John Powell fulfils rally dream

Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

Almost two decades ago John Powell dreamt of winning Jamaica's most prestigious motor rally.

The former Kingston Technical High School (KTHS) student had been thinking about it since the early 1990s when he got an opportunity to watch some of the Jamaican veterans compete.

"When I saw people like Pinky McGann, Chris Issa, Peter Moodie and others competing back then in the Esso/Maza International Stages Rally, I always dreamt of winning this rally one day," said Powell.

Although the name of the rally changed, Powell was consistent in his objective. The victory finally became reality last Sunday when he and co-driver Nicholas Telfer took the Rally Jamaica 2011 title.

The three-day event, which took the more than 25 participants across sections of rural St Catherine, climaxed in downtown Kingston. It started on Friday, December 2, with a parade of cars along Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston. Action got under way the following morning, starting at the Petcom Service Station, Angels, Spanish Town, St Catherine.

It resumed on Sunday in Bog Walk and continued through the Tru Juice orange fields in Wakefield, Bybrook. Then it was on to the dry, dusty and bumpy roads in the Bernard Lodge canefields.

The son of former parliamentarian, EK Powell, John Powell, who now races under the Trinidadian flag, became the first person living outside Jamaica, to win the island's premier rally motorsport title. After winning the top rally events in Trinidad and Guadeloupe in previous years, Powell wanted to win the Jamaican event badly, so each year he would upgrade his racing machine in preparation for his homeland.

"This is an example, that if you really want something in life you must never give up," the former national swimmer, who has been hooked on motorsports since the early 1990s, said.

Driving a WRC, Subaru Impreza S14, Powell and Telfer assumed the lead on day three from the Barbados pair of Sean Gill and Michael Cummins, just after leaving the Bernard Lodge stage. "This was a very fast stage and I think this is where we won the rally," said Powell, who grew up in the Manor Park area of St Andrew, said.

For the last 11 years, Powell has lived in Trinidad where he is a successful businessman.

"Our plans now is to win Rally Barbados. By this, we would have won all the major rallies in the Caribbean," the bespectacled Powell said, still dreaming of yet another victory.