up the field with Seebarran second and Rahaman third while in the final group three race, Lall maintained his one hundred percent record in the group but not before enduring a tough challenge from Rahaman who was toe to toe with his mechanics for this race.
In group two `B’ Gavin Narine was in a class of his own leaving Tanko Baboolall from neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago to wonder why he came to Guyana.
In the first race Gouveia was pressurized from the beginning by Surinamese Oliver Tjin Lip Shie who elevated himself from group two `A’ to group two `B’.
Gouveia maintained his lead for the beginning to bring home the bacon but not before fighting off Lip Shie with Baboolall, third.
Gouveia went on to win the second and third events for a clean sweep.
The much-improved Ashraf Alli was second and Lip Shie third in the second race while Lip Shie was second and Chet Singh third in the third race.
In group two `A’ Syed Hassan took the checkered flag in the first race from Aaron Bethune, who had the distinction of being the `best man’ in all three events.
Richie Singh was third in what was one of the more competitive groups.
Singh stole the checkered flag again in the second race leaving Bethune to rue his luck with Singh earning himself another third.
In the final race Ritchie Singh won from Bethune and Berbician Syed Fawaz placing third in his first race outside of the rookie category.
The Rookie category, which is for beginners and which Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) president Vishok Persaud said was introduced to get persons into the sport, was dominated by San Sewjattan.
In the first rookie race he took the chequered flag from Anand Ramchand and Syed Fawaz.
The same order was maintained in the second and third races with no rookie being able to break the formation.
Meanwhile the expected crowd turnout as expected by the GMR&SC president Persaud did not materialize as the crowd was sparse and scattered.
The most notable presence was that of Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, who graced the second half of the race with his presence.
