From motorsports writer Dean Corrodus

The Jamaica Race Driver’s Club (JRDC) Independence Blast off race meet, the third of four events in the Jamaica National Circuit Racing Championships for 2009, took place this past weekend at the Dover Raceway in St. Ann.

The event was affected by inclement weather, as during the opening ceremony while the drivers were introducing themselves to the fans, a light rain started which turned into a full downpour by the time the cars in the first improved production Class 27 & 37 race were doing their formation lap.

 

 

Stephen Bansie dominated the IP 27 category in his Scotiabank Group/Vital Med Dist. Ltd./Advance Adhesive System Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, winning both races, the first one run in the pouring rain that made visibility difficult and caused many drivers to retire or have incidents, with the improving David Anderson in 2nd in the first race (he was to flip the car in the last MP3 race) and George Bayley finishing 3rd and 2nd in the races respectively.
 
IP 27 Race 1                IP27 race 2
1.   Stephen Bansie             1. Stephen Bansie
2.   David Anderson             2. George Bayley
3.   George Bayley                3. Gary Williams

 

   

The wet conditions played into the hands of rally driver Dean Corrodus driving the Kumho Tyres/Tropical Battery Honda Civic Type R, who having not qualified on Saturday, started from the back but charged through the field in the slippery conditions to win the first race. He was to do the same in the second while battling Charles Chen who had finished 2nd in race 1, but both broke out of the time bracket and were demoted 4 places in the results. This placed Brian Foster in 1st followed by Kyle Gregg and Richard Chan.

IP 37 race 1                      IP37 Race 2

1.   Dean Corrodus                   1. Brian Foster
2.   Charles Chen                   2. Kyle Gregg
3.   Brian Foster                  3. Richard Chan
 
 

 
 
In the Improved Production 33 category, Charles Maxwell debuted his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V on a winning note in race 1, also run in slippery conditions with Sebastian Rae 2nd in a turbo-charged Mitsubishi Mirage and 2008 Overall Dover champion Gary Barrett in a Honda Civic in 3rd. Natasha Chang was to inherit the win in the second IP33 race when first across the line Dean Corrodus, being pushed by a hard charging Gary Gregg in one of the more entertaining races of the day, were both demoted 4 places for breaking out of the time bracket. This promoted Gary Barrett and Kishore Williams to second and third respectively.

Improved Production Class 33 Race 1                Improved Production Class 33 Race 2
1.   Charles Maxwell                1. Natasha Chang
2.   Sebastian Rae                  2. Gary Barrett
3.   Gary Barrett                  3. Kishore Williams

 

 

For the machines with 2 wheels, Adrian “Greased Lightning” Blake powered his way first across the line followed by Harlequin “Money Bike” Rodney and A. Smart in race 1, with Rodney winning race 2, Smart in 2nd and Chris Lewis in 3rd.

 

Bikes Race 1
1.   Adrian Blake
2.   Harlequin Rodney
3.   A. Smart

Bikes Race 2
1.   Harlequin Rodney
2.   A. Smart
3.   Chris Lewis
 
In the “big juice” LIME Thundersport races, Chris Campbell in the Campbell’s Wholesale/Casa’s Garage/ Stoplight Wholesale Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 4 was the star who ran away from the other competitors to take first place in both races and win the overall driver of the meet award with 18.4 points. This after pole sitter David Summerbell and second placed qualifier Douglas Gore, now under drying but still slippery conditions in race 1, had a heart stopping incident. Summerbell maintained his lead for the first two corners but on the 3rd started to slide wide, opening up the inside of the corner to Gore, who aggressively dove to the apex. Summerbell controlled his car well and moved over to take the racing line, both cars touching and causing both to slide and make hard contact with the outside wall just after the infamous “Pinky’s Bluff” corner. Gore was unable to return as the damage sustained to his steering and suspension was irrepairable. He also suffered a fracture of a wrist bone, while Summerbell’s crew had him repaired and entered in a subsequent race, but a driveline malady put him out of the event for the remainder of the day. Of the remaining cars then, Peter “Bull” Thompson placed 2nd in both events and 3rd place in race 1 was Peter “Zoom Zoom” Rae with Stephen Bansie 3rd in race 2.

 
Thundersport Race 1
1.   Chris Campbell
2.   Peter Thompson
3.   Peter Rae

 Thundersport race 2
1.   Chris Campbell
2.   Peter Thompson
3.   Stephen Bansie
 

The Modified production category saw many time race winners Doug “Hollywood” Gore and “King” David Summerbell go at it from the drop of the green flag. The first race was run in the wet, and Gore came from 2nd place on the grid to get the better of his main rival, with Chris Cambell following in third. In race 2, Campbell took the chequered flag ahead of George Bayley in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII and Neil Gore in an Evolution X.

 

Modified Production Class 3 Race 1
1.   Doug Gore
2.   David Summerbell
3.   Chris Campbell

Modified Production Class 3 Race 2
1.   Chris Campbell
2.   George Bayley
3.   Neil Gore
 
Multiple rallysport driver's champion Gary Gregg won the first MP1 race, with his son, young Kyle Gregg came out on top in the 2nd, driving the B. D. Gregg & Bros./TSW Wheels Honda Civic, pushing his father Gary Gregg to 2nd place in the 2nd race and last year’s class winner Gary Barrett to a 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

Modified Production Class 1 Race 1
1.   Gary Gregg
2.   Gary Barrett
3.   Kyle Gregg

Modified Production Class 1 Race 2
1.   Kyle Gregg
2.   Gary Gregg
3.   Gary Barrett
 
 

 
Peter Jaggon came out full force with his new Honda CRX and won the 1st Modified Production Class 2 race, again in the wet, distancing himself from 2nd place Sebastian Rae and Richard Martin, who waged a race long battle of the yellow cars between himself and Michael Causwell. In Race 2, Rae got the better of Jaggon who eventually damaged his engine while Corrodus charged from the back of the grid again to take 3rd place.

 

Modified Production Class 2 Race 1             Modified Production Class 2 Race 2
1.   Peter Jaggon                         1. Sebastian Rae
2.   Sebastian Rae                     2. Peter Jaggon
3.   Richard Martin                     3. Dean Corrodus
  
In the “street car” Improved Production 45 class, the results were again the effect of demotions after massive breakouts by the powerful front runners in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Subaru Impreza WRX’s, with David Senior driving his turbo charged Honda CRX placing 1st followed by Walton Small and Glaister Dunkley.

 

 

The next event on the local motorsports calendar is the Junction Wet ‘n Slide dexterity at Pines Plaza in Junction, St. Elizabeth, starting at 2 p.m. on Independence day, Thursday, August 6, 2009.
  
 

 
 
For more information, call the JRDC office at 924-JRDC or visit the club’s website at www.jrdc/org.