by EZRA STUART

in Guyana

TOP BARBADOS race driver Mark Maloney is ready for the challenge from Jamaican David Summerbell and the Guyanese contingent in the final leg of this year's Caribbean Motor Racing Championships (CMRC), which revs off at the South Dakota Circuit tomorrow.

After the two legs in Jamaica and Barbados, Maloney (39 points) trails Summerbell (48) by nine points in the race for the CMRC champion driver title but Team Barbados are leading on 82 points, followed by Jamaica (64) and Guyana (32).

In an interview with the SATURDAY SUN at the Princess Guyana International Hotel yesterday morning, Maloney said he believes Barbados can clinch the overall championship.

Maloney, who drives a Mazda RX3, which is sponsored by Rockstar/Royal Bank of Canada/Digicel and Maloney's Racing, said preparations have been going smoothly ahead of today's qualifying after a practice run on the circuit on Thursday.

"It is the first time we have ever been at a race meet and managed to get the car on the track and actually do some practising on a Thursday. We are always behind the Eight-ball and scrambling to get ready," he observed.

Maloney believes his biggest challenge will come from the four-wheel-drive cars.

"As you know, the championship is made up of the two-wheel-drive class and the four-wheel-drive class, so the biggest challenge will come from the likes of David Summerbell, who is first in the points standings at present, and Roger Mayers, who is not in contention for the championship but whose car [a turbocharged Ford Focus] is very quick."

Hometown driver Andrew King is another whom Maloney will be keeping a close eye on in the tough Group 3.

"He has been posting some good times in the last two weeks and this is his home turf, so he has the advantage here.

"We also have Mark Vieira, who hasn't driven yet but his car should be pretty quick. There is also Chris Campbell from Jamaica, Steve King and Doug Maloney from Barbados.

"It is going to be a tough weekend but, as always, we will give it our best shot and we hope that we can give David Summerbell the best that we can to see if we can pull off the championship," Maloney said.

In between the second leg in Barbados and the start of this, the last leg, Maloney and his team of mechanics enhanced the Mazda RX3.

"We did some work to the flywheel to allow the car to rev a little quicker to see if we can get a little more acceleration. We've done some suspension work.

"It is in constant development, but we are at the stage now that the car is just out of the box right now," he said.

Among the other Barbadian drivers in Guyana for the meet are Kurt and Mark Thompson and Kenrick "Snappa" Husbands; Bert Miller will spearhead the bikers.

Maloney said the Bajan drivers would also have plenty of home support, as several die-hard fans will be coming in from Barbados, once they get flights.

"I understand there [are] probably close to 1 000 people coming down from Barbados for this race meet. You couldn't even get flights out or flights in, so it is going to be an exciting weekend," he said.

The meet will feature 23 events, and apart from the car racing in Groups 2, 3 and 4, there will also be go-kart and motorbike races.