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The Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club in association with ATL Automotive and The Automotive Performance Centre Ltd., brings racing excitement back to the resort city of Montego Bay withBAYSLIDE, the 3rd round of the National Dexterity championship at Bogue City Centre  ATL Plaza, on Saturday, October 1, starting at 8 pm.

See a thrilling display of talent and skill when Cleve “Cutta Hype” Ottey, Maurice “Whitty” Whittingham, Sanjay and Randall Singh, Marcus Barnes, Scott, Schoolaz, Chippy and others take to the track in a test of handling, concentration and speed or enter to test your skills against the pros!

Gates open at 6 pm. Admission $800 adults, children under 12 $300.

Competitor entry fee $1,500 for race license holders and $2,150.00 all others.

The next event on the Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club’s National Sprint Championship calendar is the Ironshore Tarmac Sprint #3, scheduled for Sunday, June 19 at Montego Park Estate (Morgan’s Property) Ironshore, Montego Bay, St. James.
Motorsports has been gaining ever widening exposure since the start of 2011 and with the Ironshore event being the traditional host of the largest audience for sprint events over the years, the upcoming meet is set to follow that trend and continue the focus of media attention on this fast paced sport. ATL Automotive Racing has committed to using the event as their home event short of a Montego Bay City Race (also in the cards) in addition to involvement from advertising partners The Automotive Performance Centre Ltd, KFC, Xsomo, Catherines Peak, Tru Juice, Ward’s Power Tools, A & B Fashion Signal and Lloyd’s of Montego Bay.

By Nicola Williams. Edited by Dean Corrodus.

Cool, cool Mandeville, capital city of Manchester, was the venue for the staging of the first tarmac rally for 2011 on Sunday, May 29. The Jamaican countryside is known for its winding roads, lush greenery and hospitable people and the normally sleepy, mid island town lived up to that reputation very well. This rally had only eight entrants, and for most superficial rally fans, not worth the trip, but for the diehard motorsports enthusiasts, it presents an opportunity for a “road trip” filled with laughter, an eclectic combination of foods and most importantly, eye candy of all types, from the beautiful flora and fauna to the cars being expertly maneuvered through the twists and turns but inches from your toes. The look of wonderment in the children’s eyes as the cars pass is priceless, they having never had their sleepy village woken with the sound of loud exhausts and the flash of cars driven at the highest speed possible in the twisty corners.  The sidelines erupted into – “Yes man, Alan a move, yuh hear di turbo” or “baxide Matthew a gwaan tiday doa”. For me, the commentary from the sidelines at any motorsports events is almost as entertaining as the cars and on some days, even more.

Undeniably, this rally belonged to Alan Chen/Marcia Dawes, with their turbo charged Toyota Corolla SR5, and so it should, as Alan is most comfortable in a rear wheel drive car and the hills of Mandeville are his stomping ground. He probably knows every inch of the Melrose Hill stage intimately. The Chen/Dawes duo finished with an overall time of 17 minutes 23 seconds, which included a donut in the middle of the Melrose Hill stage, which both frightened and pleased the fans immensely.

He was followed by Sebastian Rae/Rameses McGregor with an overall time of 17m.27s. in their Mitsubishi Mirage which one normally sees at Dover. On what is thought to be his first rally, Rae roared through the hillside with his JA3 classified car making quick work of the twisty corners and appeared determined to leave an indelible tyre track wherever he went.

Another rear wheel drive expert, Maurice Whittingham, chose to leave that type of weapon at home and field a front wheel drive Toyota Levin in the JA2 class, and was 21 seconds behind the leader with an overall time of 17m.45s. He drove very clean lines with very little of his usual flamboyant, crowd pleasing drifts and slides through the corners. One could hardly blame him, as with a sheer rock face on one side and a plunging precipice on the other, it was advisable to keep it straight. Pity no one sent that memo to Mr. Chen though. Based on the comments heard at the fast right/left switchback across from the bar on the Old Melrose Hill special stage where the spectators gathered, (“doan stan up dehso, Whitty chuck aaf eena di bush right dehso few years back”) it still amazes me the stories and memories that are related on a rally stage, whilst waiting for the next competitor.

The team of Matthew Gore/Raymond Farquharson, a crowd favorite, suffered driveline breakage on special stage 3 before lunch, and his crew could be seen feverishly working on the car to get it back on the road to finish the rally – “Bwaaay, Matchoo a guh hard star, him need some a dem strong axle wha come fram farin”. Luckily for them, Toyota parts are easily procured even in sleepy Mandeville on a Sunday and very quickly an axle was found and installed and he was back in the event. The manner in which he came through the switchback with “blood innah him eye” trying to make up for the time lost, was amazing. They finished fourth overall with a time of 17m.53s. Gore is the reigning Rally sport champion, and it is very clear that he intends to retain the title in the Team Mobay Racing camp.

