GMR&SC National Race of Champions – Round Two

Sunday’s GMR&SC National Race of Champions, Round Two will see some 22 events with Guyana’s top drivers expecting to bring out their machines for a day of quality racing, according to newly-elected President of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Aaron Bethune.

Flashback! Paul Vieira (inset) making a lap with the checkered flag after winning one of his three Group Four races in round one of the National Race of Champions (Orlando Charles photo)
Flashback! Paul Vieira (inset) making a lap with the checkered flag after winning one of his three Group Four races in round one of the National Race of Champions (Orlando Charles photo)

And after astonishing thousands in round one Paul Vieira is hoping that his success would flow over to the sequel of the event.

Competing against the likes of Andrew King and Mark Vieira who are known as elite racing drivers in the Caribbean, Paul simply stole the show in his Carib Beer sponsored Mazda RX7, blazing the track to win all of his Group 4 races.
Spectators had turned up to see the usual battle between Mark who was sporting his new Digicel/Shell V-Powered Sponsored Mazda RX8 and King in his GT&T Cellink Plus tube frame Mazda 7 but little did they know, Paul had a different idea and  produced the best driving on that day.

The Canada-based 41-year-old Vieira told Stabroek Sport yesterday  that his car is still in top shape from the last time but he is looking to  make it even better.

“Well my car is still ok, nothing has really changed from the last meet, but we are still doing some fine tuning to make it even better, so as it is right now, I’m ready,” said Vieira.

Like a true sportsman, Vieira said that he expects his competitors to come out blazing this time around since he’s sure they would want to make amends for their performance at the last meet.

He said  he’s not sure about the readiness of his younger brother Mark, but King has been doing some amount of work on his car since the last meet when he bowed out after the first race.

The older Vieira said that he would not be under any pressure to come out on top but he is  anxiously waiting to face his rivals whom he hopes would field well-prepared machines.

“You know the last time I won, Mark and Andrew had some serious troubles with their cars and thankfully mine was running trouble free, so this time I hope that they would get their machines up and ready in time so we can have a good race,” said Vieira.

Meanwhile the GMR&SC president disclosed that the issue between veteran race car drivers Chet Singh and Jad Rahaman has been resolved and the two are expected to resume their heated rivalry on Sunday at the South Dakota Circuit in round two of the National Race of Champions.
At the last meet in May, Rahaman was banned for what was deemed by the officials as dangerous driving in causing damage to Singh’s car on turn number one in the second race in the Group ‘2B’ class.

The accident had caused Singh’s team Best Buy to publicly criticize  team ‘JR’ Burgers and Rahaman for what they thought was a willful act.

However GMR&SC’s disciplinary committee was brought into the matter and it was subsequently resolved.