Saturday’s qualifying set the stage for an interesting battle in Guyana as the South Dakota Circuit hosted the ENET Caribbean Clash of Champions.
In the unlimited class, upped from group four to accommodate the touring RS01 of T&T’s Franklyn Boodram and Jamaica’s Doug Gore’s ‘Beast’ Audi, fans anticipated a huge battle among them, the Barbadian Veteran Mark Maloney and the defending Guyana team of Kevin Jeffrey, Mark Vieira and Vishok Persuad.
And when it came down to qualifying, there was less than a second between Boodram and Vieira, the former’s qualifying time of 1:16.769 being eclipsed by Vieira’s 1.16.596 with just under two-tenths separating the two front row cars. Boodram showed a 1:15.77 on his personal lap timer in practice.
Further back Vishok Persaud’s KTM X-Bow (1:17.006) just four-tenths back of the front row with CAM’s Mohan Rangasammy fourth ahead of Guyana’s Gavin Guyadin, followed by Gore and Guyana’s Andrew King.
Hometown hero Kevin Jeffrey, failed to get a qualifying time after mechanical difficulties.
And the stage was set for Sunday gauntlet.
But on Race one, Gore rocketed to the front of the pack, blasting past both Mark Vieira and Boodram to get to turn 1 first; Persaud also launching round the outside of Vieira while Maloney, brave on the brake, snuck down the inside of the first corner.
From then, Gore extended his lead with Maloney second. Vieira got past Persaud on the entry to the hairpin for third and then set off in chase of Maloney in second place, only for them to collide at the entry to the back straight leaving those behind to navigate past the two stricken cars now in the middle of the track.
Eventually, both drivers got moving again but didn’t make it more than a corner further, both drivers crashing again; Maloney out for the rest of the day and Vieira limping back to the pit.
Three laps into the eight lap race, Boodram took an excursion off track and returned to the track spreading heaps of sand all across the racing line and eventually forcing the race to be red flagged as the track conditions changed dramatically.
Race two never got going as Jeffrey and Gore had a collision at the exit of turn one, the former slamming into the back of the latter after a false start.
Race three brought the most promise of a complete race and from the get go, the RS01 was off on a flier, leaving Persaud, Vieira and Rangasammy to settle in his dust. But it was not to be, another off track excursion in the hairpin beached the RS01 again and that ended the day for the Trinidadian driver.
Vieira and Persaud battled for three laps, entertaining the crowd with some wheel-to-wheel action, but Viera was too late on the brake in his Mazda RX-8 and was forced to run straight, giving Persaud an easy road to victory.
Though Vieira came back through the pack, it was never going to be enough to stop Vishok and the X-bow from their win.
Persaud, congratulated by H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali who watched the race.
Elsewhere, the team Speedway Renault Megane was sold on the trip to Guyana, the car reportedly bought by the owners of a popular trucking and construction company.
Aboard the superbikes, it was Team Mohamed’s Daniel Lindfoot and Lee Jackson ahead of Matthew Vieira. Vieira, who diced his way with an eventual fourth passing James Westmoreland before crossing the chequered flag, much to the pleasure of the capacity crowd.
Race two was stopped after two riders unfortunately collided on the entry to the first corner. Race three saw Team Mohamed’s trio take the top spots.
Group Three had Danny Persaud and his Mazda Miata and Steven Nobrega winning each of the two BM Soat Renegade Race Fuel Sponsored Starlet Cup races.
There was one win apiece for the Honda Civics of Group Two’s Mohamed Shairaz Roshandin and Chet Singh while the Rookie category had two wins for Mohamed Ashad Ali and his Toyota Yaris GR.
This event showed promise for a restart of a regional circuit racing championship since the end of the CMRC series in 2018.
