By Akeem Greene in Trinidad and Tobago
Based on preliminary results, Trinidadian Kristian Boodoosingh’s sublime run of three wins out of three on home turf has given him a 15-point lead over Guyana’s Kristian Jeffrey after an enthralling day of radical racing at the Frankie Boodram Raceway, Wallerfield, on Sunday.
Heading into Round Three of the Radical Caribbean Championship, Boodoosingh was 25 points behind Jeffrey. And, a perfect 75 points saw him rise to 178 points based on the unofficial standings, while Jeffrey now has 163 points, followed by Stuart Maloney of Barbados (85 points).
When drivers landed on Thursday, murky conditions prevailed over Wallerfield, and it continued throughout the weekend, which meant after the significant downpour early on race day, chances of action seemed slim due to the flooded track and low visibility.
However, after a wet practice, conditions improved for qualifying and it was Barbadian F3 standout, Zane Maloney, who qualified on pole with a time of 40.196 seconds, while Boodoosingh (40.454s) and Jeffrey (41.101s) closed off the top three.
Zane’s performances did not count toward the championship, so, despite the fact that he finished ahead of Boodoosingh on two occasions, the Trinidadian effectively won the race toward the radical championship.
The young Maloney’s fantastic driving throughout the weekend, which saw him only finish second to Boodoosingh on the reverse grid race, clocked 37.826 seconds for the fastest time of the day, and a new lap record.
His uncle, Mark Maloney, had the previous record of 38.048 seconds, and Boodoosingh (37.997s), was the other man on the day to dip below 38 seconds. Jeffrey’s quickest time of the day, 38.129s, came in race three.
Jeffrey, who was the second fastest of the drivers at practice on Saturday, got two third-place finishes and a sixth.
Varying race incidents hampered Jeffrey’s progress throughout the days, as coming from Barbados with four wins out of six, the Jeffrey camp was hopeful to secure the title after this round, but the weather and the car had other ideas.
It means Jeffrey would need to mirror a similar performance of Boodoosingh when the final round is held in Guyana November 12-13 to cart off the title.
As expected, the Boodoosingh show saw the local being crowned champion driver for the day, while Stuart was second and Jeffrey third.
In race three, Stuart and Jeffrey had a thrilling race, arguably the most exciting aspect of the day outside of Zane and Boodoosingh’s brilliance.
For the latter part of the 15-lap race, Jeffrey went hunting on Stuart, and though having to change his back hub and a bent rim after an accident in race two, he marginally got the lead coming out of the hairpin, but the seasoned Stuart took it back, and then produced stellar defending to keep Jeffrey at bay.
Meanwhile, due to Boodoosingh’s heroics, Trinidad has moved up to 180 points on the provisional table of the Nations Cup, with Guyana just behind on 172 points and Barbados in third on 164 points.
