It seems as though Andrew King meant business when he told this newspaper on Thursday that he was aiming to take back his lap record which was broken by Jamaican David Summerbell.
As the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) opens its 2009 season today with the national Race of Champions at the South Dakota Circuit, King bettered his personal best to secure the pole position in Group 4.
King had held the lap record after racing to 35.98s last year, but at last November’s Caribbean race of Champions, Summerbell set a new benchmark of 34.98s.
However, at yesterday’s time trials ahead of the big day, King in his Tube Frame Mazda RX7 drove 35.964s. His rival and nemesis Mark Vieira who is flashing his brand new Mazda RX8 raced to a 36.519s to take second on pole while Shawn King clocked 37.3s.
Also enjoying a good run on the eve of the Championships was Ryan Rahaman who has taken pole position in two separate categories.
First, running in the group ‘2B’ Ryan in his customary Ford Escort did 39.00s while Ched Singh was 40.1s and Gavin Gouveia 41.1s. He returned in the powerful Group ‘3’ class and showed his high level of competitiveness by clocking 37.3s to take the pole ahead of Ravi Singh (38.1s) and Gavin Gouveia (38.6s).
In the Group ‘2A’ category, Chet Singh racing his Honda Civic will be starting in front of veteran champion driver Jad Rahaman and his Ford Escort, after clocking 42.00s at yesterday’s time trial as compared to Jad’s 41.5s while Pierre Singh’s Toyota Levin 4AGE earned him third on pole with 42.3s.
Kristian Jeffery ran 44.7s to start at number one today in 125cc Shifter Karts category while Alexander Fiedtkou (45.4s) barely had a better time than Stanley Ming (45.6s) to take second.
But ardent race fans will know that even though you are number one on pole, it doesn’t mean that you will win. However from the superb timings driven by the competitors yesterday, there’s no doubt that today will certainly be one of the best starts ever for the GMR&SC season.
Twenty-five (25) events are carded for the day with the first starting at 9 am, stretched across eight groups – Rookies, Group 2A&B, Group 3&4, Open Class Motorcycles, Lightweight Motorcycles and Shifter 125cc Go-karts.
The event is co-sponsored by GT&T Cellink Plus, CARIB Beer and Sunburst Orange Juice.
