Most of the big names in Guyana’s Drag Racing came to the line and several of the newcomers looked impressive on Sunday when the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) hosted its first Drag Race Meet of the season at the South Dakota Circuit.
However, a fluid and decent day of racing to start the season was dampened by a race incident with drivers Azruddin Mohamed (GT-R Nismo) and Denzel Hopkinson (Toyota Supra, commonly called ‘Kong’) late in the day.
What Happened
The organisers deemed the clash an “unofficial race” since Mohamed defeated Hopkinson in the official race earlier.
There was a switch in lanes for this ‘grudge match’, as Mohamed took the left lane and at the line, both drivers awaited the ‘thee’ (Portatree Timing System).
It is understood the Supra attempted to “bump” into to stage setting, but unfortunately left before the three ran the lights to officially start the race.
Belatedly, Mohamed left the line in pursuit of the Supra, and based on video evidence, provided by Team Mohamed’s, after passing the line, the Supra’s parachute was released and the car veered into the path of Mohamed.
Mohamed subsequently collided with the parachute, causing him to spin into the grass and then flip.
He was unhurt after the incident.
According to the GMR&SC, Team Mohamed’s two black GT-Rs, driven by Mohamed and Terence Cox, were billed to contest the final of the Unlimited category, but this did not happen due to the incident.
“The #3 Nissan GT-R Nismo driven by Azruddin Mohamed defeated the #112 Toyota Supra (Kong) driven by Denzil Hopkinson in race 1 of round 1”, the club stated Sunday evening.
The statement further indicated that “The #1 Nissan GT-R (Goliath) driven by Terence Cox defeated the #19 Ford Mustang, driven by Rameez Mohamed, in race 2 of round 1 leaving the #1 and #3 Nissan GT-Rs for the final. Due to the inability of the #3 Nissan GT-R to continue, the winner of the unlimited class by default is the #1 Nissan GT-R (Goliath) driven by Terence Cox.”
Earlier in the day, Mohamed clocked 7.842 seconds to set a new record time for the Nismo, while the white GT-R, driven by Cox, lowered its previous best of 7.501 seconds to 7.449 seconds.
The team still holds the track record of 7.036 seconds set by the Pro-Mod last August.
Females are ready
Six females came to the line in the invitational category and 16-year-old Natalia Singh with her Mitsubishi Evolution took home the trophy.
Kistanti Tejram with her Toyota Carina 212 clocked 14.195 seconds to record the fastest female time, while Singh’s 14.623 was second.
The next Drag Racing event will be the innovative Day/Night racing on June 3 followed by the International meet on August 6.
The next event on the race calendar is Circuit Racing on March 19.
Drag Wars 1.0 – Official Results
16 second – #47 – Ravindra Rodrigues – Toyota Vitz
15 second – #44 – Khalid Khan – Toyota Levin
14 second – #54 – Komal Tejram – Toyota Carina 212
13 second – #16 – Pankraj Ramdeo – Toyota Corolla Runx
12 second – #94 – Raymond John – Toyota Mark 2 ( Suriname)
11 second – #56 – O’neil Higgins – Toyota Caldina
10 second – #80 – Bhai Soekha – Toyota Altezza (Suriname)
9 second – no entries
Unlimited – #1 Nissan GT-R (Goliath) driven by Terence Cox
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Superbikes 600 cc – Shem Chattersingh
Superbikes 1000 cc – Jermaine Chattersingh
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All female class – #86 – Natalia Singh – Mitsubishi Evolution
Top 4 fastest times by female drivers:
1. Kishanti Tejram – #55 – Toyota Carina 212 – 14.195 seconds
2. Natalia Singh – #86 – Mitsubishi Evolution – 14.623
3. Sarah Chattersingh – #11 – Toyota Starlet – 15.171
4. Malicia Lawrence – #29 – Subaru Forester – 15.641