Graham all the way

He said he would let his bike do the talking for him, and that is exactly what happened Sunday at the South Dakota circuit when Canadian Kevin Graham competed in the Super Bike category at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Mashramani Champion of Champions race meet.

Graham completely dominated the two super bike races, easily defeating his main rival Stephen Vieira to take second place in both races after it was deemed highly unlikely for the bikers to showcase their riding skills owing to the wetness of the track earlier on.

Graham had earlier stated that he was going for the lap record and that was evident on Sunday. However, unluckily for him, president of the GMR&SC Vikosh Persaud told Stabroek Sport that all the records were still intact at the end of the day’s events.

In one of the races, Graham gave up his pole position and chose to give the other competitors a lead close to 250 metres but he still won the race to avenge a defeat suffered at the hands of Vieira when he last did the same.

In the first race, he started on the second grid as he opted to give up his pole position once again. As his other competitors made a dash to the front, Graham calmly controlled his bike between the traffic to place himself in the top three with three laps to go.

He made his move after passing the starting line and took the lead from Vieira on the back straight to eventually win by two motorbike lengths.

In the second event in which he gave up a lead of 250 metres, Graham did not hesitate to show to the spectators, who braved the drizzles and waited patiently on the start of each event, the power his Sunburst- sponsored Yamaha 1000cc super bike possessed.

By the time the first lap was completed, he had moved into seventh place in a nine-bike race. He gradually stepped up his placing and on the turn for the fifth lap of an eight-lap event, he had the race leader who happened to be Vieira a mere 15 metres in front of him.

At this point, the 48-year-old Canadian Super Bike champion who stopped competing professionally since 1999 displayed professional skills on his bike to pass Vieira on the turn for the final lap warning.

He maintained a lead of 25 metres over him to eventually win the race. As was the case in the first event, Vieira had to settle for the runner-up position once again.

In an invited comment with Stabroek Sport, Graham showered praised on the local riders for their improved level of competitiveness.

“The competition keeps improving from the local riders, but I had some fun out there. They made me work harder and my bike sponsored by Sunburst performed well. Vieira especially was making me work harder and harder, but I do look forward to competing against him when I am here,” said Graham.

“I was a bit disappointed over the weather, which I have no control over. I am still happy that I was given the opportunity to ride and gave the spectators who waited a show for their money.”

In the two 125CC category races, Vieira avenged his loss to Graham by dominating the second after having to settle for the runner-up position in the first which was won by Ravi Singh. Chris Shaw and Ravi Rahaman took the other two positions in both races respectively.