Summerbell facing financial roadblock

Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

After a brilliant start in the first leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC), Jamaica now face an uphill task to win the title, following fresh reports that financial constraints might prevent the nation's top driver, David Summerbell, from taking further part in the championship.

"I have lost one of my major sponsors and right now I doubt whether I will be able to compete in the other two legs of the championship," said Summerbell, who is currently leading the championship on 30 points, seven clear of his nearest rival.

The second leg is scheduled for Barbados in September, while the third and final leg will be held in Guyana. Based on the standings, the battle for top honours is now between Jamaica and Barbados. The Guyanese who were scheduled to compete at the first leg, did not make the trip.

At last Monday's Labour Day race meet, held at the Dover Raceway, St Ann, Summerbell demonstrated why he has been rated as the country's top circuit racing driver by making a clean sweep of all three CMRC races.

He won the races in convincing style, cheered on by the over 10,000 fans.

"The car was well prepared and it was a pleasure to drive it," said Summerbell, who praised the Motor Sales crew, Dean Walcott and Wayne McIntosh, for preparing his Mitsubishi Evolution 8, which stunned the opposition.

President of the Jamaica Race Drivers Club, Hilary Jardine, described the event as a great race meet.

"It was great, the Barbadian champion, Stuart Maloney, put up a good fight. The night before the meet, the Barbadians spent most of the night repairing their engine," said Jardine.

Stuart Maloney who is the defending champion drove a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI to finish second in two of the CMRC races and fourth in another to emerge in second place overall. His brother Mark Maloney is in third place.

Sparkling performance

Apart from Summerbell's sparkling performance, Alan Chen, nephew of the late Alfred Chen, displayed another dazzling per-formance by taking the chequered flag twice. His wins came in the IP 33 and MP2 events.

"I guess it is all in the blood. The car was well prepared and I went out there to have fun," commented Chen.

Motorcyclist Stefan Chin once again dominated the track, winning all three races by a wide margin. Other winners were Gary Barrett of the Cayman Islands, Chris Campbell who won his first event in his career, Raymond Donaldson, Teddy Burton, Maurice Whittingham and Brian Foster.