JMMC/Jamspeed Rally Experience Dexterity #1 2006
JMMC/Jamspeed Rally Experience Dexterity #1 in association with Team R.S. (Racing Syndicate)
With a record breaking field of 61 competitors and over 500 spectators, the JMMC have started their 2006 Championship season on a big high. Co-Organisers, Team Racing Syndicate worked with Christopher McFarlane, the event’s chief organiser, to ensure that the word got out for rookies and rusty drivers to come out and test their driving skills around a ‘different’ track layout than before.
A video was produced and edited by Jamspeed Video Productions on the actual course layout to be used, with driving demonstrations by the reigning FWD Dexterity Champion. Then Team R.S. made use of the skills of Leroy Spence, who produced a Flash Movie of the course and a full colour track layout/map which was then circulated by email and on www.wheelsjamaica.com. The entire package was made available from the JMMC’s head office in
This all worked together to make this event the biggest Dexterity event in recent history. But all that pre-game hype is nothing if the show isn’t good. So onto the actual event:
The activities on the day began at 7am, when Chris McFarlane of Jamspeed Rally Experience hosted a Dexterity Driving Clinic for rookies. The excitement built by this activity was apparent, as one person who was just dropping off someone to the event, decided to stick around and participate, eventually entering the event itself.
The day started promptly at 10am with the singing of the National Anthem by the singing sailor, Lt. Cdr. John McFarlane, and was followed by a message from the JMMC Chairman, Errol Anderson. Then the action started, and right off the bat the sign of change became very apparent.
With 30 competitors in Class FWD, we knew that there would be great competition, but with only 6 or 7 names that could be counted as regulars, we didn’t quite know how it would pan out.
Front Wheel Drive
The second person to take the track after the event began was Jordan Powell, a newcomer to the sport, who set a blistering pace of 1:17:170 which held the leader board in Class FWD for most of that run, until a late runner, Julian Gordon used his experience to set a time 3/10ths of a second faster to take the lead. The interesting part, is that these 2 drivers were over 3 seconds faster than anyone else in the class at the end of Run #1.
On run # 2, Powell, feeling the effects of Julian’s wrath, retaliated by dumping 4 seconds off his first run time to post a 1:13:300 and take the lead of the class, forcing Julian Gordon to make an error on his run and actually post a slower time. Dion Gardner, a veteran to the sport, decided that he had enough of the rookie and set a time of 1:13:660 in his bid to oust Powell, but was relegated to 2nd none the less. The field, however, was getting closer, with Daryl King now entering the picture for the top spot.
Then came the ‘Go for Broke’ run for all the competitors. All this time, Raj Jadusingh, runner-up Champion in this class for 2005, and Dean Corrodus, MBMC Dexterity Champion (tied) for 2005 were posting times that were unfamiliar to them. On this run however, they got a break. Jordan Powell, while on what would have been his fastest run, made a mistake which costed him over 40seconds, hence making his best time of the day his second run. Raj, who started 4 cars behind him in the order, took this as a sign and went for it, with all he had. He dropped 8 seconds to drop to a new fastest time so far of 1:11:310. Dean Corrodus however could not manage the same feat and ended his day with a 1:15 which put him in 6th place for the class.
Other drivers saw the trend of big time drops and followed suit. Kevin Jackson dropped 6 seconds to end the day in 5th, with Powell’s 2nd run time of 1:13:300 being good enough for 4th. Daryl King narrowly got 3rd position as his best time was a 1:13:040, just 0.26 seconds ahead of Powell. Then we were left with the team-mates: Raj and Dion from Team Express.
Raj had already posted a 1:11:310, which is some 2 seconds faster than all the other in the class, but Dion, who shared cars with Raj as usual, was still to come. It must have been the chicken or the soup he had for lunch, but the visible attack was on. Dion’s run won applause from the crowd as he made good use of his Nissan AD Wagon, rotating the car on a dime and driving with precision like no other. Result: Fastest time for class and fastest time overall for the day: 1:10:750. We await the news out of Team Express Headquarters to see if Dion has been ousted from the team beating the Team Leader, who it is rumoured set team orders prior to Dion’s third run! Dion is a graduate of Jamspeed Rally Experience, the events sponsor.
In the FWD-LSD Class, the story was the same with only 3 non-rookies taking the start, Leroy Spence, Rohan Clarke and Pernell Fitzcoy. The other 9 entrants were pretty fresh to motor sports, but decided to put on a show non-the less. The result of this was an exciting display of confidence from the rookies, who saw a chance to walk away with the top prize. Rohan Clarke finished 6th, despite a good series of impressive looking runs, with his best time (1:20:480) coming on his 2nd run. Sean Cameron rebounded from a DNF on his first run to post a 1:20:230 on his last to secure P5 for FWD-LSD. Dwaine McNaughton, a true fresh blood to the sport, dropped 13 seconds over the day to finish 4th in the class, just over a second behind Pernell Fitzcoy, a non-rookie to motor sports and co-driver for Dean Corrodus. Pernell scored a 1:17:730. The surprise of the class was the 2nd place finisher, Thomas Hall, who drove brilliantly to secure a great finishing position on his first event (1:15:610), signifying a change of guard is near. The winner of the class, who has not been to dexterity in years, was Andy Williams, racing for Team Express, who posted a time of 1:15:240 on his first run, after collecting 2 seconds for touching a course marker. The result give Team Express its 2nd class win for the dexterity.
