When the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) staged its first race meet of the season yesterday at the South Dakota Circuit, it was all about the Vieiras.
Ace driver, Mark Vieira was the champion driver in the Group 4 class; his brother Paul dominated the Group 3 category while his cousin, Stephen blew away the competition in the professional Super Bike division.
Mark earned pole position in the feature event by powering his V Power Mazda RX 8 to a victory in the first race and second place finishes in the other two races.
Local speed ace, Andrew King piloted his Mazda RX 7 to a thrilling win in the second race while Kevin Jeffrey, who broke the lap record during time trials on Saturday, sped off with the last Group 4 race.
After winning all three of the Group 3 events, Paul also held his own with the big boys in the Group 4.
He placed second in the first race and placed third in both ensuing events.
Stephen toyed with the competition giving them a head start of almost 100 metres before turning up his throttle.
Nevertheless, his 600cc Suzuki coupled with his superior control was simply too much for the competition.
Mark’s 15-year-old son Matthew was not to be left out of this family affair as he placed second overall to the amateur super bike winner, Nickel Seeraram.
Mark placed second in the first race and rode in third in the other two events.
The promising 17-year-old Seeraram took the top honours in the first two events and placed second in the last one.
In an invited comment, Mark mentioned that the Vieira’s had a “good day” at the track and that he is looking forward to his next meet in May which will be staged in Jamaica.
Meanwhile, Stanley Ming Jr. drove unbeaten in the three Go Kart events.
Group 1 overall winner was Mohamed Alli, while the Group 2 A and Group 2 B overall winners were John Joseph and Afraz Alli respectively.
Kevin Jeffrey broke Barbados’ Roger Meyers’ previous lap record (33.5 seconds) with his E Evolution by one tenth of a second (33.4 seconds).
Some major sponsors for yesterday’s event include Banks DIH Limited, GT&T Automotive Art, Valvoline and B.M Soat Auto Sales.