There is much speculation on when would be the new date for round two of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) Drag Championship, but what is known is that the anticipated meet will be worth the wait.
The executive committee of the GMR&SC will on Thursday hold a meeting at their Thomas Lands and Albert Street Office, and that meeting would decide an appropriate date.
Newer isn’t always better. This S&D Performance RX-7 easily outsprinted the newer model
Round one of the Championship, held on March 23 last, had seen what has been described by many devout drag-racing fans as the biggest turnout they have ever witnessed at the South Dakota Circuit’s Drag Strip, and this was majorly influenced by the respective investments of the GMR&SC and their sponsors; along with the competitors, who pour millions into their machines.
Last season, the GMR&SC constructed a launch pad to allow more powerful cars to compete at full potential, and extended the drag strip from 1000 feet to a full quarter mile — a project that cost in excess of $30 million. Just a week before the new drag season got underway, the project was completed.
Platinum sponsor of the club, Mohamed’s Enterprise, had again contributed handsomely to the project; while the contributions of BM Soat Auto Sales, Motor Trend Service Centre, Delco Ice Factory, Trans-Pacific Motor Spares, Supreme Ventures, Air Services Limited, PowerLine Auto, Cyril’s Taxi, Omega Brokers, E-Networks, Prem’s Electrical, Miracle Optical, Choke Gas Station and Super Bet, R. Kissoon Contracting Services, and Top Brandz Distributors were all vital to the success of the project and event.
Adding to the hype of round one was the acquisition by Team Mohamed’s racing of the former record breaking Ekanoo/Magnus Nissan GTR. This had fuelled excitement in the racing community. The white GTR, the third of its kind in Team Mohamed’s fleet of machines, was not so long ago the fastest GTR in the world, setting a time of 7.3 seconds across the quarter mile at a top speed of 206 mph.
Although some transmission issues had prevented this machine from competing in the proceedings of round one, its kindred machine, the GTR Goliath, kept the Team’s flag flying high after outsprinting Peter Daby’s RX-7 in the final of the Unlimited class.
Mad Max returns
The club has set out to create a safe space for everyone to compete, and thus had made a major call for novice riders to come out and compete both in circuit and drag races; and at round one for both events, there was decent turnout by the bikers.
However, in the drags, none of the competitors could find a way to get past Mark ‘Mad Max’ Menezes, who had taken a one year hiatus from the strip, as he dominated in both the 600cc and 1000cc classes.
International competitors
The first round saw participation of a few competitors from Suriname, with Eric Watchman (14 seconds) and Raymond John (13 seconds) being able to leave ‘the Land of Many Waters’ with victories; and round two may see a larger invasion of foreign participants, with competitors from the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) also showing interest.
Whatever date is chosen for round two, it is certain that the event will be full of excitement. The leaders in the respective time brackets after round one of the championships are as follows:
