November 22, 2024
By Motorsports writer Dean Corrodus.

The Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club (JMMC) had another busy two weeks to end the month of March when on Sunday, march 20, they staged the second tarmac sprint of the 2011 National Sprint Championship series at Dover raceway, followed by the Annual General meeting and elections held at the Liguanea Club on Saturday, March 26, and then Spot Valley Investments capped the end of the month with the third dirt sprint series in their championship on Sunday, March 27.

With support from season sponsors KFC, Tru Juice, and Xsomo International and administrative help from The Automotive Performance Centre Ltd, the national club visited Jamaica’s only dedicated circuit racing facility on the morning of the 20th, running the popular time trials in a reverse direction on the 1.6 mile circuit, with two appropriately placed chicanes to slow down corner entry speeds into what now became the fast left uphill corner in front of the spectator stand and the even faster entry into the downhill right at the end of the front straight.


Chen (left) and Edwards.

Dover regular Charles Chen, at the track to test his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII, posted the fastest time of the day in his JC2 class machine, blistering the track in a best time of  3:13.18, followed by Ian “Beastmaster” Edwards in his 2000cc, turbocharged, front wheel drive Ford Laser.

Another Dover regular, Nigel Edwards, was dominant in the JC1 class with his 1700cc, turbocharged Volkswagen Golf GTi, getting the better of Cleve ‘Cutta Hype” Ottey in his turbocharged, rear wheel drive, “Old school” Toyota Starlet and Portland Motorsports Club representative Everette Brady who debuted his EF chassis Honda Civic, sporting a turbocharged B16 motor, but who was even more entertaining with his choice of the car transportation methods he employed.

Kyle Gregg continued his dominance in the JA3 class, posting the fastest two wheel drive time in the process of 3:17.34 in his BD Gregg & Bros. EG chassis Honda Civic hatchback. His father Gary Gregg also shared the car and posted a single run of 3:22.09, which was good enough for 2nd in class. Keith Saunders powered his rear wheel drive Toyota powered Chevrolet Chevette to 3rd in class.


Gregg (left) and Gore

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In the keenly contested JA2 class, Patrick Gore made it two wins from two starts with a 3:19.23 time in his 20 valve, 4age powered rear wheel drive Toyota Corolla, having a whale of a time sliding the car through the corners, yet still able to win the class ahead of rival Maurice Whittingham in his rear wheel drive Toyota Starlet and a recently returned Tarik Minott in a Suzuki Ignis Super 1600 kit car.
The street car class is growing in popularity and had two categories, four wheel drive and two wheel drive. Dover regular Don Thompson in a powerful Subaru Impreza WRX Sti won the former category with a time of 3:35.50, while Pernell Fitz-Coy in the only naturally aspirated car of the field powered his 2zz engined Toyota Corolla Runx to 1st place in the latter class and third overall street class with a 3rd run time of 3:50.81, a 12 second improvement on his best previous time.
The other class winner was Thomas Hall in the JA4 class in a Toyota Starlet, while in the 3 lap championship run, Maurice Whittingham came out ahead of Tarik Minott and Keith Saunders.
Name       Class   Run1   Run 2   Run3
Patrick Gore   Toyota Corolla   JA2   3:27:75   3:29:31   3:19:23
Maurice Whittingham   Toyota Starlet   JA2   3:20:59   3:31:31   3:20:31
Tarik Minott   Suzuki Ignis   JA2   3:26:06   3:22:28   3:21:78
Ivan Lee   Toyota Corolla   JA2   3:28:84   3:28:93   3:22:18
James Marsh   Toyota Corolla FX   JA2   DNF   3:26:31   DNF

Kyle Gregg   Honda Civic   JA3   3:17:90   3:17:34   DNS
Gary Gregg   Honda Civic   JA3   3:22:09   DNS   DNS
Keith Saunders   Chevrolet Chevette   JA3   3:30:96   3:28:68   3:29:96
Dean Corrodus   Honda Integra   JA3   3:44:34   3:30:34   DNS
Alejo Lee   Honda Civic   JA3   3:50:43   3:43:12   3:43:00
Dwain Gayle   Honda Integra   JA3   3:51:21   3:48:71   3:54:40
Andy Williams   Honda Civic   JA3   3:56:68   DNS   DNS

Thomas Hall   Toyota Starlet   JA4   3:34:81   3:21:00   3:28:41

Nigel Edwards   VW Golf   JC1   3:32:65   3:19:50   3:29:75
Cleve Ottey   Toyota Starlet   JC1   3:36:43   3:38:03   3:31:56
Everett Brady   Honda Civic   JC1   4:01:84   4:04:90   4:07:31

Charles Chen   Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution   JC2   3:13:18   3:14:31   3:13:78
Ian Edwards   Ford Laser   JC2   3:23:12   3:35:12   3:31:90

Don Thompson   Subaru Impreza WRX   SC 4WD   3:37:21   3:35:50   3:38:56
Chressmore White   Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution   SC 4WD   3:48:18   3:47:00   3:42:18
Nigel Thomas   Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution   SC 4WD   3:57:09   4:01:62   3:54:65

Pernell Fitz-Coy   Toyota Corolla Runx   SC 2WD   4:02:27   4:02:06   3:50:81
Mark Morrison   Toyota Starlet   SC 2WD   4:08:09   4:01:00   3:55:18
Richard McBean   Toyota Tercel   SC 2WD   4:14:65   4:06:43   4:05:53
Kingsley Scott   Toyota Corolla DX   SC 2WD   DNS   4:14:50   4:15:37

Fastest Overall: Charles Chen      3:13:18
Fastest 2 wheel drive: Kyle Gregg   3:17:34

The club then held its 2011 annual general meeting and election of officers at the Liguanea Club on Knutsford Boulevard in the nation’s capital city of Kingston on Saturday, March 26, and elected the following officers to serve a two year term:

Chairman: Dean Corrodus
Vice Chairman: Rosemarie Jadusingh
Secretary: Marcia Dawes-Lamey
Treasurer: Micheal Fennell Jr.
Directors: Dmitri Dawkins, Peter Clarke, Ibraheem Khan, Marc Evans & Gail Grimes

Spot Valley Raceway capped of the month with an exciting 3rd Gravel Sprint of 2011. The new rally-cross events where multiple cars take to the track for side by side racing were the highlight of the day, with Troy Bernard winning race 1 and Maurice Whittingham having a trifecta of wins in claiming the top prize in Class JA2, fastest 2 wheel drive, and also winning the “feature race” the 2nd rally-cross race of the day, when starting from the rear of the field, he stormed through and one by one passed everyone to cross the finish line first in a thrilling encounter.
Other class winners were Keith Saunders in JA3, Richie Rerrie in JA8, Chippie Addison in JN8 and Mark March in JN2.

The first Rally on the JMMC events calendar Tarmac Rally 1 which was scheduled to be held on April 3, 2011 has been postponed, not cancelled.  The proposed stage venues for the rally are in Manchester, and should remain for the new date which will be announced shortly.

This report made possible with the kind assistance of: