Mayers focuses on BADD at Bushy Park
Bushy Park Barbados will host more than 20 hours of on-track action over the weekend of May 16/17, when Bushy Park Motor Sports Inc's (BPMSI) second race meet of the season is combined with the Barbados Association of Dragsters & Drifters (BADD) opening fixture for the year.
While the second round of the Suzuki Challenge Series is the headline event, with Mark Thompson and Sean Maloney seeking to extend their advantage in the Swift Cup and SR3 Cup respectively, confirmation that Roger Mayers is among the early BADD entries is already attracting attention on social media.
Three races each are scheduled for the Swift Sports and Suzuki-powered Radical SR3 RS sports cars, BPMSI's Clubman, Modified Production, SuperSport, SuperModified and Bike championships, plus Hilti Handicap races on two and four wheels towards the end of the day; track action on Sunday starts at 8.00am, while practice is scheduled to start at noon on Saturday, with Qualifying from 3.00pm.
Four half-hour practice sessions are scheduled for BADD, the first on Saturday afternoon, building up to Qualifying and the all-important Eliminations on Sunday; if time permits, BADD hopes to include grudge matches at the end of the day.
Returning to action in the Chefette / Digicel / Sol / DHL / Illusion Graphics / Hankook Ford Focus for the first time since his crash during the Digicel Williams International Race Meet at Bushy Park last July, Mayers said: "I'll be trying to improve on my last time set. I'm aiming for a low six-second pass."
Also on the BADD entry list is former rally man Graeme Finlayson, in his new Westfield turbo-Hayabusa, who is targeting the 2wd record. Although this will be his first BADD event, he has competed at the world-famous Santa Pod Raceway in the UK in his previous carbon fibre car, but says that his new Westfield is a very different machine: "It's an absolute monster - in rally-spec, the Westfields we used to run were about 250-300bhp/tonne, this thing is 700-800bhp/tonne - it's not just another ball-park of speed, it's another galaxy."
Thompson, who won two Swift Cup races at the John 'Tiny' Harrison Memorial Race Meet in March, leads by 14 points from Trinidad & Tobago's Ryan Peyrau; the grid is boosted for round two by the arrival of Jamaican all-rounder David Summerbell Jnr, plus Jason Parkinson of Barbados, a multiple winner at Old Bushy Park.
Just five points cover the leading contenders in the SR3 Cup, Sean Maloney ahead with 58 points, with brothers Mark (55pts) and Stuart Maloney (53pts) second and third; Sean and Mark won the first two races last month, with Sean also the winner on the road in the third, although a subsequent Stewards Enquiry handed the victory to Stuart.
In the BPMSI's 2015 Championship, Quincy Jones is the early leader, having won Modified Production 1 twice in his Toyota Starlet and finished second in the middle race to claim 68 points; with two wins and a third place in SuperSport 1, Steve King (Starlet) is in hot pursuit with 65. While Andre Walcott (Suzuki Swift) claimed a hat-trick of victories, he is currently only third in the Champion Driver title chase, with 54 points, as Clubman 1 was not fully subscribed, so a reduced points structure was applied.
On two wheels, Kris Brathwaite has the advantage in the evenly-matched Suzuki GSXR-600 battle, with 65 points for two wins and a third place; Terrance Ollivierre, who won race two and finished second in the others, is just four points adrift on 61.
General Admission on Sunday, May 17, will be Bds $20, with The Clubhouse, where food and drink will be on sale, Bds $40; children 12 and under are free. A vehicle pass for the 4 x 4 Hammer Zone is Bds $25, with individual General Admission passes required for each occupant. Admission to Qualifying on Saturday, May 16, will be free.
