Team Mohamed’s still fastest at South Dakota

By Akeem Greene

Different day, more speed, but the winner remained the same, as Team Mohamed’s gave all challengers front row viewership to rear lights on Sunday when the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club held Round One of its National Drag Race Championship at South Dakota.

Despite the Debbie Downer for the thousands who attended, not seeing the newly acquired white Nissan GT-R in competitive action due to mechanical issues, the familiar black GT-R, Goliath, certainly did not disappoint.

On the new quarter-mile strip, its fastest time was a blistering 8.584s, while in the big showdown with second generation RX-7, owned by Peter Daby, it clocked 8.907s where it roped in the Mazda by the 60ft marker.

The battle was ultimate showdown between two cars which were clocking the fastest times throughout the day. It is understood, the S&D performance RX-7 had somewhere in the vicinity of 2000HP (Horsepower) as compared with the GT-R, which was pushing the 1800 mark.

The race was off and the RX-7 pulled ahead in the early moments, having a reaction of 0.084s as compared to the GT-Rs 0.374.

However, with all eyes pierced to the track, the All-Wheel Drive capabilities of the GT-R under the piloting of American Terence Cox, made the RX-7’s lead inconsequential, with a blistering finish which ignited a massive cheer from the crowd. The RX-7 clocked 9.474s.

The RX-7 was good enough to outclass its third generation model to win the 10-second class.

Other excitement of the day came from Damien Persaud, son of Shawn Persaud, who retained his title in the 11-second class.

Avi Samaroo’s Evolution won the 12-second class, while Surinamese Raymond John and Eric Watchman won the 13 and 14-second classes respectively. The other winners were Ramesh Persaud (15-second) and Vickey Persaud (16-second).

Veteran Mark Menez won both the 600cc and 1000cc classes for the motorcycles. His 1000cc showdown was with Stephen Vieira, who slipped during his launch.

Officials from the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club stated it was incident-free meet, attended by one of the largest crowds, if not the largest ever. There are plans to host a regional competition in August.