Jardine expects hot contests at Dover's Heroes of Speed

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

Hilary Jardine, president of the Jamaica Race Drivers Club, said his association was expecting a pulsating day of racing at this month's Heroes of Speed race meet, which will be held October 16-17 at the Dover Raceway in St Ann, starting at 9:00 each morning.

The feature race will be the Alfred Chen Memorial Thundersport Race, which will be contested over 12 laps. This race, a tribute to Dover's founder Alfred Chen, was inaugurated at last year's Heroes of Speed race meet. There will be 15 races on the weekend, three of which will be confined to motorcyclists.

"I think this race meet is going to be one of the biggest that we have ever had because of the competition between David Summerbell and Doug Gore," said Jardine during Wednesday's press launch, which was held at the Sports Development Foundation office in St Andrew.

Gregg looks promising

"Young Kyle Gregg is going to do very well because he is the leader for the overall drivers' title and he intends to win it, but you can never tell, Summerbell can still capture it at the last minute," he said.

Gregg leads the championships with 102 points. He is followed by Summerbell (76), Gore (75), Sabastien Ray (65) and Andre Anderson (56).

"I came second to David Summerbell last year, and so the urge is definitely there to go for it this year," said Gregg. "I have a comfortable 26-point lead over David and Goug Gore and, if all goes well, then I should seal the championships," he said.

Summerbell, who is the defending champion at Dover and also the reigning Caribbean champion, said he would be going all out to retain his title.

"This year has been a good one for me and now it is down to the wire," said Summerbell. "Doug is slightly ahead in one class and I am ahead in another class."

Summerbell added: "We have put everything into it because we have made some changes to the car and I am very exited by the things that we have done to it. My fans know that I am not one to let them down and so I am going all out to retain my title this year."

Among the other top drivers who are set to compete are Peter 'Bull' Thompson with his newly sprayed Mazda RX7, Tedroy Burton, Dean Shaw, George Bailey, Andre Anderson, Sebastien Rae, Chris Campbell, Heath Causwell and Peter Rae.

Michelle 'Girl Power' Laidlaw will be the lone female motorcyclist competing against the men. The main competitors for the motorcycle crown are defending champion Stefan Chin, the current lap record holder. Chin is expected to be strongly challenged by Adrian Blake.