By Akeem Greene
John Phang and Zachary Persaud once again showed the future of motor-racing in Guyana is in safe hands with sublime performances at the third edition of the 2018 Georgetown Grand Prix staged at GT Motorsports on Saturday night.
To understand why the appreciative audience raised their applause for the duo, one must hit reverse gear just for a bit.
At the previous meet held in early May, both of the drivers were relegated to standing below the champion driver on the podium.
They certainly must have said no more since they paced themselves ahead of the pack after getting valuable spots on the grid during qualifying. The only blemish for Phang, who competed in the 125cc Juniors, was placing third in his first race to Rayden Persaud, who copped first and Elan Rahaman in second.
For the rest of the night in his category, all the Pure Racing driver saw was the chequered flag being waved as he sped through the finish line with a best time of 32.221s.
Heading into the Easy Cup Rookie, Dharmendra Dharmo was the man to beat, taking to two first places at the previous meet.
Zachery Persaud, who had a mixed bag at the same meet, drove like he was on mission to make amends. All night he kept a control pace ahead of the pack, sweeping the flag in all three races, with Dharmo and Naresh Alves were relegated to second and third respectively in all three outings.
Another strong performance of the night came from Stefan Jeffrey to win the Easy Cup Super title. Only one occasion was Jeffrey displaced from the first spot by Steven Nobrega; otherwise he fended off the intense challenge from cousin Kristian Jeffrey and the ever consistent Nobrega, who interchanged between second and third for the other two races.
Thrills and intense competition continued for the night and the Sun Burst Kids Cup was no different with Jeremy Tenpow retaining the champion driver tag, by winning two out of three. The lone defeat came at the hands of his brother Justin Tenpow, as both Nathan Persaud and Paige Mendonca, though young and talented, were not able to capitalise on the small openings.
Other champion drivers for the night were the unbeaten Ben Phang, whose fastest time in the 60cc Baby Cup was 37.967s; Haniff Mohamed in the 125cc Masters and Kristian Jeffrey in the 125cc Seniors.
(See tabulated results below)
Georgetown Grand Prix- October 27, 2018
SUN BURST KIDS CUP
| Race 1 | Justin Tenpow | Jeremy Tenpow | Nathan Rahaman |
| Race 2 | Jeremy Tenpow | Nathan Rahaman | Paige Mendonca |
| Race 3 | Jeremy Tenpow | Nathan Rahaman | Paige Mendonca |
Champion Driver: Jeremy Tenpow
125CC JUNIORS
| Race 1 | Rayden Persaud | Elan Rahaman | John Phang |
| Race 2 | John Phang | Elan Rahaman | Rayden Persaud |
| Race 3 | John Phang | Rayden Persaud | Mikhail Persaud |
Champion Driver: John Phang
EASY CUP ROOKIE
| Race 1 | Zack Persaud | Dharmendra Dharmo | Naresh Alves |
| Race 2 | Zack Persaud | Dharmendra Dharmo | Naresh Alves |
| Race 3 | Zack Persaud | Dharmendra Dharmo | Naresh Alves |
Champion Driver: Zack Persaud
EASY CUP SUPER
| Race 1 | Stefan Jeffrey | Steven Nobrega | Kristian Jeffrey |
| Race 2 | Steven Nobrega | Stefan Jeffrey | Kristian Jeffrey |
| Race 3 | Stefan Jeffrey | Kristian Jeffrey | Stephen Nobrega |
Champion Driver: Stefan Jeffrey
BABY CUP
| Race 1 | Ben Phang | Nicholas Sawh | Caleb Paul |
| Race 2 | Ben Phang | Caleb Paul | Nicholas Sawh |
| Race 3 | Ben Phang | Nicholas Sawh | Caleb Paul |
Champion Driver: Ben Phang
125CC MASTERS
| Race 1 | Shan Seejatan | Haniff Mohamed | Ralph Persaud |
| Race 2 | Haniff Mohamed | Ralph Persaud | Mahendra Boodhoo |
| Race 3 | Shan Seejatan | Ralph Persaud | Haniff Mohamed |
Champion Driver: Haniff Mohamed
125CC SENIORS
| Race 1 | Kristian Jeffrey | Steven Nobrega | Matthew Phang |
| Race 2 | Matthew Phang | John Phang | Elan Rahaman |
| Race 3 | Kristian Jeffrey | John Phang | Elan Rahaman |
Champion Driver: Kristian Jeffrey
