The Barbadians and Jamaicans arrived in Guyana yesterday to burn rubber against their local counterparts at the South Dakota Circuit on Sunday in the Seaboard Marine Caribbean Race of Champions third leg.
The third leg, as all the local competitors have promised, will be filled with intense competition and yesterday Barbadian Mark Maloney, currently second in the drivers’ championship tally, echoed similar sentiments.
Already he is saying that the track which was recently renovated to the tune of $40M looks inviting and fast after a visit yesterday morning and is eager to compete there come Sunday.
In fact, last night he should have christened the track to ensure that his assessment was correct. Maloney, who is driving a 1972 Mazda RX 3, indicated that he is looking to maintain consistency on Sunday, especially since he and Barbados are in good positions to take the country title that Guyana currently holds and overtake David Summerbell for the driver’s title, which was won by Guyana’s Kevin Jeffrey last year.
He also quipped that he wouldn’t have to keep his eyes on any of the drivers since that would essentially place him behind them. However, he acknowledged the presence of Jeffrey, Mark Vieira, Andrew King, David Summerbell, Roger Mayers and Doug Maloney, who are in contention for the driver’s championship.
“For the points I am second to David Summerbell and he is 11 or 12 points ahead of me so I would like to keep him in my rear view mirror and have his eyes keeping on me. That is my intention and let’s see what happens. Racing is a cruel sport and you never know what can happen so you try to prepare for the best and hope for the best.
“The team has worked assiduously to get the car ready and we hope that the effort that has been put in and if the result is anything like the effort then it would be good because an amazing amount of effort has been put in,” the Group 4 driver emphasised.
Barbadian support
Further, Maloney expects that the Barbadian support will not only be great for the success of the meet but will be a major boost to Barbados, estimating that over 200 persons arrived on the flight yesterday morning. Apart from that he dished out some praise to Guyana for the resurfacing of the circuit, stating that this will augur well for the development of the sport and the harnessing of emerging talents in the country, and the Caribbean by extension.
“There is potential, the Caribbean has tremendous potential. I am in it for the love of the sport and for the development of the sport, not just as a driver,” Maloney said.
Commenting on his car, Maloney said that his car is a work in progress and it is a machine that was bought off the shelf. According to him, he oftentimes wonders whether he has all his marbles intact when he considers the amount of money he has already spent on the vehicle over the years and specifically for this meet.
He estimated the costs to run into hundreds of thousands but thanked the sponsors for their largesse over the years.
He has a 20B 13B-3 rotor engine under the 1972 Mazda RX3 hood but he derives his enthusiasm from the result that is produced and therefore he is always optimistic to keep ringing in the changes and modifications. With this in mind, he said that he and his team intend to end the season on a positive note and look forward to next year, which he envisages will be another exciting one.
When Stabroek Sport caught up with another Group 4 driver, Paul Vieira, he said that he is just going out to give his all despite not making any modifications to his car like some of the other drivers. He said that the 1992 Mazda RX7 car, which has 13B periphery port, is working well and he has no concerns at this time, indicating that one of his main aims is finishing each race.
