F4 champion Zane Maloney confirmed for November race meet

Reigning champion Stuart Maloney of Barbados leads Jamaica’s William Myers by a single point ahead of the final round of the 2019 Radical Caribbean SR3 Cup at South Dakota in Guyana next month (November 16-17).

Mark Maloney is 10 points behind Myers, with Kristian Boodoosingh (Trinidad and Tobago) and Sean Maloney also within 35 points of the leader, so the title fight is wide open with a maximum score of 75 points possible across the last three races.

Fresh from becoming the first driver to win both the British F4 Championship outright and the Rookie Cup, 16-year-old Zane Maloney will join father Sean and uncles Mark and Stuart on the grid in Guyana for the first time.

At Bushy Park Barbados in September, when he became the 38th driver to race in the SR3 Cup, the teenager claimed a debut pole position and hat-trick of victories driving father Sean’s SR3.

For next month’s final, he will drive former racer David Simpson’s car, which he tested at Bushy Park on his return from the UK last week before the cars left Barbados for Guyana, courtesy of Tropical Shipping.

While Myers has yet to win, the Double Jamaican Modified Production 2 Champion’s strength has been consistency – six podium finishes, second three times, third three times, have racked up the points race after race, giving him a solid chance of chasing the title in his Rookie year.

His fellow countryman Horatio Brown joined the SR3 Cup with only limited competition experience, but has acquitted himself well in far more experienced company, with a best result of fifth in his nine races.

Guyana’s lone representative will be Kristian Jeffrey, a race-winner on his home track in last year’s SR3 Cup finale and second in the other two races; he will be keen to repeat that form after a disappointing September weekend in Barbados, when he returned to the series for the first time this year.

Mechanical issues left the former Winter Champion with a best result of fifth during the Williams Industries International, despite which his ‘hit rate’ remains among the best, with seven wins in his 20 appearances, along with a further seven podium finishes, two pole positions and two fastest laps.

All four Maloneys have been race-winners this season in the Suzuki-powered sports racers: Stuart, the only driver to have contested all 82 SR3 Cup races since 2015, has won twice – his total is now 18 victories – with four more podium finishes contributing to his points-leading total.

Mark won two of the opening round’s three races to lead the early-season standings, but has since dropped down the order, with only two podium finishes; the 2015-16 SR3 Cup Champion Sean then led the points with one win, two seconds and a third-place finish before handing his car to Zane last month.

Boodoosingh is the other race-winner, with three second places helping him recover from a disastrous opening round, when a rare component failure left him with just six points from the day’s first race.

His T&T team-mate Luke Bhola, like Boodoosingh in his second second of the regional series, was lying fifth in the standings with a best result of fourth after round two in June, but missed the the September weekend through illness, so has slipped down the order.

Organised by the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club (GMR&SC), the Caribbean Race of Champions International Race Meet will feature a 23-race programme on the 1.26-kilometre circuit, including events for Groups 2, 3 and 4 and the Club’s local classes.

Entry list for Round Four:

16 Stuart Maloney – BAR (Bushy Park Barbados Radical SR3 RS)

17 Kristian Boodoosingh – T&T (CR Boodoosingh & Sons Ltd/Fast Parts/Torco Race Fuels/Richtune/Garage 61/TechPoint Tuning Radical SR3 RS)

22 Sean Maloney – BAR (Bushy Park Barbados Radical SR3 RS)

31 Zane Maloney – BAR (Suzuki/Bushy Park Barbados/Rock Hard Cement/Sol Radical SR3 RS)

69 Horatio Brown – JAM (Fast Parts/Torco Race Fuels/Richtune/Garage 61/Techpoint Tuning Radical SR3 RS)

86 Mark Maloney – BAR (Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados Radical SR3 RS)

162 William Myers – JAM (KFC Radical SR3 RS)

261 Kristian Jeffrey – GUY (Torginol Paints Radical SR3 RS)

888 Luke Bhola – T&T (Bholas Marketing/Fast Parts/Torco Race Fuels/Richtune/Garage 61/TechPoint Tuning Radical SR3 RS)

Points after Round Three:

1st Stuart Maloney 132 points; 2nd Myers 131pts; 3rd M Maloney 121pts; 4th Boodoosingh 105pts; 5th Sean Maloney 100pts; 6th Z Maloney, 75pts; 7th Bhola 64pts; 8th Brown 60pts; equal 9th Jeffrey & Stuart Johnson – T&T (Fast Parts/Mitco Water Laboratories Radical SR3 RS) 18pts

Radical Caribbean SR3 Cup

Round 1 – April 29, Bushy Park Barbados (BPMSI)

Round 2 – June 10, Bushy Park Barbados (BPMSI)

Round 3 – August 31/September 1, Bushy Park Barbados (BPMSI)

Round 4 – November 16/17, South Dakota, Guyana (GMR&SC)