The real star of the show, was actually the 7th placed contender, in “Rusty” piloted by the pair of Troy Bernard and Roger Brown. “Rusty” hails from Montego Bay and is usually seen at Spot Valley, however they ventured into the Rally arena for the first time to encouraging cheers as he passed through the stages and the shouts shall echo in my ears for a while to come – “Gwaan, Rusty – yuh look pap dung but di engine a run!!” I want to add, Rusty was driven from Montego Bay and back – “No wrecker roun ere!” Well done to Troy and his crew. There is an old adage – “to finish first, one must first finish” and indeed “Rusty” finished his first rally with an overall time of 20m.34s.

Mandeville Rally was “likkle but tallawah,” and a great time was had by all. The awards ceremony was held at KFC Mandeville and the victorious home boy Alan Chen took his machine out on the streets and gave an impromptu drifting display complete with smoking tyres for the large Sunday evening crowd which had gathered in the street.

Overall results - Stage 1 - 7
Pos   Driver/Co-Driver   Class   2WD4WD   Make Car   Elapsed Time

1   Alan Chen/Marcia Dawes   JA4   2WD   Toyota Corolla SR5   17:23.936
2   Sebastian Rae/Rameses McGregor   JA3   2WD   Mitsubishi Mirage   17:27.235
3   Maurice Whittingham/Robert Singh   JA2   2WD   Toyota Corolla Levin   17:45.346
4   Matthew Gore/Raymond Farquharson   JA2   2WD   Toyota Starlet   17:53.666
5   Thomas Hall/Andre Gordon   JA4   2WD   Toyota Starlet   18:05.119
6   Macklin Peterkin/Wayne Chuck   JN8   4WD   Subaru Impreza WRX STI Spec C   18:11.852
7   Troy Bernard/Roger Brown   JA2   2WD   Toyota Starlet   20:34.560

Dean Corrodus/Gregory Brissett   JA3   2WD   Honda Civic Type R   DNF

The event was made possible with the assistance of  Advance Performance Parts, Catherine’s Peak, Petcom, Seafreight Jamaica Ltd, Tru Juice, Knutsford Court, Just Bet (Supreme Ventures), Seaboard, KFC, Xsomo and The Automotive Performance Centre Ltd.

The next event on the JMMC calendar will be the JMMC Ironshore Tarmac Sprint #3 to be held at Montego Park estates (Morgan’s Property), Ironshore, Montego Bay on June 19 starting at 11am.
For more information about Jamaican motorsports, visit www.jamaicamotorsports.com or call the JMMC office at       934-1288.

DOVER REPORT – CARNIVAL OF SPEED – APRIL 25TH 2011

The day dawned bright and clear following  qualifying the previous day, the tension in the air was tangible. Three camps at the track were filled with an expectancy of the outcome of the day. The pits were a buzz of activity, crews putting on the final touches to the car and making the last minute changes to extract the best performance from their rides, so they could win and of course please the huge crowd. The hillside filled quickly and people started to settle into their spots from as early as 7.00 am, in order to have the best vantage point to watch their driver of choice. Later on in the day the hillside would erupt many times with screams of delight as the cars made their way swiftly around the track.

The meet commenced with the usual opening ceremony and grand fanfare and homage being paid to Jamaica “Land we love” by the singing of the National Anthem, with photographers scrambling around to ensure they got the best shots of the competitors and their cars. The cars were resplendent in bright and vibrant colored liveries, and as each car made their way down the grid there was a roar approval for the crowd favorites, with the loudest roars afforded the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution TA1 of David Summerbell, the Audi TT DTM of Doug Gore and the dark horse- the Evolution powered BMW M3 driven by Christopher Campbell.
The bikers were also there in their numbers, a crowd favorite at Dover, who in the recent years have returned to Dover and made a name for themselves once again. They had three exciting races in two classes for the day; the triumphant winner of the first race was Greg Cross in his Suzuki GSXR, followed by Andre Norman in his Honda RR.

