With
beautiful weather and a large, enthusiastic crowd,
the highly anticipated 6th National Championship Round
of the Trinidad & Tobago Motorsport Federation
(TTMF) got under way at roughly 12:00 pm, at the Wallerfield
Circuit Raceway.
The battle for champion driver in each class was
on, with very close standings at the top. In Group
1 (Nissan B13 “stock” cars), Gregory
De Verteuil (the defending champion), David Coelho
and Christian Hospedales were all within a few points
of each other in the standings, with one race meet
having the ability to shuffle the positions of these
drivers. Much the same story is evident in Group
2B, where the battle is between Mark Singh in his
Tola prepped Honda Civic and Franklyn Boodram in
his Honda CRX, with veteran “Uncle”
Tom Miller in his Toyota Corolla lurking dangerously
behind. Group 2A provides perhaps the most anticipated
competition, with Stuart ‘Sorbie’ Johnson
in his orange Krazy Kustoms Honda Civic, Gary Hunt
in his red ‘Crouching Tiger’ Honda Civic,
Ravi Singh in his yellow 3rd Generation Mazda RX7,
and Tanko Baboolal in his red 3rd Generation Mazda
RX7 all within close g.php of each other in the
points table, providing a fierce battle for the
top spot. This class is also the fastest of the
set, with 1650cc and over engines modified, whereas
in Group 2B only engines that are under 1650cc are
allowable!
This
day, however, would turn out to be one of survival!
Several of the top cars did not show as a result
of problems experienced. In Group 2B, Franklyn Boodram
and his CRX could not make it, as he had broken
a valve seal while testing during the week before.
From group 2A, Stuart Johnson's orange Civic also
was not there, as he was plagued by mechanical problems.
Tanko Baboolal's red 3rd Generation Mazda RX7 also
suffered the same fate; however he used Aslim Ali's
red and silver 2nd Generation RX7 instead for this
meet! This was compounded by Gary Hunt’s retirement
while practicing in the morning. In his second lap,
he rode the curve going into the back straight and
the arm on his right rear suspension broke in two,
putting his car into a terrible slide at the high
speed at which he was driving. However, being an
excellent driver, Gary managed to neatly control
the “Crouching Tiger,” preventing any
more damage to this Tola prepped Honda, and eventually
coming to a rest at the side of the track leaving
a trail of smoke behind him. As the day progressed,
several other cars were forced to retire. However
this did not dampen the spirits of the crowd, who
were treated to an excellent display of driving
at its highest quality!
First on the agenda was qualifying with the new
Formula 1 style format, whereby each competitor
is given two flying laps to produce their fastest
time, from which they will be placed on the grid
for their first race. This new method implemented
this year has proven to be a real crowd pleaser,
as drivers are forced to push the limits of their
car to the absolute extreme to get what is often
referred to as “that one perfect lap.”
On this day, however, several of the drivers present
chose to stay in the pits and save their cars for
the race, very aware of the high attrition rate
that was being experienced! In Group 1, pole eventually
went to David Coelho, with Gregory De Verteuil following
in a close second. Mark Singh copped the pole in
Group 2B, while Ravi Singh did a blistering lap
to ensure he would start first on the Group 2A grid.
With qualifying completed, the stage was set for
the day’s competition, with three class races
per group, one handicap race and a super car race.
In
Group 1 (Stock cars/B13s), it was more or less the
same story at the top throughout the day: David
Coelho vs. Gregory De Verteuil! David came out on
top twice, winning the first and third races, while
Gregory won the second race, leaving the rest of
the competitors to settle in nicely behind them.
There was very exciting, close racing between those
two for all of the races, with bumper to bumper
action. Different racing lines were being tried
by either driver in search of gaining or keeping
that top spot, leaving the crowd on their feet as
each driver locked up his brakes several times in
their relentless battle. In the last race, one of
the “back marker’s” engine blew
coming out of the Da Costa Jones corner, shrouding
the entire area in a large expanse of smoke. This
left visibility levels very low, causing Gregory
De Verteuil, who was in the lead at that point,
to brake late and lock up, going wide through the
left-handed turn and allowing David Coelho to pass
him. It was by sheer skill that Greg managed to
keep his car on the course and out of harms way.
In an effort to keep his championship hopes alive,
Christian Hospedales used Jimmy Fifi’s car
for the last 2 races, as he had to retire his blue
Vibe Sentra with mechanical problems after the first
race. He managed to obtain 3rd places in both of
these, a job well done considering the car was not
set up for his driving style. Frankie Boodram, now
a legend of T&T racing, managed 4th and 5th
place finishes in his yellow Speedway Sentra, excellent
work considering that his car is not as highly modified
as the other top competitors.
Group
2A and 2B as well as Group 3 (one car-Haresh Nanan,
as his car was 500 pounds lighter than the standard
for Group 2B, as well as being turbo charged) were
run together due to the high attrition levels. In
the first race, Ravi Singh in his yellow 3rdGen
RX7 (Group 2A) laid down the law, pulling away from
the other drivers at the start and never looking
back, while “Uncle” Tom Miller was the
fastest of the Group 2B cars in his Toyota Corolla.
Both Tanko Baboolal and Mark Singh retired from
this race, with the latter driver having his car
become subject to an amazing fire on the last lap.
Good work was done by the track marshals to get
to his car in time to extinguish the flames, salvaging
the car and ensuring the driver was safe.
