By Akeem Greene
Should the current COVID-19 situation improve in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago and the respective governments grant the necessary approval for travel, racers from the twin-island republic could attend the November race meet in Guyana.
That’s according to Vice-President of Trinidad and Tobago Automobile Sports Association, Ashton Eligon, who told News Room Sport, they plan on sending a large contingent.
November 7 and 8 are the scheduled dates for the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) end of the year circuit meet. Over the years it has marked the conclusion to the Caribbean Motor Racing Championships.
However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has halted inter-regional racing, but there is optimism that should the current situation improve there could at least the November showdown at South Dakota under strict health guidelines.
“I was talking to my Competitions Chairman recently and without a doubt, the answer is yes. Trinidad and Guyana have been really supportive of each other in motor-racing for many years in circuit racing and quite recently for drag racing,” Eligon explained.
“We will without a doubt, provided that things change, of course, the border opens up and the system allows us to come to Guyana, you will definitely see a large contingent of drivers and riders.”
As of Friday, the Ministry of Health confirmed that Trinidad and Tobago’s total number of positive cases currently stands at 169, with eight deaths.
The twin-island had gotten to zero active cases in May and began a phased opening of the country.
Motor-racing was given the all-clear to restart on June 28 in T&T, but the Association said they had already drafted a plan to how they will operate when the restart happens.
“Couple of things that plan had was that we would do away with the driver’s briefing in person and instead do it via zoom. We also decided to do online registration and then make an appointment to pay.”
The Vice-President further explained that they insisted that high-risk persons stay home; they have also placed sanitisation area and hand sanitizers in pits, along with ensuring persons wear masks.
Since no fans are allowed at Wallerfield, they have started to lime stream the event which allows their sponsors to purchase various slots.
The vice-president indicated that the racers have been disciplined and are fully complying with the rules implemented. The idea is that their formula can be adopted and used in Guyana when approval is granted to recommence such locally.
