It is not often that Guyana’s motor racers find themselves in this position.
Going into Sunday’s `Race of Champions’ the final leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championships at the South Dakota Circuit, the Guyana team lie dead last.
They are in the cellar position on a mere 21 points while the powerful Jamaica team is out front with a whopping 113 points, virtually uncatchable, at least, by the Guyanese who will need to produce something extremely special come Sunday if they are to assuage the large number of motor racing fans who are sure to throng the South Dakota Circuit.
Jamaica’s closest challenge should come from Barbados who are on 64 points but with the news that top Bajan driver Roger `The Beast’ Mayers and his Ford Focus vehicle will be missing from Sunday’s action, the Jamaicans seem more than assured of a championship triumph.
The Cayman Islands lie third with 26 points and should battle with Guyana to see who brings up the rear.
With the team championships seemingly out of their grasp, the Guyanese drivers will look to make some inroads into the individual championships.
Leading the individual championships is Jamaica’s David Summerbell Jr., with 50 points gained mostly from his second and two third place finishes.
Guyana’s motor racers have been known to save the best for last and one would hope that they will do so on this occasion.
Unlike Bushy Park, the locals have what could be termed home court advantage at a South Dakota track they should know every, for want of a better word intimately. Andrew King, Mark Vieira, Kevin Jeffrey and others should at least by now know how to caress every turn of the South Dakota track, know how to power through on every straight.
Their opponents will not be found wanting. Some of them including Summerbell Jr., Peter Rae and Bajans Mark and Doug Maloney, have been frequent visitors to South Dakota.
The battle could well turn out to be which vehicle is better prepared come race day.
Vieira will be in his tried and trusted Mazda RX 8 20B while Jeffrey will drive his turbo-charged Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII.
King, so often crowned King of South Dakota, will be in his Mazda RX-7 Tube Frame 13B.
The big three of Guyana’s motor racing, Vieira, Heffrey and King will not be alone in the battle for supremacy.
Add Paul Vieira in his Mazda RX-7 second generation 13B and it could be problems for the likes of Rae, who like King will be driving a Mazda RX-7 Tube Frame although his vehicle is a turbo charged 12A.
Summerbell too will be driving a turbo charged vehicle, a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII.
Other divers and their vehicles are Douglas Maloney – Audi A4 Turbo Charged (Barbados) Andy Bodden Mitsubishi Evo Turbo Charged (Cayman Islands), Steve King – Nissan Skyline (Barbados) Mark Maloney – Mazda RX-3 13B Turbo Charged (Barbados) and Junior Hydes – Mitsubishi Evo Turbo Charged (Cayman Islands).
Thus the stage is set for what should be a day of daredevil driving as the Guyanese try to pull out the stops to at least end this year’s championships on a high.
