Jamaica and Barbados, synonymous to history. Guyana was now in the spotlight for round 3 of the 2011 Caribbean Motor Racing Championship.  With the smoothest track in the CMRC series and the  fastest cars in the Caribbean, the stage was set for a mighty showdown.

The results of the previous CMRC race held in Barbados, had been quashed due to low light conditions. A decision was made to not re-run the race in Guyana as had been originally proposed.

The grid was set for race one with Roger Mayers in his Ford Focus on pole position, Mark Vieira second in his Mazda RX-8 and David Summerbell Jr. in third with his Mitsubishi Evolution.  Mark Maloney of Barbados tried all weekend to get his Mazda RX-3′s engine to sing the right tunes but unfortunately, he didn’t make it into qualifying and thus started from the back of the grid. Mayers took the race into his hands from the first lap, setting out a daunting task for those behind to catch him. The battle then fell to Vieira and Summerbell for second place. This didn’t last long however, as Summerbell spun a rod bearing in his Evolution, forcing him to retire. Mayers went on to comfortably win while Vieira and Doug Maloney finished second and third respectively.

Quite sometime later in the day, it was time for race number two in the CMRC series.  This time though, there was no Summerbell on the grid. Mayers, Vieira, Doug Maloney and Andrew King filled up the first two rows on the grid and the race was off! It didn’t last long. Going into turn number one, there was major contact between Vieira and Andre Anderson from Jamaica and the race was red flagged. Vieira’s Mazda RX-7 suffered heavy suspension damage on right rear and he and his team protested Anderson’s aggressive driving style into the turn.
Eventually the track was cleared and the race was started with the sun setting in the background. Again, Mayer’s in his Ford Focus led from the drop of the flag and kept opening the gap to Doug Maloney as the laps went by. Nearing the end of the race, Mark Maloney visibly slowed, suggesting more engine problems for the Bajan. He stayed on track to collect the points for his team but as the checkered flag waved for the second CMRC race, it was Roger Mayers taking his second comfortable victory of the day.  Doug Maloney and Andrew King wrapped up the remaining two podium positions.

As the sun disappeared below the horizon, we were losing light by the minute. Nevertheless, it was time for Race number three in a setting almost similar to the final race in round 2 at Bushy Park Circuit, Barbados. Going into the last race of the last round, David Summerbell was still in the lead. A lead of only four points over Roger Mayers. As the cars left the paddock area and rolled onto the grid, team Summerbell worked frantically to get their championship contender into the race.
A few minutes later, the green flag was waved and as the cars went into turn one, there was no Mitsubishi Evolution of David Summerbell. Unable to get the car  on the grid by just a matter of a few minutes, Summerbell was left in the pits, defenseless against Mayers, who only needed to finish third or higher to snatch the championship. Mayers started on pole position, leading the race comfortably in the opening laps. With just a few laps to go, it would take a miracle of a race retirement to save team Summerbell’s day. Today wasn’t that day. As the checkered flags waved, it was Team Mayers and Team Barbados’ time to celebrate. They had won the 2011 CMRC Titles. Both country and individual.
A brief of the other CMRC Classes

In the CMRC Superbikes, victories were divided among Steven Vieira, Kevin Graham and Carlos Rodrigues in the 3 races respectively. Steven gathered enough points throughout the day to capture the title of 2011 CMRC Superbike Champion. In Group 2 class, Kenrick Husbands surpassed Team Guyana’s Chet Singh and Raj Singh, and fellow countryman, Mark Thompson in the points standing to win the 2011 CMRC Group 2 Champion title.
At the start of the second local Group 4 race, there was a major incident even before the competitors crossed the start line. Reports indicate that a driver had broken the starting formation thus causing the  starting official to wave the red flag as the cars were powering down the front straight. The leader of the pack, Paul Vieira saw the flag  and slowed while two other cars went around him. Vishok Persaud did not see the red flag and didn’t realise that Paul was slowing either. This resulted in Persaud smashing into the rear of Paul Vieira’s Mazda RX-7 at full throttle, sending him into the tire wall near the entrance of the pit. Persaud’s Subaru Impreza careened off to the left, collected Sean King’s Mazda RX-7 in the process and then burst  into flames as it rolled to a stop. The fire was quickly controlled and put out by track marshals. All the drivers involved in this incident walked away without any notable injuries but the same could not be said about their cars. Paul Vieira’s Mazda suffered major rear suspension and chassis damage while Vishok Persaud’s Subaru suffered complete front suspension destruction and possible engine damage.

On an additional note, Doug Gore smashed the South Dakota lap record on saturday, setting a blistering time of 33.386 seconds. He attempted to better this time on sunday but conditions were unfavorable and he was unable to break his newly set record.

Below are the photos of all the action.

If you would like to purchase high resolution copies of any of the photos, please contact Rohindra Mahase via phone (592) 646-6123 or email rmahase@gmail.com

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