Ming; Jeffrey secure SR3 Podiums at Festival of Speed
The Guyanese competition at this Weekend’s Festival of Speed defied their mechanical problems to produce podium finishes in the Suzuki challenge series SR3 radical cup on Sunday.
The duo of debutant Kristian Jeffrey and Calvin Ming finished second and third respectively in the final Radical race of the day ensuring that they both do not leave empty handed.
Jeffrey in the first race started ninth and made ground quickly, ending up in fifth before he was nudged off by a competitor who later apologised.
He utilized his attacking mentality and the experience of his two Caribbean Championships to surpass the competition before his unfortunate incident pushed him onto the gravel out of turn two and eventually to the back of the pack.
In the reverse grid however, where he started second, he showed his defensive driving style to keep that position in spite of challenges from veteran Mark Maloney, who eventually got by but didn’t last long as he spun out.
Meanwhile Ming utilized race two as his motivation as earlier troubles with the new Radical in race one meant that he had to revert to his old SR3.
Under normal circumstances, Ming would have started fourth but due to the car change, he had to the back of the pack; where his troubles continued as a clutch failure on the start line cost him three seconds.
The F4 driver however rebounded in style to pass competitors with a clinical finesse comparable to text book driving, utilising fully the draft pass and last minute breaking techniques.
In the end, he finished third, much to the applause of the vocal crowd and after a hard weekend where very little went right.
In fact, there were very little positives from the qualifying session on Saturday, though the end result is what both drivers were looking for.
Meanwhile in the swift series, Jeffrey, Guyana’s lone competitor finished 11th and 12th respectively after mechanical issues plagued the car.
Sunday’s event was headlined by three time formula one champion Lewis Hamilton who thrilled fans with his 2013 Mercedes F1 W04. He took on former British Superbike Champion Tommy Hill, aboard his BSB team’s Yamaha YZF-R1 motor bike before shifting gears for stints in the novelty races as well as the shifter-karts. Two lucky fans also had a five lap session in a Radical with the three time world champion at the helm.
Other events included the Monster trucks on show as well as a superbike challenge and motor cross riders.
(Photo credit CMR and Top Power)