Greg Cross                                   Andre Norman                                    Randy Dyer

Randy Dyer and Richard Lyn of the B class dominated the 1st and 2nd place of the day, with Randy in his colorful bike and even more unusual helmet had the crowd cheering him on all day.
The car races were long anticipated and in the street class Bracket 45 Turbo, Ramon Watson in his Nissan won the first race with Neilon Barnett taking second place in his Toyota Starlet. The B45 race is divided into two classes, turbo and naturally aspirated, both equally exciting as the drivers eeked out every ounce of power from their street cars whilst remaining in their bracket of one minute and forty five seconds. It is an excellent way for persons who are interested in starting in racing to do so at Dover.  In the Naturally Aspirated class race 1,  Chressmore White and Kayde Walker dominated driving a Mitsubishi FTO and a Honda Integra respectively.

Race two for B45 turbo class was taken by Don Thompson in his Subaru STi and Ramon Watson in his Nissan being demoted to 2nd place with Patrick Ricketts in a turbo-charged Nissan AD wagon in third. Kayde Walker, Jermaine James and Chressmore White held all the NA cars at bay and walked away with the podium positions.

George Bayley in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution walked away with the number 1 spot for both B27 races, doing his fastest lap of 1.27.69 in lap three of race 1– he was followed by Charles Maxwell in another Mitsubishi who did 1.27.71 and Jaleel Handal in third. In the second race Bailey was followed by Handal in his newly remodeled Subaru Impreza WRX Sti while Charles Chen in a Mitsubishi Lanver Evolution VIII was third.

First place in both Bracket 31 races belonged to Sebastian Rae in the JAA sponsored yellow Mitsubishi Mirage followed closely in Race 1 by Tarik Minott in the very popular Suzuki Ignis and Vivian Mitchell in his red and white Honda Civic in 3rd. In race 2, 2nd place went to Mitchell while Don Gilbert 3rd in a Suzuki Swift was 3rd.

Bracket 37 race 1 was won by Team Browns Town’s Tazmanian Motorsports prepared Honda CRX of Troye Riley with veteran Raymond Donaldson in his colorful Evolution 4 placing second and Sheldon Morgan in a Mitsubishi Mirage RS in third. German Engineered Team Brown’s Town Racing VW’s took first and second place in the rain affected race 2, piloted by Nigel Edwards and Jerome Jones, with Riley making it a clean sweep for the St. Ann based team in third.

The father and son duo of Gary and Kyle Gregg took the number one titles in the Modified Production class 1 and 2 with son Kyle, driving the more powerful and more modified of the two cars in MP2, having a clean sweep of the top step of the podium in both races, as his dad Gary was to do in MP1 as well. Sebastian Rae was 2nd in MP2 for both races and Joslyn Crawford 3rd in both in his beautifully restored Ford Escort with all kinds of exotic goodies under the bonnet.

Joslyn Crawford

The long anticipated Modified Production 4 race, the crowd was silent and holding their breath as David “the King” Summerbell, who was in pole position, lined up beside Doug “Hollywood” Gore in his Audi TT- DTM who was second on the grid. The battle was on….the “king” moved swiftly to the head of the pack and dominated the race in a blisteringly fast time of 1.19.67, not quite the record for Dover but very close, maintaining the lead throughout the race. Unfortunately the dark horse in the form of Christopher “Bossie” Campbell had issues during qualifying and started at the back of the grid but managed to fight his way through the traffic and ended up in fifth place. He later developed more issues and retired for the day.

David Summerbell (left) and Doug Gore.

Alan Chen claimed the third place in his fire breathing Mazda RX7 formerly driven by Bull Thompson; it is definitely felt that the next meet will prove more exciting as the competition gets closer and closer when the foreigners join the melee…

Christopher “Bossie” Campbell  & Alan Chen

The Modified Production 3 race is run concurrently with the MP 4 race and Dean Shaw in his Pro-Challenge Truck which ran 1.29 and kept up the pace throughout the race with Gary Barrett, running a turbocharged Honda Civic in 2nd with Troye Riley finishing 3rd. In MP4 race 2 it was again Summerbell in 1st place with Gore spinning off in corner 1 and retiring, with Chen and Peter Rae both in fire belching Mazda RX7s in a close 2nd and third place crossing the line together. Andre Anderson was 1st in MP3 in his Anderson’s Auto Parts built Mitsubishi Mirage RS followed by Charles Chen and Teddy Burton in his turbocharged Honda Civic out of the Mandeville based MAD Racing stable.

The last race of the day was the Thundersport race with two classes running concurrently. Class II again saw the battle of the Gore piloted Audi TT and the Total sponsored Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution known as TA1. What ensued was a nail biting,  on the edge race, the passes between the two big juice cars was fierce and frequent. Doug held his own for some of the race however his tyre choice saw him losing grip and the “King” held on to his throne firmly. A hugely exciting race which had the crowd roaring and screaming the name of their “driva”…
Kyle Gregg scored his biggest payday to date in winning the class I category, with father Gary in 2nd and fellow MAD Racing Honda driver Vivian “Mitchie” Mitchell in 3rd to make it a clean sweep of the podium places for the Xavia Murray tuned Hondas.

