Go-karters gear up for major meet

Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

With under three months to go before they host their major international race meet, local go-karters will use Sunday's meet as part of their preparation for the big event, which will be held over three days.

On Sunday, the local karters will say goodbye to the French national, Jean-Noel Foulard, who assisted significantly in the renovation of the go-kart track at the Palisadoes International Raceway. The first race is scheduled to begin at noon.

Following the farewell function, the 50cc Class Championship is scheduled to get under way. According to the president of the Jamaica Karting Association (JKA), Neal Williams, this is the first time that the association will be monitoring this class. The monitoring will be supervised by John Ralston.

"Everybody will have the same engine, it will be a level playing field and everything will now depend on the karters driving skill," said Neal Williams, president of the JKA.

Reports are that in the past, persons would spend hefty sums purchasing fast engines to ensure that their karters competing in this class win.

"What we have done is to purchase 15 of these engines (50cc). We will service the engines and provide the competitors with petrol, but they will not get the engines until the morning of the race meet," the JKA president said.

Williams stressed that the focus is for parents to stop spending large sums to purchase fast engines and instead try and spend more time in developing their children's driving skill.

Apart from the expected excitement in the 50cc Class among Mark Anthony Eaton, Jonathan Law and Zacre Davidson, the showdown in the Rotary Junior Class which will showcase Phillip Myers and Matthew Williams should also be interesting.

Thomas Issa and Colin Daley should renew their rivalry in the Mini Max Class; Joel Jackson and Andre Anderson are expected to fight out the finish in the Rotax Senior Class, while Peter Rae and Mario Mair will battle for supremacy in the Rotax Masters Class.