The 2015 Seaboard Marine CMRC is a wrap, Trinidad and Tobago perhaps wrested the coveted country championship trophy from Guyana but ace driver, Kristian Jeffrey certainly drove off with the individual Group 4 honours again.
In the Carnival-like atmosphere yesterday at the South Dakota Circuit, the local speedsters reveled on home turf with Jeffrey and his Stag sponsored Mitsubishi Evo 9 leading the band.
But Trinidad holding a 114-point lead heading into the fourth and final leg, perhaps held off Guyana’s charges compliments of Group 3 speed demons, Ravi Singh and Paul Vieira.
Singh won the first Group 3 events and placed second in the third while Vieira (Guyanese representing Trinidad) placed first in the finale and second in the previous races.
To the 17000 appreciative fans however, Jeffrey was their hero as he proudly waved the checkered flag on all three occasions dominating Trinidad and Tobago’s Christian Boodoosingh, Barbodos’ Mark Maloney and others in the adrenaline rushing events.
Jeffrey was in sublime form yesterday, he made hay in the sunshine especially in race two which he punctuated by lapping every driver except second place finisher, Maloney.
The 2014 champion driver who took over the mantle from his father Kevin Jeffrey last year, successfully put pedal to the metal in an effort to help Guyana’s chances of retaining the championship for the third successive year.
However, up to press time, the official point standing were yet to be released and the Trinis are optimistic.
Prior to yesterday’s finale, Trinidad led the country championships with 658 points. The hosts were on 544 followed closely by Barbados on 511. Team Jamaica has tallied 369 points while the Cayman Islands was in the cellar on 138.
Other winners yesterday included: Matthew Vieira (Super Bike CMRC), Shameer Mohamed (Group 1), Shan Seejattan (Group 2 CMRC) and Ravi Singh (Group 3).
The presentation of team and individual awards will be done today at Park Rain in Rahaman’s Park.
Yesterday’s proceedings were not without its hitches as oil spilled from two cars’ oil coolers following a collision during a Group 1 race near the club house corner causing several cars to slide out of control.
Notes: There was an exhibition race involving the Ming’s F4 car and Jeffrey’s Evo 9. The event was graced by Minister of Tourism, Cathy Hughes and other notable individuals.
Major sponsors for the event included: GT&T, Valvoline, E- Networks, Rent-A-Tent, Banks DIH Limited, Southland International, Fly Jamaica and of course Seaboard Marine. (Emmerson Campbell)
