Barbados confirm team for Digicel Williams International

Aug 06, 2010 Sports

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The Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) has started the build-up to its Digicel Williams International Race Meet by announcing the Barbados team for round two of the Seaboard Marine Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC), feature event of the Bushy Park fixture slated for August 28/29.
The Club has also confirmed that fans will again have a chance to mix with BARL competitors and inspect race machinery at close quarters at weekly after-work limes opposite H & B Hardware at Warrens, St Michael. Starting today and continuing on August 13 and 20, cars will be on display from around 16:00 hrs, refreshments will be on sale, and there will be entertainment and driver interviews once spectator numbers start to build.
BARL Chairman Adrian Mayers said: “We tried the Friday-night promos last year, and were pleased with the response. As well as giving the fans a chance to meet the drivers in a relaxed atmosphere, it’s also a great way to hype the meeting as hundreds of people drive past on their way home from work . . . so we may attract some new supporters.”
Of the five drivers representing Barbados, the reigning CMRC Country Champion, only Mark Maloney (Mazda RX-3) has scored this year, sixth with 16 points claimed at the opening round of the CMRC at Dover Raceway in Jamaica in May. He will be hoping to repeat his form of 2009, when two wins at Bushy Park helped him to third place in the year-end standings, the position occupied the previous season by his father Doug (Audi A4 Quattro), who was the only driver to score in every race in 2008.
The Maloney’s will be joined by Roger Mayers (Ford Focus), who broke the lap record on his first visit to South Dakota in Guyana in November, some consolation for three retirements in his home round; two wins and a second place behind eventual Champion, Jamaica’s David Summerbell Jnr., propelled Mayers to fourth at season’s end. Brother Barry (Suzuki SX4) had also finished second to Summerbell, at Bushy Park, and aims to improve on his eighth-place finish last year.
The team is completed by Stuart Williams (Lotus Elise): with 67 race wins to his credit at Bushy Park since 2001, Williams also holds the two-wheel-drive lap record and finished third to Summerbell and Barry Mayers in the final race of last year’s CMRC fixture in the island, ending the season 10th. Of BARL’s team for 2010, Mayers added: “I’m confident that we are fielding the very best team we can from our current roster of competitors. It may look as though Barbados is on the back foot, but since we joined the CMRC in 2008, we’ve proved our ability to fight back. In the first year, we were 32 points behind Jamaica before Bushy Park and closed to within 12 by the end of the year; last year, we were only four points behind Jamaica before our home round, and went on to beat them by 39 points.”
“This year looks set to be even more interesting, with Guyana leading the Country Championship for the first time, and well done to them for an excellent result in Jamaica. I believe Bushy Park will be the turning point for this year’s CMRC and an event fans just won’t want to miss.”
For 2010, the points-scoring system in the CMRC has been changed: drivers score points within either the two-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive category, ten for a win, eight for second place, six for third and then down to eighth place; even so, there will still only be one Caribbean Champion, the driver who has scored the highest number of points.

Guyana look to emulate
T&T in Champions League

Carl Moore, the manager of the victorious Guyana team in the Caribbean T20, has said his team will be looking to emulate Trinidad & Tobago, who reached the final of the Champions League in India last year. Guyana have qualified for this year’s edition of the tournament, to be held in South Africa next month.
“We will be working harder now because we want to try and live up to what T&T did last year when they came second, and even go a step further and do better than T&T and hopefully give the Caribbean some pride,” Moore said
“We have a month to prepare and I am sure the Guyana cricket board will get things in order.”
Moore felt Guyana would derive confidence from being the only Caribbean team to beat a strong T&T side in the shortest version. He singled out the youngster Jonathan Foo for praise and said that he could be their “ace in the hole” for the Champions League. Foo scored an undefeated 42 off 17 balls against Barbados in the thrilling final of the inaugural Caribbean T20.
Moore credited Guyana captain Ramnaresh Sarwan for the win. “Teamwork and the captaincy of Sarwan had a lot to do with it. Sarwan was able to inspire the team and everyone looked up to him.”
Guyana play their first match of the tournament against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Centurion on September 12. The other teams in the group are Mumbai Indians, Lions and South Australia.

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