BRIDGETOWN MAY 02, 2024 – BARBADOS EMERGED SECOND overall in the Rush Island Weekend car and bike racing meet, held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) last weekend Saturday April 27 and Sunday, April 28, after coming up against SVG, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago.
Nicholas Pinto in the potent Honda Civic EK4 had the fastest time in the 13-second bracket. Back in 2017 Pinto had won in the 11-second bracket with a Mitsubishi Colt, but this time around a lack of light and a concern for safety cancelled his final run and another which included local competitors Daryll Inniss and Shaquielle Jemmott, both in Mitsubishi Colts. Steve Bruce in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 2 came second in the 10-second bracket, hampered by a snapped selector cable.
SVG’s Camillus Pitt who had home strip advantage in his Mitsubishi Eterna, won the 14-second bracket while his compatriot Aidon Shearman in a Toyota Levin took the 12-second bracket.
Meanwhile, Sheridan Mohammed on the Suzuki GSXR 1000 was the fastest bike overall in the Quarter Mile Test N Tune on Saturday coming in at 9.8 seconds at 142 mph and riding away with the US$1 000.00 prize money. Mohammed had also won last October in SVG in the same drag racing competition. In more good news for Barbados Shane Als copped the third fastest time of the day with 10.09 seconds at 138.7 mph, while Fabian Reeves rode in at 10.7 seconds at 137 mph.
Rounding out the Barbados car contingent was Sammy ‘The CEO’ Cumberbatch in the BMW M3 who gained the third fastest time with 12.2 seconds at 127mph; Ronny ‘Hoppie’ Harper in the 2017 Jaguar F Type had a consistent day with 12.5 seconds, while Rommel ‘Muffin’ Alleyne in the Toyota Corolla Wagon did his best time of the day at 12.2 seconds, followed by Nicholas Pinto in the 2000 Honda Civic EK with 12.9 and Andre Bryan in the 1986 Toyota Trueno AE86 with 13.0 seconds. Jatoine Roach in the 2016 Suzuki Swift, and Daryl Inniss in the 1998 Mitsubishi Colt and Shaquielle Jemmott in the Mitsubishi Colt duked it out in the 14 seconds’ bracket.
The eighth of a mile was completed with the meet’s sixteen (16) fastest cars which were handicapped to make an even playing field. However, Barbados’ Sammy Cumberbatch was knocked out in the semifinals.
The track located at the old E.T. Joshua Airport was plagued with dust which affected the amount of grip available to the cars’ tires making it especially difficult for rear wheel drivers including Cumberbatch and Andre Bryan.
BADD, which hosted the local drivers and coordinated the transportation of nine (9) race cars and four (4) bikes to SVG said it was a valuable experience for the Association and the drivers, both are looking forward to competing again in the Rush Weekend meet and are also exploring going to Grenada in June for International Drags which is expected to be a battle royale. This as the competitors at the SVG Rush Weekend are interested in coming to Barbados for a regional event later in the year. A group of them is expected to attend BADD’s next event – Drag Rivals Round 2, Tribute to Anthony Rowe slated for Bushy Park on Sunday, May 12.
