TTRC Rally - 'Preysal Bites Again'
20th April 2008
Photography by: Wayne Lee, Karen Pinhiero, Candace Bhagirath, Rishi Williams, Gerrard Wilson, Devi Nath and Duane Boodasingh
Article by: Robert Cadiz - TTRC Treasurer

On the heels of an action-packed Rally Trinidad 2008, the Trinidad and Tobago Rally Club hosted its 3rd High Speed Stages Event for 2008 on Sunday April 20th. "Preysal Bites Again" was an 8–stage affair with the "Snake" run for the morning stages (#1-4) and the ever popular "Indian Trail to Zig Zag" used for the afternoon stages (#5-8). Teams benefited from the great racing conditions mainly due to the impressive stage preparation by Junior Sammy for Rally Trinidad '08.

The field numbered an impressive 18 entrants with Bajan James Betts and Jamaican Bobby Marshal returning for some post RT08 gravel action. They would soon find out that RT08 was no fluke on the part of the local boys as Ainsley Lochan, and Rezan Mohamed opened the competition with the top times in the respective 4WD and 2WD classes. The "Snake" run was a little slippery due to the morning showers, but the weather held up nicely to allow some impressive driving by the STAG/NP Ultra/Oakley Team of Lochan/Dumas who were the only team to post consecutive sub 2 minute times. With Lochan laying down the hammer so early in the day Betts, Barry Mckenzie and Vishal Dhanraj had some serious catching up to do in order to stay within sight of the leader.

The 2WD class saw Rezan Mohamed in the Vigorade Mitsubishi Colt continuing his impressive form from RT08 with times that rivalled some of the 4WD teams. Like Lochan he was fastest in all 3 morning stages (SS1 was cancelled due to wet conditions) and carried a 12 second lead over Bobby Marshal going into the afternoon stages. The 2WD class lived up to its competitive hype with the 10 teams finishing the morning stages with a mere 40 seconds separating the fastest and slowest times. Roger Mckenzie in his naturally aspirated Toyota RunX managed to keep the pressure on Marshal all day with some very consistent times but in the end could only hold onto 2nd place in Group 2-3.

The afternoon session took the competitors to the fan favourite stage - "Indian Trail to Zig Zag". Stages #5-8 saw Lochan and Mohamed continue their blistering pace smashing the hopes of any other potential first place contenders. With the rest of the field driving hard for second and third place spots, the inevitable mistakes started to surface. Betts hit the front left of his Subaru Impreza on the last corner of SS6 which ended his day and any chances of holding off Mckenzie and Dhanraj. Although Dhanraj in his Scotia Bank Subaru retired after SS7 with a blown engine his times were good enough to secure 3rd spot in 4WD category with Team NP Ultra's Barry Mckenzie and Barry Samaroo in their Evo 6 managing a well earned 2nd place. Mckenzie will definitely be pleased with his Team's performance last weekend after his early exit from RT08.

Another driver seeing a welcome return to form was Darrel Ramesar who finished all 7 stages and ended the day comfortably in 2nd place behind Rezan in Group 2-4, but could only sit and watch in agony as Bobby Marshal held onto 2nd place in overall 2WD and 1st place in Group 2-3. Long time Rally enthusiast Fawaz Mohamed made a great comeback to the sport after a long absence. His shaky start to the 2008 campaign and a last minute withdrawal from RT08 is probably forgotten now as he posted the fastest 2WD times on SS7 and SS8. Unfortunately his hefty penalty for not completing SS5 kept him out of the top three.

This event will surely leave the fans eagerly awaiting the next round of High Speed Stages which will be a 2-day event carded for July 5th and 6th.

RESULTS:

Group 2A (4WD)
1st - Ainsley Lochan/Robert Dumas
2nd - Barry Mckenzie/Barry Samaroo
3rd - Vishal Dhanraj/Ryan Ramsingh

Group 2-4 (2WD)
1st - Rezan Mohamed/Arshad Mondro
2nd - Darrel Ramesar/Mikhail Ramadhar
3rd - Ansel Ali/Sean Hinds

Group 2-3 (2WD)
1st - Bobby Marshal/Anand Awai
2nd - Roger Mckenzie/Max Jallai