Bushy Park played host to another round of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship’s Digicel Williams Seaboard Marine International Series last Sunday – and it was a day to remember.
After a trouble-ridden time in Round 1, Barbadian drivers such as Stuart Williams and Mark Thompson where looking for a complete turnaround of fortunes.
Action got under way just after 8 a.m. and those in Group 1 put on a good showing to help set the tempo for what was to come later.
Throughout the day, the drivers battled with each other with a few spills and thrills along the way.
Dale Hinkson was especially entertaining in his Mazda 323. While he did not win, he did show the little car can battle with the rest of the class.
Dirk Gray dominated the Group 2A all day long with the real action happening behind him as he spent time in front of the others.
Gregory Farnum had the Starlet on three wheels in most corners, while Ryan Francis did not have things his way all day, but he did give the fans a spin. That didn’t make his day any better. He was soon hitched up on a trailer and heading out of Bushy Park.
Group 2A also saw the Mini of Kurt Hamblin skating like a turtle down the main straight when he got tangled up with the Suzuki Forsa of Jermin Pope.
The driver got out and the car was swiftly put back on four wheels. Kudos to the response teams who did an excellent job.
In Group 2B, Roger Rowe emulated Farnum when his car opted to only use three wheels as well. It made for an entertaining spectacle.
Group 2B races had the highest rates of attrition throughout the day. One race saw Natasha Farnum not making it off the start line, while both Shawn Boxill and Stephen Elliot ended up spending the rest of the race on the grass after two mishaps.
Elsewhere in the class, both Karl Waterman and Quincy Jones were fast, so fast that after the first race they got promoted to Group 2C and this left Carlos Edwards to enjoy a great day’s racing as he put in fine drives to seal two first place finishes.
In Group 2C, Kenrick “Snappa” Husbands took command with three great races and he was also in contention to win the handicap as well.
The rest of the Starlet overload made the race exciting and the other cars also proved to be competitive.
Fans were also treated to a Nissan Skyline versus BMW showcase in Group 3 as Steve King in the Skyline and Justin Campbell in the BMW battled all day for top honours. The sheer power of King’s car set the crowd ahumming with its straight line speed.
While St Elmo Cumberbatch and Philip Moe set some fans in a frenzy as they honked car horns and blew other things, these two haven’t raced for a while, so it was nice to see them back in action.
If you ever wondered where you could learn to ride a bike, then Guyana is the place to learn. The riders put on a display of how to ride a bike like no other as they handled them like real professionals and dominated the Superbikes as expected.
One spectacular moment came when after attempting a pass, a rider appeared to have lost control of the bike but he dealt with the situation and sped along as if nothing had happened.
The boys from Group 4 really got the fans rolling as the hype behind Mark Maloney’s Turbo and Roger Mayers’ return seemed to have attracted the fans.
Mayers was there to dethrone Stuart Williams as record holder but that wasn’t to be as the track didn’t provide the right conditions.
However, any talk of who could beat who was quickly settled as Mayers dismantled the competition in all three races when no car on the day could keep up with his Ford’s acceleration.
Williams battled his was through Race 1 and from then, he was second best to Mayers.
Maloney’s car appeared to have let him down and he had to settle for some low-end action but that too, proved exciting.
