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High speed action for Bushy Park

6/23/2009

FOR the first time this year the Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) race day is expected to have all the top drivers and cars gracing the track for a day of high-speed action at the Bushy Park Racing Circuit next month on July 5.

Mechanical gremlins were among the many issues that have kept the some of the fastest cars out of the first three rounds of the BARL 2009 championship.
However, those problems appear to be a thing of the past and the so-called ‘Big Guns’ should be out in their numbers.

The Maloney team of father Douglas and sons Mark and Stuart are all expected to compete for the first time this year after recently returning from a successful first round of the 2009 Seaboard Marine Caribbean Motor Racing Championship Series at the Dover Raceway in Jamaica.

However, Douglas Maloney had some engine problems with the Audi Quattro which had plagued him in qualifying in Barbados and then once again during practice at Dover, Jamaica.

With the problem identified, he mentioned that they were working to have it ready in time for the meet but it appears they are going to be cutting it very close.

In Jamaica, Douglas Maloney said that the Audi dropped a valve due to a weak part and after they pulled it down they realised that it had hit the piston.

The first head that had a similar problem with the valve was sent overseas and refitted with stronger parts but now they were in the process of changing the pistons.
However, he was optimistic about making it in time with his upgraded power plant for the upcoming race meet.

Mark Maloney confirmed that he would be racing and said that he was expecting great things from his Red Bull, Royal Bank of Canada, Digicel Mazda RX3.

He mentioned that he has been tweaking the suspension and gearing up the car for competition since returning from Jamaica where he placed second and third in the first two races and then unluckily caught a flat in the third race, which prevented him from another podium finish.

“Everything considered, especially with the amount of torrential rain we had in the two days prior to the meet that inhibited our practice, I think that the car performed superbly,” he explained.

“That meet put me in good stead for the meet here at Bushy Park,” he added.
Stuart and father Doug Maloney are expected to face Roger Mayers in Group 4, while Stuart Williams will have to contend with Barry Mayers in his recently acquired Suzuki SX4, Mark Maloney’s fire breathing Mazda RX3 and Steve King’s Nissan Skyline with a fresh engine.

This means that the Group 3C and 4 Classes of BARL now sport some of the most advanced racing machines in the region and once they are all out the event will take on an international flavour.

Also expected back will be the defending BARL Overall Champion Driver, Karl Waterman who along with Ryan Wood, Daryl Clarke, Cliff Roett and Ralph White, all took time off to prepare for Rally Barbados.

They will rejoin their respective Groups which have produced some epic battles over the past three meets. These match-ups include Jermin Pope, Christopher Hinds, Ryan Francis and Orville Blackman in Group 1B and Sean Russell, Kurt Hamblin, Stephen Elliott, Mark Thompson and Winston Grecia in Group 2A. Points leader Shawn Boxill, Simon Gillmore and Kevin Griffith in Group 2B.

Kenrick Husbands, Wendel Batson and Roger Welch-Payne will face off in Group 2C and Kurt Thompson, Sean Gibbs and Andre Forde in Group 3A.
To top it all off, the heated battle between Dave Hinds and Philip Moe in Group 3B continues.

The July 5 event will be a prelude to what is to come on August 30 when BARL stages the Williams Industries International, featuring Round 2 of the 2009 Seaboard Marine Caribbean Motor Racing Championship Series. At this meet Team Barbados is expected to match skills with regional counterparts Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Vincent and St. Maarten.

Indices

as of close 9/15/2009


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