Inaugural Georgetown Grand Prix launched

– Regional drivers expected

By Romario Samaroo

That can only be described as the first significant carting event in a long time at the newly-renovated track at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) was launched on Tuesday at the club’s location, Albert Street and Thomas Lands.

The event is the first ever Georgetown Grand Prix, which is the brain child of GT Motor Sports and the Club and will be held at the Club.

According to the man in charge of proceedings, Vishok Persaud, there are lots of prizes for the top drivers who will all be competing across some exciting formats.

The architect behind this tournament explained that there will be 15 races and the categories that will be raced come Friday include 60cc for ages six to 10 years old, 80cc for ages 10-15 years old, 125cc for 15 years and older, as well as the featured event, the Shifters Pro Cup.

Among those who will be in competition include seasoned drivers such as the father and son pair of Kevin and Kristian Jeffrey, Stephan Jeffrey and also the female speedster, Emma Vieira.

Also in the line-up are the Trinidad and Tobago father and daughter duo, Ravi and Bridgette Singh who have had a marvellous outing in the Trinidadian circuit. The young lady has dominated the groups of 80cc, 100cc and 125cc, having been behind the wheel of a go-Cart since age nine. She picked up the skills and support from her father who himself has over a decade of racing knowledge.

Also in line for a potential turn out will be Darren Timmer out of Canada. It will be a treat to see who rules the track particularly since Timmer was the coach of Kristian.

Persaud explained that it was back in 2007 that there was a real resurrection in the sport with the Caribbean Motor Racing Sports Club and the Guyanese drivers were the leaders, as well as their fan-base and support. Consequently, this triggered the improvement of facilities in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago and now Guyana.

Because of this improvement in facilities and competition, Persaud attributed two cases of success stories in the racing world coming from Guyana, that being Calvin Ming and Kristian Jeffrey who both started from go-cart racing. President of the GMR&SC, Rameez Mohamed threw his support behind Persaud for his innovative idea as he announced that there will be The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) rulings, as well as marshals and safety teams present at all the races.

Persaud extended much thanks to sponsors, Honda, of which the four stroke engines will be running, Rays Motor Spares, Sunburst, Banks DIH through their Monster Energy Brand, Ansa McAl through their Stag Brand, Superbet, Prem’s Electrical and Ocean Spray Hotel, Secure Innovations and Concepts Inc, E-Networks and BM Soat.

Experienced riders, the Jeffrey cousins, expressed their intention of sharing their knowledge in carting to the parents and others interested in improving their performance and safety, noting the importance of having safety features as the sport is extremely dangerous.

Also giving a word of advice was Kevin Jeffrey who related to the youngsters the privilege they had to have such a modernised facility, years ahead of the facility they were brought up on, but nevertheless he recommended that the youngsters take in their education if they wanted to excel into the sedan or open wheel version of the sport.

The event is free admission.