Guyana’s six-member racing team to the Jamaica Karting Association’s (JKA) ‘Double Trouble’ event last weekend turned in a creditable performance, copping several podium spots.
In what can be described as a mixed bag of results, the Guyanese were led by young Justin Tenpow, who was the standout performer in the Micro Max event, copping three third place finishes, but was disqualified from one.
According to information received, the disqualification resulted from a restrictor plate on the exhaust of his kart being too small and thus out of spec; though the Guyanese argued that they were unaware of this having borrowed karts to compete.
In the end, they lodged a protest with the JKA over the event with the body expected to make a formal ruling later in the week.
In the Junior Class, there were podium finishes for Mikhail Persaud and Rayden Persaud in the final races, while Elan Rahaman picked up a third in one pre-final.
Utilising rules that were also foreign to the Guyanese, the JKA runs firstly a qualifying session followed by a pre-race which is to decide gridding for what they call the finals where the points are awarded to the finishers. This is done in two rounds to complete one karting weekend.
In the seniors, Matthew Phang, while failing to finish on the podium, was one of the standout performers in one of the largest groups. He managed to hold his own and keep up with some of the host’s drivers, despite only learning the kart this weekend.
There was also one third place finish for Steven Nobrega, who competed in the Super Rotax where competitors have to race cautiously so as to not go faster than 59 seconds.
This quirky rule ensured that there were several penalties for those who did faster than the pre-defined time. Mechanical woes plagued Jeremy Tenpow all weekend as well in the Mini Max class.
In the end however, all the Guyanese were awarded with tokens for participating in the two-day event.