7th. AutoSport Drags 2001 - 14th October 2001

Article by Rawle Mahbir
Photography by Duane Boodasingh, Daren Dhoray and Rawle Francis

The AutoSport Drag Racing Event held this past weekend saw serious efforts being made to have more efficient Events being staged. On Sunday, with the full cooperation of the competitors, the drivers meeting was held just after 12 and qualifying began shortly thereafter. So this trend will be vigorously pursued in coming Events and late comers will possibly lose their first run by default. The spectators will now also have to take this into consideration and come in much earlier if they are not to miss any early runs. And this will apply to all the big guns who have traditionally not made an appearance on the track until later on in the afternoon.

In a bizarre chain of coincidences, the Open Class competitors were all afflicted with mechanical woes of one kind or the other. On Saturday, Ricardo Pustam who has recorded the fastest time so far for the year, experienced engine problems and failed to make it to the track with his Showtime Rail on Sunday. Gordon Rooks also suffered with very low oil pressure in his engine but he was intent on making an appearance with his Texaco Tweety Laurel, in his bid to still have a fighting chance for the Open Class Championship.

The Sheik Lisha Camaro, put down some really electrifying runs on Saturday with his newly installed Nitrous System, and expert observers are convinced that with the traction problems under control, Feraz Akaloo can easily get this machine down under the eight seconds barrier. And Richie Rich with the M&M Mitsubishi Magna also experienced timing problems with his engine. So what should have been a shoe-in for the best performer on Race day turned out to be a battle of wits at the start line. With Rooks just able to make it to the stage sensors, with low oil pressure in his engine, Akaloo was able to make a relaxed pass and take an easy win, but his transmission overheated in this run and he was out for the day. Richie Rich battled on with his mechanics eventually getting his engine roaring again, and was thus able to make two comfortable runs and register his third win for the year.

The Ten Seconds Class saw Hero Boodram scoring a hat-trick of wins with his Hero 1 Special. This totally home-made machine sporting a combination of components from various cars, and the only V8 Turbo-Charged engine in local competition, has shown how simple ingenuity with a low budget can be rewarding for one who is willing to experiment. Kent Jacob "made a borrow" and some racing power boat was left without an engine this weekend, as Kent Jacob ensured that he did not lose his precious points lead at this critical time in the season. Jason Laing and his Puff-N-Stuff Turbo Rotary placed third.

Prentice Ali, the technical guru behind the turbo-charged Aboud Honda Civics, was able to pilot this machine to its first win in the 12-Seconds Class. And another one of his machines, this time the radically lightened Vauxhall Calibra Turbo, owned and driven by Mark Bartlett grabbed the second spot from points leader Gary Smith in V8 Galant Wagon.

In 13 seconds, Paul Chung with his Ford Powered V8 Statesman was an easy winner over the very experienced Dale Mayers who is making a welcome return with his now turbo-charged Mazda RX 7. And Cristian Tam gave an inspiring performance with this highly tweaked but daily road-going Subaru WRX.

Renny Tokhai maintained his winning ways with his Corolla straight six in the 14 Seconds Bracket, over Cristian Bourne with his Mitsubishi Evolution IV and Andrew Savory with his 1800 Turbo-charged Datsun 120Y.

The 15 seconds Class is breeding a host of new and young drivers. Navin Maraj with his supercharged Corolla improved on his second place in 16 seconds last time out, to easily register his first win over first-timer Clint Kumar with his 2000cc B13 Sentra and Arjune Sookhan with his 2800cc Escort.

And Douglas Stampfli who has constantly been in the top three, finally registered his first win over the consistent Marlon Benjamin with his Turbo Starlet in the 16 seconds class. Tonya James held on to third spot this time around with her 2000cc B13.

Marlon also won the Best-Reaction-Time award with a perfect .500 seconds reaction at the start.

The fastest 4-cylinder trophy was won by Prentice Ali with the Aboud Turbo Honda Civic registering 11.981 seconds @ 116.58 mph.

The fastest six cylinder was won by Larry Ragoobar with his Charmant clocking 12.194 secs. @ 109.22 mph.

Jason Laing again romped away with the fastest Rotary engine car of the day registering 10.918 secs. @ 120.32 secs. And Feraz Akaloo won the coveted trophy of fastest car of the day running through the quarter mile in 9.113 secs. @156 mph.

So what's the status of the 2001 Championship up to this point? Well there are two drivers with unassailable leads, who can comfortably be confirmed as Champions in their respective classes. In 13 Seconds, Paul Chung with his consistency of 4 first place finishes and two thirds just blew away his challengers. And in the 14 seconds Class Renny Tokhai with four wins and two second-place finishes also cannot be overtaken by his closest rival.

But there are also those drivers who only have to earn entry and appearance points at the next Event to confirm their championships for 2001. These are Kent Jacob in 10 seconds and Gary Smith in the 12 seconds Bracket.

And those who are fighting down to the wire are Tonya James, with a comfortable 100 points lead in 16 seconds, Erica Jobity Dinnoo who is a mere thirty points behind Steve Mohan in the 15 seconds Class. And in the Open Class, Richie Rich with the M&M Mitsubishi Magna is also just 30 points ahead of Gordon Rooks with his Texaco Tweety Laurel.

Rumor has it that a new below-ten-seconds Honda Civic is being imported and should hit the local track for the final AutoSport Event on the 2nd December, 2001. And making a welcome return will be the Sean Ready Rotary Sunny now with Turbo Power. Then there is the almost complete new Skoda Wagon with straight-6 power, so this final Event will be certainly one not to miss.

And AutoSport will also be staging their annual Christmas treat with Santa Claus arriving by Parachute with gifts for all the kids in attendance