Jamrock RC Car Club's Caribbean Invitational results

0 Aug. 25, 2015, 6:37 p.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Race report from Jamrock RC Car Club:
www.jamrockrccarclub.org

Jamaica’s Caribbean Invitational 2015 has been dubbed a Success!

JamRock Radio Control Car Club (JRRCCC) out of Kingston, Jamaica, hosted its inaugural Caribbean Invitational event over the period August 14 - 16, 2015. The Jamaicans competed with racers from Curacao as well as Trinidad & Tobago at this historic event. The race format for the 3 day event included a day of open practice, 4 rounds of qualifying followed up with the Mains including triple A-Mains for the electric touring class. Upon completion of the qualifying rounds TQ honors were held by Michael Clarke (Jamaica) in 1:10 Scale Nitro Sedan, Andy Debique (Trinidad & Tobago) in 1:8 Nitro GT, Nikoli Yap (Jamaica) in 1:8 scale 4WD Open and Marwen Martina (Curacao) in 1:10 Scale Electric Touring 13.5 Blinky.

In the 1:10 Scale Nitro Sedan A main, Denise Burton-Clarke (President of JRRCCC) gave some classic driving as she took the lead after 9 laps into the 40 minute main. She was able to keep off several challenges to maintain her position with some clean and consistent lines. She ended the race with a 6 lap lead over her closest rivals, fellow Jamaicans Chad Chang who finished second and Marc Yap in third.

1:10 Scale Electric Touring 13.5 Blinky triple A main was in total control by Marwen Martina out of Curacao by achieving 23 laps in two of the mains. Paolo Inocencia had the fastest lap time of the event setting a new track record. He was able to put down consistent 15.6s, however he had to settle for third place after Mike Clarke from Jamaica snatched second place from him.

Howard Maitland made good on his promise to come out as the event champion in 1:8 Nitro GT. He took the lead from top qualifier Andy Debique (Trinidad & Tobago) at lap 29 and held on to it, to win with a 2 lap lead. He was followed by Andy Debique in second and Jason Givans (Jamaica) in third. When the high speed cars of the 1:8 scale 4WD Open took to the track, the spectators gave special attention. Top qualifier Nikoli Yap (Jamaica) ran into trouble just 3 laps into the 40 minute main. He was able to get back on the track setting blazing lap times of low 13s but shortly retired from the race due to a broken rear lower arm. The battle for positions was between Giordano Pieternella (Curacao) and Douglas Day (Jamaica) but Day was able to get the better of Pieternella finishing the race with a comfortable lead of 24 laps, Raffique Golaub (Jamaica) finished second and Pieternella third.