Back-to-school sprint
Troy Bernard, promoter of Off Roading on the Farm, joined forces with the Drivers Rallysport Club (DRC) to provide some back-to-school support for the community of Brighton River, St Elizabeth last Sunday.
The occasion was first sprint event of the year.
“I took this opportunity to host DRC sprint number one as a back-to-school fund-raiser, where persons can come and watch Jamaica’s top rally drivers by only donating back-to-school supplies like books, pens, khakis, bags, etc,” Bernard told the Jamaica Observer’s weekly Auto magazine.
Bernard explained that Brighton River community, which relies heavily on farming, has been hit hard by the drought being experienced across the island. The event, according to him, was necessary to help lift spirits.
“The contributions were great, as we provided over 30 children with school supplies with more to come in the week,” he said.
The Rallysport sprint series has been off to a late start. Most competitors use the sprint events as a way to shakedown their rally cars before Rally Jamaica at the end of the year, so the event was also most welcomed by several drivers, including championship run winner Timothy Stewart. For him this was his first time driving his new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX on Jamaican soil, as it had been sent straight to Trinidad for the rally event there.
“The car felt good. We sorted out the issues that we had in Trinidad and it was good to test it on the dirt, so I’m definitely looking forward to what it will do at Rally Jamaica later this year,” Stewart said.
As the only car in the normally competitive JN8 class, Stewart’s victory was a foregone conclusion, but he was still happy for the seat time.
“It felt good to win but there wasn’t any competition to race against, so there was a little downside to winning. Really hope to see the rest of the four-wheel drive cars out to compete against and give me some good competition,” he added.
He’s, however, not worried about the lack of sprints for 2019.
“I hope we have another sprint and maybe a rally or two before Rally Jamaica to get some more seat time, but if we don’t I will definitely do some testing between just to get more seat time and get more accustomed to the new car,” he said.
Thomas Hall provided the closest competition in his two-wheel drive Lancer GT, taking second place in the championship laps. Montegonian Maurice Whittingham completed the podium positions in his Toyota Levin. Rounding out the top five were Spencer Whittingham and James Lechler.
