Shawn Persaud and his high-powered Toyota Caldina were the major talking point for the sizeable crowd that witnessed the Caribbean Invasion Dragz Meet at the South Dakota Circuit on Sunday.
Organised by the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club (GMR&SC), the event saw 51 of the registered 62 cars participating, but none was able to pose a challenge to, much less match the speed of, Persaud’s beastly black Caldina.
Clocking the fastest time of the day with 8.311 seconds, Persaud won the unlimited category (under 9 seconds) by default, since no other racer was brave
The fans braved the brazing sunshine to witness the quarter-mile action at South Dakota
enough to muster a challenge to the racer in the beastly black Caldina. In the absence of the Mohammed’s Enterprise Nissan GTRs, which usually are the crowd favourites, it took motor bikes to challenge Persaud, but the most any racer could do was observe his rear lights from a distance.
At one point, Persaud even gave an early start to another competitor, but in the twinkling of an eye he had overtaken that competitor down the quarter-mile.
Though the Suriname contingent arrived rearing to defend their title, they suffered mechanical problems which hampered their participation.
Meanwhile, in the 10 second class, Oneal Higgins’s Caldina comfortably took care
Julius Seunarine (right) impressed in his debut outing at the South Dakota Circuit
of things.
For the 11-second class, Rajesh Pandy maintained the lead to win with his Toyota Mark II, while Adita Budram’s Toyota Levin made the 12-second group his own playground.
Lawrence Bhowandin (Toyota Glanza), Shiran Raganath (Toyota Sprinter), and Devenand Persaud (Toyota Corolla) won the 13, 14 and 15-second class respectively.
In the two-wheel action, four bikes competed, but it was a duo of newcomers in Raverio Tucker and Julius Seunarine who wrote the script.
Both riders easily dispelled other challengers, but in the final bout between them, Seunarine on his 2008 Suzuki GSX-R took the early lead and never looked back.
The event, which used the Time-Bracket system, will now see race enthusiasts turning their attention to the circuit racing when the club hosts the final leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championships on November 12. (Akeem Greene)
