Major Success

– Says GMR&SC of November to Remember
President of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Aaron Bethune Monday night hailed the third and final round of the Seaboard Marine-sponsored Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) a major success.

Bethune made the disclosure at the award ceremony and dinner Monday evening at the Princess Hotel.
Barbados won the country championships with Jamaica second and Guyana third while Jamaica’s David Summerbell lifted the CRMC driving title for the fourth time in his illustrious career.

President of the Jamaica Race Drivers Club Hilary Jardine receives the CMRC Champion Driver trophy on behalf David Summerbell who won his Fourth championship on Sunday. (Aubrey Crawford Photo)
President of the Jamaica Race Drivers Club Hilary Jardine receives the CMRC Champion Driver trophy on behalf David Summerbell who won his Fourth championship on Sunday. (Aubrey Crawford Photo)

Guyana’s Andrew King was second and Barbados’ veteran ace driver Douglas Maloney, third.
“I think we ran a perfectly-executed race,” said Bethune, who had his first outing at the CMRC since becoming president of the club earlier this year.
The GMR&SC president noted that Sunday’s event was well-attended and he lauded the drivers and riders for giving a day of exciting racing to the Guyanese public.
“Hats off to all the guys before in all the groups. We really enjoyed it. But I must give special mention to Stephen Vieira, Kevin Graham, Roger Mayers and our very own Andrew King. By far, the Group 4 and the Big Bikes were exciting and I think those two were the crowd pleasers for the day,” Bethune noted.
Vieira stormed to three superb wins over Graham in the Big Bike category. It was the first time that Graham who has been coming here since 1993, had been beaten in all three Super Bike events.

Mayers, on the other hand, was racing his Ford Focus out of Barbados for the first time and he certainly made a name for himself, steering his car to a new lap record at the South Dakota Circuit clocking 34.550 seconds. He also won two of the three races on the day.

His success at the meet was reflected in the loud applause that greeted his name when called to receive his award by Master of Ceremony Nigel Hughes.
The Bajan was set to end his inaugural run at the Timehri track with an outright win but Guyana’s ‘King’ Andrew had other ideas,  picking up his first win in the CMRC series with Mayers second.

 Like Rossi!  Guyana’s Stephen ‘Valentino Rossi’ Vieira is all smiles on top of the podium as he is flanked by Canada’s Kevin Graham (right) and Maurice Menezes (left) (Aubrey Crawford photo)
Like Rossi! Guyana’s Stephen ‘Valentino Rossi’ Vieira is all smiles on top of the podium as he is flanked by Canada’s Kevin Graham (right) and Maurice Menezes (left) (Aubrey Crawford photo)

“Roger (Mayers) says he loves Guyana and trust me, we really appreciate his visit here with that car because I think even before the race, when he broke the lap record, it set the tone for the race and I was happy to see that Andrew rose to the competition, so kudos to the guys and I think next year will be bigger because we expect more cars out of Barbados and Jamaica,” Bethune told Stabroek Sport.

Bethune also believes that the rookies in the lower groups,  2A, 2B and 3 along with the 125cc motor cycles were very competitive and he thanked them for being up to scratch.

Among the thousands at the track was President Bharrat Jagdeo and Bethune told Stabroek Sport that he was able to have a meaningful conversation with the head of state as it relates to motor racing.

“Well yes, I had a word with President Jagdeo and I trust that certain things could materialize soon based on what he saw, but I don’t really want to throw certain things out there right now, understand, but in all he was satisfied,” the GMR&SC head noted.

At the dinner and awards presentation, representatives of three countries (Guyana, Barbados and Jamaica) all conceded that the CMRC this year was well attended and received by both the drivers and spectators.

This, they noted, was due to the fact that drivers and their sponsors are spending a lot of money on their cars, especially in the Group 4 and CMRC championship and this could only augur well for the sport of motor racing in the Caribbean.
Meanwhile, the first round of the 2010 CMRC will be held at Dover Raceway in Jamaica with the second round at Bushy Park in Barbados and the final leg at the South Dakota Circuit.