Ever wonder what happens when you take some of the Caribbean’s fastest bikes and best riders and put them all on one track? Well that question will be answered tomorrow when the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) plays host to the Caribbean Motor Racing Championships (CMRC) at the South Dakota Circuit.
Guyana’s top pair Stephen ‘Valentino Rossi’ Vieira and Maurice Menezes will come up against ‘Super Bike King’ Kevin Graham of Canada, Barbados’s Arthur Cumberbatch and Brook Miller along with Jamaica’s Stefan Chin and Halquin Rodney, among other local riders.
While the spotlight is on the drivers in the Group 4 category who are competing for the Caribbean Championship, the heavily subscribed super bikes race can steal the show since it will be one of the hottest in years.
Chin is Jamaica’s best rider and Rodney is his rival and the same goes for Miller who is Barbados’s pride and joy on the big bikes along with the island’s most successful rider Cumberbatch.
At the last meet in Barbados, Miller and Rodney were limited to one race which they didn’t even complete after they both ran off the track and the damage to their machines was too severe to allow them to carry on.
It is then that Guyana’s ‘Rossi’ took full advantage and rode a career best to win the remaining two races over Cumberbatch who was second on both occasions.
However, since his arrival in Guyana Graham has been the man to beat on the tank but who knows, with Chin, the Jamaican champion, Miller, the Barbados boss and Vieira, Guyana’s local ‘Valentino Rossi’, maybe Graham could be taken down.
The Canadian would be riding his Sunburst Orange Juice-sponsored R6 Suzuki 600 while Vieira will be astride his GT&T and Gizmos and Gadget-sponsored Suzuki GSX 600 and Miller will be on his Ducati, but Stabroek Sport could not discover the make of the bikes belonging to the two Jamaicans.
Their time trials will be held today along with the others and based on news out the South Dakota Circuit, it would be just as exciting today as it would be tomorrow. The ‘King’ David Summerbell who leads the CMRC with 48 points and Jamaican counterpart Christopher Campbell arrived in Guyana yesterday, all ready for their showdown against the rest of the CMRC drivers.
The Maloney father and son duo of Doug and Mark who are running second to Summerbell with 38 points are also here but according to the GMR&SC website, his Mazda RX3 was having some fuel problems and up to press time it was not known if the parts which had been ordered had arrived.
Guyana’s Andrew King, Kevin Jeffrey and Gavin Gayadin should be in good form for today’s time trials but ‘Mr. Excitement’ Mark Vieira told Stabroek Sport last evening that he has received the long-awaited engine for his Mazda RX8 and he is working overtime to get it up and ready for tomorrow.
He did not say if it would be ready in time for today’s important time trials since the drivers are all eager to gain pole position for the first race tomorrow.
The much talked about Ford Focus, driven by Roger Mayers, seems to be running quite well, clocking 35.4 seconds which happens to be faster than the second best time of 35.6 seconds, held by Guyana’s Andrew King.
He made it clear that his aim is to ‘mash-up’ the lap record of the South Dakota Circuit set by the ‘King’ Summerbell (34.98 seconds) and race pundits say that it could be possible since Mayers was merely having fun while getting to know the track.
