Super stock rider Kevin Persaud is aiming to put Guyana ahead when the Caribbean Motor Racing Championships (CMRC) gets underway today at the Jamwest Raceway in Jamaica. Persaud who has had a spectacular start to his season when he dusted all his competitors at April’s National Race of Champions held at the South Dakota Circuit is focus on maintaining his form.
He had clocked a fastest lap time of 36.759s and looked to be well underway for tremendous season. His first test will be leading a depleted team Guyana in Jamaica, a task which he is ready to undertake.
Manager of Palm Court Sasha Lewis makes the donation to motor biker Kevin Persaud
“Feels great winning all my races for the year so far; all the pressure against me since I got sponsors and expectations to up keep this year; I feel I could do it and secure points for team Guyana”, he posited.
In assessing areas where he needs to improve, he highlighted fitness and adapting to new tracks quickly.
“I needed to improve most importantly on my fitness which I’ve been putting lots of work on and focus on that; secondly adapting to a newer track is always a hard thing and controlling my nervousness when racing out of your home town”.
The former Queen’s College student felt grateful for the support of his family who has played a pivotal role in him touring along with the likes of his friends who motivates him and sponsors such as Motor trend, R Kissoon contracting services, Miracle optical, R Ramlagan and Sons, Professional key shop and Palm Court.
Meanwhile on Friday, Persaud received a late but timely boost from popular night spot Palm Court ahead of his trip.
Manager of the entity Sasha Lewis in speaking at the simple presentation ceremony held at the Main Street location explained that their support for the rider will be continuous and they hope he helps Guyana secure valuable points.
“We will always support Kevin, everyone is depending on him to bring home points for Guyana since he has a lot of potential and I see him being successful in races”.
Lewis also made a call for other members of the corporate sector to aid in the development of their local sportsmen and women.
“In other countries big companies support their athletes all around the world and I think in Guyana we need to invest a lot more; these are people with talents and we need to push them more rather than spending money out of the country supporting others when we can support our own”, she posited.
Persaud, in response expressed, “It feels great to be sponsored by one of the biggest night clubs in Guyana, I’m very grateful for the sponsorship and hope to do them proud”.
The rider whose machine of choice is a 2012 Kawasaki zx 6r will be joined by John Bennett, Heemand Boodram along with 2016 Moto America Super stock 600 champion Bryce Prince Byrce who is representing Guyana under the sponsorship of Mohammed’s Enterprise, will lead the rally in the two-wheel battle.
In this regard, Persaud is aiming secure as much points possible stating, ” I’m working on it, I’m looking to be the favourite to bring home crucial points for Guyana and do extremely well being an ambassador of Palm Court”.
The young rider also made a call on other members of the private sector to invest in local athletes.
Persaud departed these shores on Friday evening to be engaged in time trials today at the Jamwest Raceway followed by the competitive racing on Sunday.
The other members of the team are Rameez Mohammed, who will ply his trade in Groups 2, 3 and 4 (two-wheel drive), while Nasrudeen Mohammed who will compete in Group Two.
After the leg in Jamaica, the action will move to Trinidad and Tobago on July 30 followed by Barbados on September 3 then to Guyana for the final leg on November 12.
Last year, Trinidad and Tobago, who lost the title in 2015 by eight points to Guyana, recorded a whopping 1481.5 points, outscoring the second placed Barbados team by 793 points.
Barbados’ tally at the end of the four rounds was 688.5 while Guyana finished in third on 648.5; Jamaica (492) Cayman Islands (60) and CAMS/USA rounded-off the points standings. However, in the two-wheel category, Guyana soared to the top of the table accumulating 647 points with Trinidad being their closest challenge on 169 points