The King still reigns!!

This report brought to you through the efforts of:

Team ATL Automotive Racing with star driver Doug “Hollywood” Gore unveiled their ATL Automotive Racing/Boom/Wata/Petcom/Pace Lubricants/Sherwin Williams Paints Audi TT race car at a glitzy function at the new ATL Autohaus facilities at Bogue City Centre in Montego Bay on Saturday, April 9. The crowd that turned out to see the much anticipated German designed and manufactured , pure bred racing machine were not disappointed, as Wisynco and Petcom along with the Sandals Resorts International group ensured a fine array of wines, food and beverages to satisfy all.

The car was taken to Dover raceway on Sunday morning for familiarization and shakedown. About 15 laps were completed as the car was run in safe mode. The engineers from the car builders ABT will arrive in the island before raceday to properly dial in the car to our local conditions.

For more information, visit the Team Mobay racing Facebook page or the Jamaica Race Driver’s Club website at : www.jrdc.org.
Videos of testing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaqAHIC2FFw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ0GJ5qrT0g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSWC0vj5RJg&NR=1

The next event on the motorsports calendar will be Spot Valley Raceway’s Rallycross Madness on Sunday, April 17 starting at 11 a.m.

Photos courtesy of Nicola Williams and Shane Munroe

This report made possible with the kind assistance of:

Taken from http://www.adrenalinesun.com/rally-trinidad-2011-jamaica-jeffrey-panton-and-michael-fennel-untouchable/

RALLY TRINIDAD 2011: JAMAICA’S JEFFREY PANTON AND MICHAEL FENNEL UNTOUCHABLE
POSTED ON 06 APRIL 2011   MOTORSPORTS

After three days of the rally, it was Jamaica’s talented team of Jeffrey Panton and Michael Fennel Jr that carried off the title of champions of Rally Trinidad 2011.

There were 31 cars slated to come under the starters orders but from the onset the grueling rally claimed it’s first victim which was at the opening ceremony at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.

RALLY T&T WINNERS JEFFREY PANTON AND MICHAEL FENNEL JR

In the end only 11 of 31 drivers were classified as overall finishers in a rally that had it all.

With stages which more than doubled the length driven in a Barbados event and which saw the top group of World Rally Cars driving flat out for more than six minutes and some just under eight minutes there were plenty thrills and spills.

Even the wildlife turned out in their numbers to witness the action with the birds and some bees which made some of the marshall scamper for cover, with one tractor driver who was preparing the stage before having to seek refuge in the river, there was always something to see.

But none more impressive than Jamaica’s Panton who showed what driving to pace notes was all about. In his ex-Colin McRae Ford Focus he rocketed through the dusty but smooth stages and despite a few mechanical gremlins which threaten to end his reign at the front he was more than able to cruise to an easy victory over the three day event.

His total elapsed time was clocked at  1 hour, 33 minutes 39.62 seconds over the 17 of the planned 18 stages after one was canceled after lunch on the first day.

What has become a signature move with the team Panton set the massive crowd alive with his seemingly effortless donuts at the Major’s Cup in Chaguanas as Fennel waved the Jamaican flag through the co-driver’s window.

Barbados Sean Gill had to claw his way back up the standings after an overheating problem dropped him to third. He was at one stage the rally leader in his Suzuki SX4 but found himself trailing Panton, Gary Gregg and John Powell after six stages.

T&T’S STUART JOHNSON IN DEAN SERRAO’S FORMER IMPREZA

His fortunes changed before the end of the day when his crew seemingly rectified the problem and he was back up to speed. In the seventh stage Jamaica’s Gregg in a 2005 Ford Focus WRC saw his rally come to an end when he tore off the front bumper and sump guard, and despite finishing that stage was put out of the rally on the advice of his engineers who feared for the exposed components.

Gill moved up into third at this stage and in the final day was a man on a mission as he went about reeling in T&T Powell who was not fortunate enough to have his S12 Subaru Impreza WRC ready for the rally and was driving a Group N spec Mitsubishi Evolution X.

Gill accomplished his goal but Panton was too far ahead and he had to settle for second with a time of 1 hour 34 minutes 30.79 seconds. Powell was third and the fastest two wheel drive title went to Jamaican Bobby Marshall in a Mitsubishi Colt.