In the second race, Tanko got the car’s problems
sorted out and ran away with the race in the 2nd
Generation RX7 of Aslim Ali, but the battle for
second between Ravi Singh and Peter Edghill in
his red 1st Generation RX7, had the crowd in awe!
This 1stGen was
prepared by Mohammed Ali (the original Killer Bee)
who will be driving the car in Peter Edghill's
absence at the September race meet. Bumper
to bumper racing, excellent passing, beautiful sliding
saves and powering down the straights were the real
deal between these two! It was absolutely brilliant,
with both cars neck and neck throughout almost the
entire race, leaving the crowd on their feet in
amazement! Edghill’s car suffered from an
amazing lack of traction through the turns, keeping
him busy for the entire race, ensuring he utilised
the most of his car control to stay on the track
as long as possible.
His
traction problems were cancelled off by his amazing
power though, as his rotary engine blew past Ravi’s
similar rotary on the straight with incredible power.
Unfortunately, Edghill spun out on the first turn
in the second to last lap, where he had been going
wide for most of the race, and eventually finished
lower down the order. Ravi Singh also had a mechanical
problem near the end of the race, and lost several
places as his car limped slowly over the finish
line and came to a stop a short distance after.
He would not be able to continue for the rest of
the day, as his car’s problems could not be
fixed in time. “Uncle Tom” again managed
to take first place in Group 2B, making inroads
into the championship lead of Franklyn and Mark.
In the final race of these classes, Mark Singh,
who had retired in the first and so not competing
in the second, managed to come back and win his
3rd class race (Group 2B) quite comfortably, also
keeping the flying Tanko at bay, who was in the
higher Group 2A and coming up behind him. The other
exciting battle this time was between Peter Edghill
and the yellow Nissan B12, which in the end managed
to keep Edghill at bay. This was not after some serious
challenges though, however yet again lack of traction
proved to be Peter’s downfall through the
turns. It must be said, excellent work was done
by the Tola's Engineering crew to get Mark Singh
back out, after his large mechanical failure at
the end of first race in which a sizeable fire had
to be extinguished.
Following
these was the super car race, which is always a
huge enjoyment for the crowd and racers alike. This
is a street legal class for some of the fastest
cars roaming the roads of T&T. On this day there
were 6 competitors, a silver Mitsubishi Evolution
7, Nebert Marin in his white Evolution 6, with his
Apexi N1 Pro suspension ready and waiting (also
the previous winner at the last circuit meet), Christian
Bourne in his blue Subaru WRX STi (the reigning
Solodex champion), a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, a Mitsubishi
hatchback with Turbo Mivec and a Black Evolution
6 ‘Tommi Makinen Edition’ driven by
Steve Lakhansingh, one of the members assisting
in the Tola’s crew. These cars were subject
to a standing start (Formula 1 style), as compared
to the rolling starts used for the racecars.
From the get-go it was an exciting race, with the
Silver Evo7 leaping off the grid at the drop of
the flag, to move from his starting position of
6th to 2nd going into the first turn. It was a launch
that would have made Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli
proud, the drivers of the Renault F1 car which is
renowned for its spectacular starts.
Christian
Bourne led from flag to flag, however the real treat
was between the Evolutions, 6 and 7! There was exciting
action between them for most of the race, with the
nitrous spraying Evo7 powering away on the straights
and making some lovely slides through the first
turn and back section. Nebert seemed to have the
best brakes on the day, especially into the last
turn/hairpin, where he really showed what he could
do. Both the Evo6 and Evo7 did run wide several
times however, again showing off their brilliant
control with their respective Mitsubishis, sliding
around many of the turns. The rest of the field
more or less fell into order behind them, although
once or twice when Nebert ran wide, he was passed
by the VR-4, only to regain his position by going
down the inside of the Galant into the hairpin.
On the last lap though, the Crank Angle Sensor on
the Evo7 had a problem causing the car to shut off,
and so he went off the track from the back straight,
where he parked up on the bottom end of the course
with smoke emanating from his car. Nebert and a
track marshal in a Subaru WRX eventually went over
at the end of the race to help him back into the
pits. There was no stopping Christian Bourne though,
as he took his nitrous punching Subaru STi to the
chequered flag with no challenge. The final order
was the Subaru STi (Christian Bourne), the Evo6
(Nebert Marin), the Galant VR-4, the Mitsubishi
Hatchback and the black Evo6. Well done by all of
them, putting on a great treat for the crowd!
The handicap race then followed, which Tanko Baboolal
won, with Mark Singh coming in second. The race
turned out to be a battle of the survivors, who
had managed to keep their cars intact and working
throughout the day’s races.
There
was also some good crowd entertainment, with NP
Ultra t-shirt giveaways for spectators dancing etc.
Overall it was quite a good meet, despite the number
of cars that did not participate or retired during
the meet itself, which were rather large in number.
The crowd leaving was surely a very happy bunch,
as they had witnessed some great racing, with nail
biting action at times. The track marshals should
also be complimented for the great job they did,
being quick and responsive with several fires to
cars and others that retired on the course, helping
them back to the pits safely.
Overall it was an excellent effort by the TTMF
and crew for putting on this race day, and the sensational
show given to the crowd is sure to have them coming
back in September, when hopefully all of the top
guns would be out in their full force, providing
even better racing action (if that’s possible).
You can order hi-res versions of these pics on CD
from photographer John Gioannetti!!!
Click here to send an order
