Guyanese drivers sweep CMRC Group 4 category

Nov 12, 2012 Sports

– Summerbell Jnr, Stephen Vieira and Mark Thompson win individual titles

Guyana’s Mark Vieira takes the chequered flag ahead of Jamaicans Peter Rae and David Summerbell yesterday.

Led by cousins Mark and Stephen Vieira and capably supported by Kevin Jeffrey and Andrew King, host Guyana swept the Group 4 and Superbike categories when the curtains came down before what many agreed was the biggest crowd to witness motor racing in many years.
Yesterday, at the South Dakota Circuit in front of thousands of motor racing fans from across the Diaspora and perhaps further afield Guyanese racers gave their home support much to shout about as Mark Vieira and Jeffrey ensured that the ‘Land of Many Waters’ made a clean sweep of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC), winning all three races with the former claiming two firsts and a second, while the latter had one first, one second and a DNF.
With President Donald Ramotar in attendance not even some intermittent showers could put a damper on a day that saw some thrilling races and breathtaking display of skills as the locals dominated their counterparts from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands and the USA.
The first of the eagerly anticipated CMRC races was an exhilarating precursor for what was in store in the second stanza as Vieira took the lead from pole sitter Jamaican Peter Rae as early as the second lap with Kevin Jeffrey in hot pursuit, while points leader Summerbell was making up ground rapidly after starting next to last on the grid.
Vieira then Jeffrey and finally King managed to pass Rae and even though Summerbell made a desperate bid to split the Guyanese trio, laps ran out on him and he had to settle for fourth.
It, however, set him up nicely for the next race as he started fourth this time and that was a perfect position for the much respected Jamaican.
With Vieira on pole this time, Jeffrey, who sat right next to him on the grid produced a blistering start to pass him on the first turn, while the crafty Summerbell gradually gained ground, before making a pass as they approached the second corner heading into the back straights to lock horns with Jeffrey.

Guyana’s Stephen Vieira who won the CMRC Superbike title leads Canadian Kevin Graham yesterday.

The two fought tooth and nail, but Jeffrey held his position until they headed down the straight for the finish line, which saw a determined Summerbell searching for points to wrap up the title, accelerated past Jeffrey to pass the line first, but unfortunately had done too much and could not make it out of the first turn instead crashed into the sand and stuck there.
According to race officials, the rule states that a driver must negotiate the turn successfully to win the race and they subsequently awarded the race to Jeffrey with Vieira second and King third in another clean sweep and Guyana mounting up the points table.
Vieira easily won the final race with Rae second and Summerbell third which enabled him to regain the title after amassing a total of 61 points, while Rae closed on 46 and Barbados’ Roger Mayers, who missed the Meet came third with 30.
Vieira ended fourth with 28 points.
Jamaica won the country title with 137 points and they were followed by a resurgent Guyana that placed second with 88 followed by Barbados on 74 and Cayman Islands 37.
The full results will be given in Tuesday’s issue.
The presentation of prizes to the respective winners will be conducted tonight at the GMR&SC.