Can the DTM Audi slaughter the Ford Focus at Bushy Park?

The Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC) did not launch its usual firestorm at Dover Raceway. Round 1 of the Championship is usually held at Dover Raceway in May, but for the 2014 season, Round 1 will ‘lift clutch’ and rev- off at the new facility at Bushy Park.

The circuit was baptised and accepted as ‘world class’ with the staging of the Top Gear Festival-Barbados and the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship. Interest, intrigue and unforeseen drama were features of both events, delivered by several motorsports celebrities, including F1′s 2008 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, Youtube video-King, Ken Block and Formula D maestro, Tanner Foust. The circuit was harassed by the international drivers/competitors and the events were witnessed by an appreciative worldwide audience.

The Digicel Williams International event, Round 1 of the CMRC, gives the Caribbean contingent their opportunity to reveal their repertoire of skills at the redeveloped circuit. At the event held in May, Caribbean drivers who were a part of the activities were limited to ‘demonstration laps’ – they were not in what we would consider race-mode. Essentially they were the sideshow and not the main event.

That scenario will be a distant memory in a secluded section of the minds of the drivers and teams who will be present at Bushy Park next weekend. As the Americans would say machines will be driven- All Out!

Despite the fact that the drivers were not in race-mode at the Top Gear Festival, motorsports fans who are prone to initiate rivalries and stir the competitive pot, could not refrain from instigating debates re- the performance and abilities of specific drivers/machines which were on the circuit.

Doug Gore

The machines from ‘the rock’ which will represent the Reggae Racers/Team Jamaica should be in the process of exiting their sea-cells (containers) in Barbados, but one machine has been there for a while now. Doug ‘Hollywood’ Gore is the CMRC’s defending champion. Doug was invited and drove his machine during the Top Gear Festival. Doug’s machine remained in Barbados, relaxing and preparing for the ‘shock and awe’ it will deliver next weekend.

Doug’s DTM Audi TT-R – Machine!

Doug ‘Hollywood’ Gore is the reigning CMRC driver champion. He won the 2012 title aboard his reliable, German-built machine – DTM Audi TT-R. Doug’s machine is a formidable weapon and in a rather brief time-frame, he has put pedal to metal and proven to naysayers, that together, they are an explosive, championship-winning mix.

It is my view, that Doug ‘Hollywood‘ Gore, despite his numerous conquests, locally and regionally, is not held in the high esteem that his driving ability truly deserves. For some, the climb to greatness is steeper, but he has shown repeatedly, that he is made of good stock and he can deliver. We will be cheering vociferously!

Motorsports at times resembles the WWE! Rivalries are endorsed,promoted and glorified. And Doug Gore, for myriad reasons, cannot elude the grasp and reach of the rivalry syndrome. At the local level, the names Doug Gore and David Summerbell Jr are Siamese twins! They are eternally locked in a circuit racing war!

Roger Mayers

At the regional level, within recent time, each ‘big machine’ which exits the port in Barbados and arrives at Bushy Park, is compared with Roger Mayers’ Ford Focus. To Jamaicans, the Focus is still a myth! For reasons which will not be debated on these pages, it vaporizes and merges with the thin air when the trip to Jamaica approaches!

But, some have seen it and the internet provides some confirmation, so I will accept that it exists. Summerbell’s machine, TA-1, when it landed on ‘the rock’ was lauded as a superior machine and it has claimed several scalps and championships, but it did not slay the Bajan dragon – the Focus.

At the Top Gear Festival, Doug Gore’s DTM Audi and Roger Mayers’ Ford Focus were on the track at the same (with other machines) and as stated earlier, they were not in battle-mode. After the event,opinions circulated faster than rumors re which machine was faster and which of the two would record a quicker lap time.

Doug Gore – Roger Mayers @ new Bushy Park!

Doug Gore is in familiar territory though. He was the CMRC’s driver champion in 2007 and at that time, he was the pilot of,  arguably, the most ferocious Evo in the Caribbean. Doug’s DTM Audi is a superior machine in several key, race-winning areas, but according to individuals who have seen the Focus at play, it is brutal, aggressive and vulgar in the pursuit of speed.

Can the Audi slaughter the Focus at the redeveloped Bushy Park circuit?

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CMRC 2012 -1

CMRC 2012-2

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer