Young Joshua Maloney was a model of concentration coming down the straight on Sunday. (Picture by Clifton Henry.)

THE BARBADOS KARTING ASSOCIATION INC powered off their 2008 Frutee Karting Championship in a blaze of glory on Sunday at the Bushy Park racing circuit and, in the process, set the tone for the 2008 motor racing season.

Only 19 karts came under starter's orders and the event was action-packed from start to finish. There were many thrilling duels between the seasoned campaigners throughout the day, but the highlight of the event was the number of debutants entering the sport at very tender ages.

Apart from Mrs Douglas Maloney, we would have thought that with Doug and his three sons, Mark, Stuart and Sean, we had seen the entire Maloney family involved in racing, but Sunday saw the emerging of the third generation of Maloneys, Joshua
and Zane, ages six and four respectively, beginning their first full year of competition.

Smooth running

Sponsored by Upbeat, the day ran smoothly. In the Championship Class, Orry Hunte set the early pace with a rapid qualifying time to take pole position from champion driver Conor Roach.

David Evelyn rounded out the top three a mere tenth of a second behind Roach and an impressive Mark Kinch, in his first outing in the Championship Class, was fourth. Orry set the pace in the first race but, in a repeat of the first event in 2007, he cruised
to a halt on the last lap with a blown engine. This let Conor Roach into the lead and he never looked back. Nicholas Gill was second until the last lap when he was overtaken by David Evelyn.

The second race, always the most interesting – as the starting positions are the reverse of the first race's finishing positions, leaving the quicker drivers the task of coming through the field – saw Conor Roach carve through the field from the back row to finish second, closing on a flying Nick Blades who had struggled to overcome clutch problems.

Third place

An excellent, composed drive from young Mark Kinch, who had also started at the back, saw him into third place. David Evelyn, after a determined drive up the field, was sidelined with a chain problem.

The last two races saw Conor Roach start from pole and cruise to comfortable wins to emerge overall winner on the day with 96 points.

In the last race in the Championship class both David Evelyn and Orry Hunte fought back after their earlier misfortunes to finish second and third respectively behind Roach.

The 125cc gearbox class saw the Maloney brothers Stuart and Mark dominate, winning all four races between them. Stuart suffered a recurring brake problem for most of the day and did well to emerge overall winner in this class.

In the 270-pound class the action was hot as Christian Hinds and Alexander Gill traded positions in the first two races. Both youngsters showed much improvement and this should be an interesting battle during the year. At the end of the day it was Alexander who emerged overall class winner. (CH)