AutoSport Promotions Drag Racing Preview - for 14th October 2001

Drag Racing competitors are sharpening their swords to engage in battle this coming weekend. With the unfortunate cancellation of the planned International Events on the 14th AND 21st October, because of the devastating incidents of 11th September, the long wait in between Events has seen competitors employing different strategies to ensure bragging rights at the end of the day. Of course with the rabid supporters pushing "their boys" as the fastest and best in the land, there is never any end to who is doing what, who can beat who, who "cyar" drive, and who spending more money than who.

Answers are all available at the end of the quarter mile.

For a change, this weekend there will be NO Dial-Up action.

Instead, on Saturday, AutoSport will be installing the timing system and all are invited to find out how fast their cars really are. Too often we see drivers adding all sorts of go-fast devices, bigger turbos, multiple carbs. and extractors, and the end result is plenty noise but how much faster is the car really travelling? So for a small fee of $20.00. and with the car properly scrutineered and indemnity form signed, drivers can then make as many passes as they wish. Timing from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm sharp.

On Sunday serious attempts are being made and with the full cooperation of the drivers to start racing from very early. The drivers meeting is planned for 12 noon promptly. And qualifying for all the brackets will be run off in sequence. This means that by 1:30 pm all the cars should have already made their first qualifying runs, so late comers will possibly lose their first run by default. Brackets will be contested from 16 seconds right up to the Open class.

Ricardo Pustam has recorded the fastest time so far for the year. And he feels that he has unearthed the gremlins that have been having him crawling into the red lights. So with a re-programmed tranny, he is confident of again lowering his best time for the year.

But the Sheik Lisha team has been fine tuning their big block Camaro and are promising vast improvements on their times. How is this possible? They plan to walk the talk!

Richie Rich with the M&M Insurance Mitsubishi Magna, and current leader in the open class by a mere 10 points, is strutting on his toes and confident that he can get the better of Gordon Rooks in his Texaco Tweety Laurel V8. But Gordon is game to prove that his driving talents can see him back to the top. Michael Douglas with this Team Pressure Xtreme V8 Rail is also confident that he can pull something special out of the bag, so with Taw Bejai in the fray, the Open class will see plenty action once all the components stay in one piece.

The ten seconds class is now wide open and as expected all the drivers are supremely confident that the rest are along for the ride. The main man here, Kent Jacob with his Rug Doctor" V8 Cortina is finally getting the competition he has been begging for. Having punched a new breathing hole in the side of his block last time out, Kent as is expected, is coming out bigger and better, what this means we will have to see on Sunday. The man on a Roll however is Hero Boodram who will be looking to score a hat-trick of wins. His Hero 1 Special has been improving by leaps and bounds and he will have an interesting battle with Jason Laing and his Puff-N-Stuff Turbo Rotary. And Ken Gokool with his Green Day V8 Cortina has corrected his suspension problems so he feels positive abut upsetting the apple cart amongst this group.

The most hotly contested 12 seconds bracket will again be where the action can see some major upsets. Points leader Gary Smith is certain to be fighting for his top-notch status. With a rare mechanical breakdown last time out, Gary and his Super-Tune prepared V8 Galant Wagon is leaving no stone unturned to be on top of the likes of the Honda gladiators Gerald Aboud and Yuri Mulchansingh. And first time winner Ian Lord with his Stag-sponsored VW that puts down, or is up, the best wheelie show at the start line is out to prove that his below 12 seconds performance was no fluke, is again quietly confident in going for a repeat. Brian Franco with his straight six 38 Special Escort and Oswald Stoute are not to be discounted in this tough group of experienced competitors.

In 13 seconds everyone will be gunning for Paul Chung with is Ford Powered V8 Statesman. And with the likes of Mark Bartlett, Keith Rampersad, Terrence Gunness and winner last time out Prentice Ali, picking a winner in this group can be challenging.

The battle between Renny Tokhai and Oswald Stoute in 14 seconds may be side-tracked by newcomer Visham Sooklal with his straight-six Galant Wagon But these two very experienced drivers are not about to roll over and play dead.

The 15 seconds Class sees Erica Jobity-Dinnoo climbing back to the top, with just Steve Mohan blocking her championship run. But she will have to battle the likes of Keith Darbeau, Rajiv Sant, and Calil Sooknarine to prove her ability in this male dominated sport.

And would you believe that the 16 seconds class also has female driver Tonya James in her 2000cc B13 a comfortable 120 points ahead of her closest rival Marlon Benjamin with his Turbo Starlet. Here also we have Douglas Stampfli, Sunil Parsan Nizam Mohammed and Navin Maraj pulling out all stops to dethrone Tonya from her comfortable lead.

AutoSport with the full cooperation of the drivers is hoping to have early run offs for all classes and possibly have some Grudge runs at the end of the Day.