The Jamaica Millenium Motoring Club kicked off the tarmac season on Sunday February 22, 2009 in Tobolski St. Ann. The event was action packed and some aggressive driving was put down to see who would take the title of King of The Hill.

Did we say the day was action packed? Gordon McDowell claimed the first incident of the day as he rolled the Team Mack Attack Mitsubishi Mirage in the competitor convoy run. Thankfully neither he nor his team mate Andrew Balbour were hurt. Nigel Edwards also had a run off with his Ford Laser, taking him out of competition for the day. Besides those incidents, there were other close brushes as several competitors went all out to get the fastest time, narrowly missing curbs, missing turns and even getting stuck in nearby bushes in the process. The event ended safely however, with no injuries to competitors.  But then while Marcus Barnes, a competitor, was loading his car on a wrecker to go home, a spectator’s car rammed the back of his car.  Marcus was injured in the impact and was rushed to hospital suffering from severe back pains.  Race Jamaica is wishing Marcus a speedy recovery.

We remind all readers that motorsports is dangerous and drivers race in controlled environments with safety gear (helmet, roll cages).  It is imperative that drivers recognize that at no time should anyone be racing or driving in a reckless manner on the road and no one should be driving when under the influence of drugs, or alcohol.  The consequences are not worth the temporary thrill.  People will get hurt, as seen above.

Jeffrey Panton ran away with the King of The Hill crown in his Ford Focus WRC, the speed of that car on the hill was incomparable to anything else. The real action though was put down by Tarik Minott and Gary Gregg. Gary Gregg was out testing a Maxxis Tyres sponsored Honda Civic which his son will be competing in soon. The amazing driving Gary put down brought him within one second of class winner Tarik Minott who was flying in his Suzuki Ignis. Special Mention goes to the Petcom sponsored Mitsubishi Colt of Dion Gardner who had the fourth fastest time of the day.  His driving was impressive and the crowd loved the sound of his Mivec engine.

Charles Maxwell in his E10 Powered Mirage also competed in class JC1. Charles will be competing this year at Dover Raceway. This event was a shakedown for him, to test the car before the upcoming race season. It is normal for Dover competitors to test their cars at sprints to get a better feel for it and test new parts etc.

Overall, apart from the unfortunate incident with Marcus Barnes, this opening event went well. The event was sponsored by Taboo Energy Drink, Kir-Dex Trucking, Digicel, KFC and XSomo.  Without sponsors this sport could not survive and so we ask that you support them for supporting us!

Please see the event results below:

Regular Runs

Championship Runs Results