Caribbean Karting Carnival 08 - Saturday
Palisadoes International Raceway, Kingston, Jamaica
5th July 2008
Photography by Devi Nath and Wayne Lee, Article by Aaron Lee

The Jamaica Karting Association held an eventful weekend at Palisadoes International Raceway located in Kingston, Jamaica.  There were numerous thrills and spills to be seen on the CIK approved track with competitors ranging from ages 7 to 50+ and each of them representing their country, Jamaica, T&T, Barbados and the United States.

11 drivers raced under The T&T flag. In the Rotax International class Marc Gill, Brandon Steele and Nicholas Narinesingh battled in the largest field. Rotax Masters was represented by Raj Baboolal, Faizool Madan, Ricardo Aguillera and veteran Gerrard Carrington. Shifter class saw fierce competition from Shahinder Singh, John Tannous, David Coelho and previous track record holder Ravi Singh.

Despite the teams vast improvement from their last showing in Jamaica it wasn't enough to bring home a win. Most of T&T's drivers ran mid-pack in all classes, however Ravi Singh managed to place 3rd overall on Saturday. John Tannous showed great perseverance throughout the week over coming technical bugs to run in a solid 2nd place in the Sunday final until being forced off the track.

The majority of the Americans ran in the Easy Kart class. Easy Kart is a full spec class where each competitor runs the exact same equipment. Everyone has the same chassis, engine, tyres even the same gearing. The class was designed to keep cost down and competition high, and it does exactly that. Joffery Amaya, Juan Arenas, Dominic Scheer and Frederico MONTOYA (yes, younger brother to former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya) ran in this class all being either past national or world champions. This class produced the most exciting racing of the weekend with drivers out braking each other constantly displaying mind boggling four wheel drift passes. This seems to be the class to join for the best racing, lowest cost and all the bragging rights.

Despite the results it was another great experience for the Trinis.  A great deal of knowledge was absorbed and hopefully we can come back stronger next year. It's going to take a little more than good equipment to catch the Jamaicans. With the right training ground T&T can produce some of the best drivers to come out of this region. The 1st step is to have our own CIK standards track or better yet a few in Trinidad.

Click images below to zoom. Please email Photographer Devi Nath for hi-res photos and posters.