Race day recap!
The sun was hot and so was the racing as the competition heated up the track for Round 2 of the 2023 South Dakota Grand Prix powered by @ENet.
On Saturday, Les Thomas qualified on pole by a massive 4 seconds ahead of Mohamed Ali but that quickly turned around on Sunday as Thomas could not match the race pace of Ali’s Toyota Yaris GR, who took victory in the first race. Ali also set a new Rookie Class lap record of 1:33.416 eclipsing the previous record of 1:35.411 set by Tarick Baijnauth back in Round 1. Race 2 was red flagged due to a first lap incident and eventually cars returned to the pits. Race 3 was cancelled.
The merged Secure Innovations & Concepts Street Tuner and SVC Inc Sports Tuner classes have never been short of action and sometimes…controversy and yesterday did not disappoint. Jorge Ramirez picked up victory in race one after a fierce battle with Paul Jiwanram in his Suzuki Swift who finished just 2 seconds behind in P2. In the second race it got even hotter but this time, after many years, Jiwanram took his maiden victory, beating Ramirez to the line by just 0.305 seconds! However this race was just the start of controversies, as Vickey Persaud tangled with Ramirez in the gooseneck, causing him to go off track and then unfortunately rejoining the track in a dangerous manner. He was disqualified for this incident. But there was more action to come in race 3, as Troy Muir tangled with Naresh Alves in the gooseneck, allowing Jiwanram to go through to take a second consecutive win. Stewards found that Alves was guilty of unsportsmanlike driving and was subsequently disqualified from the race.
In the SVC Inc Sports Tuner class, the battle at the front was closely fought between Azaad Hassan in his Toyota Sprinter and Mohamed Ahamad in his Honda Civic. Hassan took victory in the first two races with Ahamad taking close second places. In the third race, the tables were turned around with Ahamad getting the better of Hassan. Rounding out the podium places were Ryan Rahaman and the ever so consistent Adrian Fernandes taking home 2 third place trophies in his Toyota Levin.
Rameez Mohamed was the man to beat in the BM SOAT Auto Sales & Rentals Starlet Cup, but unfortunately his Toyota Starlet did not cooperate, suffering a DNF in the first race which sidelined him for the rest of the day. Championship leader Anand Ramchand did not miss the opportunity to extend his lead in the points standings, picking up two wins and one second place. His closest rival, Steven Nobrega picked up one win and one third place, allowing him to keep second place in the championship battle. Closing out the other podium places were Nyron Maraj and Mohamed Shiraz Roshandin, both picking up second and third place finishes.
After a dominant qualifying showing on Saturday in the Prem’s Electrical Group 2 class by Shan Seejatan, we had expected him to be unstoppable on Sunday but his Honda Civic has other plans in race one. Seejatan encountered mechanical issues 3 laps into the first race, leaving Rameez Mohamed to cruise to victory, a whopping 17 seconds ahead of Peter Morgan in second and Aaron Bethune in third. With gremlins sorted, it was back to winning ways for Seejatan in races 2 and 3, finishing just ahead of Mohamed on both occasions. In addition to his two victories, Seejatan also reset the Group 2 lap record with a time of 1:25.519 in race 3, two seconds quicker than Rameez Mohamed who also broke the record in race 2 with a time of 1:27.407. The previous record set back in March, was 1:27.814 set by Chet Singh in his Honda Civic. Finally, Peter Morgan made it a trio of podiums in his Ford Fiesta by picking up third position in the final two races.
Crowd favorite Danny Persaud had a good day in the Secure Innovations & Concepts Group 3 class, piloting his 4AGE Powered Mazda Miata to two wins and one third place. Persaud also broke the Group 2 lap record which he also held. He set a time of 1:24.655, lowering the previous record of 1:25.042 by over 7/10 th of a second. Anand Ramchand picked up a win and a second place finish with Rameez Mohamed and Lennary Samaroo securing the other two second place finishes. The final podium positions in races 2 and 3 were picked up by Aaron Bethune and Denzel Hopkinson.
The AJM Enterprise Group 4 class saw Kevin Jeffrey out of the day’s events before Sunday even started. Jeffrey suffered engine damage during Saturday’s qualifying session and his team were unable to make the repairs overnight. Pole sitter Mark Vieira was unstoppable on Sunday, despite a few strong challenges from Vishok Persaud who debuted his KTM X-Bow car. Vieira drove his Mazda RX-8 to three consecutive victories whilst Persaud picked up two second places and one third place. Mohan Rangasammy secured one second place and two third place trophies.
Over in the Super Stock Bikes class, the battle of the Vieira’s was set to continue but there was simply no matching Matthew Vieira. His older cousin, Stephen Vieira suffered two DNF’s in the first two races, with the second incident proving to be too much for his bike to continue racing. Kevin Persaud also had issues in the first race, leaving him out for the remainder of the day. Matthew went on, unchallenged, to take 3 victories. In the final race of the day, Matthew decided to give himself a challenge, starting behind the Street Bikes and from the exit of the ‘gooseneck’. It was almost a ride to finish ahead of the winner of the Street Bike Class, Heeranand (Nicholas) Boodram, finishing just 0.025 seconds behind. To top it off, Matthew reset the Super Stock Bikes lap record lowering it from 1:19.306 which was also set by him, to a 1:18.796.
Shem Chattersingh was the pick of the Street Bikes Class, taking home two victories and one second position. Boodram touched every step of the podium, taking first, second and third place finishes and also broke the Street Bikes lap record by almost a second, setting a time of 1:21.925 from the previous record of 1:22.942 held by Shem Chattersingh. Dowayne Caesar picked up one second place, Allain Hopkinson one third place and Fitzpatrick Augustus one third place.
John Bennet and Elwin Chase were both disqualified from all races for infractions committed by their team. Bennet lost a fifth and fourth place whilst Chase lost fourth and third place finishes.
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