Mark Thompson is the BPMSI 2020 Champion Driver
Mark Thompson is Bushy Park Motor Sports Inc’s (BPMSI) 2020 Champion Driver. In a season shortened to two race meets by the coronavirus pandemic, he won Group 2/Class 1 in five of the six races in his Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty Toyota Starlet, his only DNF coming in the final race of the season. His year-end total was 118 points, beating Andre Walcott, twice the Champion Driver in the past three seasons, to the overall title by 27 points, with Stuart Maloney third, another 13 points in arrears.
Thompson’s class was the best supported for the year and produced some good racing, with former Champion Drivers Jermin Pope (Glassesco Honda Civic) and Devan McCartney (Zephirins Bakeries/CA Autobody Repairs Honda CRX) in the mix, finishing second and third on 66 and 45 points respectively, with Pope also fourth in the Champion Driver title chase. Verdon Inniss (Rezult Auto Shop Toyota Starlet) and Patrick Weekes (PIRG Construction/Advanced Automotive Systems/NS Services Nissan March) also picked up podium finishes in the class during the season.
Walcott won Gp1/C1 for the fourth straight year in his trusty Williams Industries/ACE H & B Hardware/CA Autobody Repairs/M-Grafix/Hilti/SE Performance/Goodyear Suzuki Swift. While he failed to beat Thompson’s total and claim a third Champion Driver title, he was more dominant in Gp1/C1, the next best-supported class. Two Rookies, who made their BPMSI debuts in the season’s second race meet, finished second and third in the class: driving one of the BPCI rental Suzuki Swift Sports, Sebastian Thompson picked up one class win in August to finish second with 49 points, beating Kyle Smith (Honda Civic) by four points.
Maloney was the Group 4 champion in his VP Fuel Sales/Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Citroen C2 S2000, while Tremaine Forde-Catwell (CCT Paints/Cheese Autoglass Finish/Hilti Daihatsu Charmant) won Gp2/C2 and finished fifth overall. There will also be trophies at the Prizegiving for the BimmaCup drivers who raced in August: with two wins and a second place, Sacha Soodeen topped the table with 68 points, ahead of the other race-winner Shawn Boxill on 52, with Jason Parkinson and Trinidad & Tobago’s David Coelho tied for third on 45.
BPMSI’s first fixture of the season, on March 14, was the last motor sport activity in the island before the country went into Lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19; run on the traditional date for the Club’s annual International at the end of August, the VP Fuel Sales & Rock Hard Cement Race Meet, which proved to be the last for the year, ran on the shorter National Circuit. The Club is hoping for a more positive season in 2021, with the Prizegiving to honour this year’s winners the first date on the provisional calendar, slated for Saturday, January 23.
BPMSI 2020 Championship, final points
Group 1/Class 1: Champion - Andre Walcott (Williams Industries/ACE H & B Hardware/CA Autobody Repairs/M-Grafix/Hilti/SE Performance/Goodyear Suzuki Swift), 91 points; 2nd Sebastian Thompson (Glassesco Suzuki Swift Sport), 49pts; 3rd Kyle Smith (Honda Civic), 45pts; etc
Group 2/Class 1: Champion - Mark Thompson (Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty Toyota Starlet), 118pts; 2nd Jermin Pope (Glassesco Honda Civic), 66pts; 3rd Devan McCartney (Zephirins Bakeries/CA Autobody Repairs Honda CRX), 45pts; etc
Gp2/C2: Champion - Tremaine Forde-Catwell (CCT Paints/Cheese Autoglass Finish/Hilti Daihatsu Charmant), 54pts; 2nd Tyrone Martindale (Marks Auto Spares/Performance Plus Honda CRX), 15pts
Group 3: Champion - Ahmed Esuf (Y Esuf Auto Clinic/Express Imports Honda Civic), 36pts
Group 4: Champion - Stuart Maloney (VP Fuel Sales/Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Citroen C2 S2000), 78pts; 2nd Zane Maloney (VP Fuel Sales/Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station Skoda Fabia R5), 42pts
BimmaCup Challenge: Final points: 1st Sacha Soodeen, 68pts; 2nd Shawn Boxill, 52pts; equal 3rd David Coelho (T&T) & Jason Parkinson, 45pts; etc