Rear
Onto Class RWD, where there were 4 competitors, 3 of which were entering a dexterity for the first time. Kim Gray-Anderson took the third place trophy for this class with a 1:25:625. Henrick Lawson drove brilliantly to take home the 2nd place trophy with a 1:22:575, a happy day for him indeed. The most surprising entry was that of a Mercedes-Benz driven by Garth Chin, but Garth, who has followed motor sports for some time now, knows that there is more to driving than just turning the wheel so he turned up at 7am for lessons from Jamspeed Rally Experience. He drove that big luxury car as best as he could and won for himself the top spot on the podium with his 1:20:910 third run, though he held the lead of the class from his 2nd.
Rear
The most exciting drives for the day came from the boys from out-of-town. The rear wheel drive kings showed up to dominate the RWD-LSD class, but there were also some rookies involve and a
Steve Sirgany decided that he was not missing this event and took a handbrake kit and fitted it to his Ford Escort, which is a car designed for Dover Raceway. He seemed to have some great car control early on, but posted a DNF on his first run. He finished the 2nd time through and took a 1:20:250 time to the end of the day, as he followed this up with a DNF, complaining (with a smile) that he could not remember the course as a result of age! Kirk Excel, took out the timing equipment at the end of his 2nd run, but came back on his third to drop 7 seconds and end up 4th for the class with a 1:19:530.
Then there were three: Maurice Whittingham, Allan Chen and Basil McIntosh.
No-one cared how they finished really, as the show was more exciting. These three displayed care control beyond a shadow of a doubt, but the event just happened to be timed, so why not score them while we’re at it. Maurice Whittingham suffered from brake woes on his last run, but posted a 1:14:840 none the less, putting him in a solid 3rd place, but close enough to Allan to have hopes for 2nd. Allan went out on his third run and posted a DNF, injuring himself in the process (sprained thumb) but had posted a 1:13:880 on his 2nd run to make the top 2 and finish with the respect of Whittingham. The winner, Basil McIntosh, must be constantly fantasising about
‘Major Upset in 4WD’ is how the headlines read for that class. With over half of the class filled with first timers and most of the rest having only entered one event, it would have been easy to say that Tarik Minott, the reigning 4WD champ would have that class easy. Not so. Tarik drove his Toyota Rav 4 harder than anyone else could have driven it and posted a brilliant time of 1:17:530 to finish 2nd in the class. At the end of his 3rd run, he was leading 4WD, but there was one other competitor who had won the hearts and joy of the spectators with his superb driving display, despite never having entered ANY, not one, speed event in Jamaica.
Were talking about Stephen Bansie who drove a Subaru WRX. He made proper use of the handbrake and power to create exciting runs. What’s even more interesting is that he had 2 DNF’s on his first 2 runs after driving the course incorrectly. What’s even more interesting than that is that he had a time penalty for hitting course marker on his 3rd run, finishing with a time of 1:17:530, just 0.21 seconds ahead of Tarik.
Ladies Class
For the Ladies Class, Kim Gray-Anderson took home that award. She is also a graduate of Jamspeed Rally Experience, and has ongoing assistance from her US Army husband who pushes her to do well. 2nd in the class was Anna-Kay Dunkley, who was approached by the MBMC for recruitment after the saw her skills, and 3rd went the JMMC Club Secretary Marcia Dawes.
With his result, Garth Chin, Andy Williams, Thomas Hall, Jordan Powell have all made a statement that new guards are coming for the Dexterity Championship. We are waiting in anticipation to see what they do next.
Championship Run
The Championship Run, for JMMC members only, saw Allan Chen beating Dion Gardner to the top spot with Basil McIntosh right behind him with Julian Gordon, Alejo Lee and Maurice Whittingham rounding out the top 6 placing.
Thank You
A very special thank you to the sponsors of the event who made it all possible: Jamspeed Rally Experience which operates out of Spot Valley Raceway in St. James, SpeedTalk with Chris McFarlane which airs Mondays and Thursdays at 8pm on Power106FM and Advanced Driver Training Centre in Lakes Pen, who offer commercial vehicle training and Defensive Driver Training to corporate companies.
Team Racing Syndicate and Jamspeed Rally Experience thank the Marshalling Club and all the marshalls who came out on Sunday for a Job well done.
See everyone at the next Dexterity in the JMMC Dexterity Championship Series for 2006.
