Fyah at Freedom of Speed

Brian ‘Fyah’ Carless

Freelance Writer

The 3rd leg of the Cable and Wireless sponsored Dover race meet was held between the Emancipation and Independence holidays and dubbed “Freedom of Speed”. Our team arrived at Dover before 7am, and I called the showman ‘Hollywood’  Gore to let him know Fyah was present. This being my second time at Dover, I had the time to think about what was ahead of me. A whole day of shooting. Not exactly the way to have fun, as the track complex is huge, and it all has to be covered.. but the sights, sounds and smells made me feel that this would be a good race meet. I moved about the venue with no problems thanks to the pass I got, spoke with a few vendors who were out in force. It was surely a food and racing festival; indeed, real country food over the open flame. it was estimated that 8,000 persons came out to watch the action, but it was surely a smaller crowd than the last meet. None the less patrons surely got their money’s worth.

Qualifying got under way and the FlowMaster Summerbell surely wasn’t flowing… he was flying! Summerbell sent a catch-me-if-you-can message to the rest of the racing contingent – he set the track record again doing 1:19!  In true ‘Hollywood’ form Doug Gore tried to beat that time as well but as things would be he never did. Standing at the Carib Cement corner I could see some action. FlowMaster didn’t disappoint at all. Seeing  Summerbell’s  Evo VIII move of the mark must have been traumatic for other drivers wishing to dethrone King David. The speed of that car is amazing, I would say it is the fastest thing in the region right now, hands down. Matthew ‘the Magnet’ Gore was in attendance, as was Dean ‘Duct Tape’ Corrodus who came to race but DNS’ed  because of a serious rattling noise in his engine, but contributed with the mike as he commentated many a race this day. Also trackside were the Bayley bros and the Bowla clan.

Sadly missed was the staccato bark from the cool ruler. The indomitable spirit and presence of Peter ‘Bull’ Thompson and his May Pen Ice sponsored tube frame RX7 was a no show. Action was good throughout the whole day and there were a few standout cars … a pink FX Corolla (and the young girl that driving it nuh look too bad at all) and an ethanol powered Evo, for example. There was even a pretty much stock black Honda Fit driving in the IP45 race (hmm, what are they thinking?).

I must say, though that that Lisa Bowman – Lee and Michelle Delfosse really have heart and they are so determined it ain’t no joke. The ‘Butcher’ (Dieter Wilson) and the ‘Matador’ (Dean Shaw) were there in their element with two one of a kind pro challenge trucks, but on race day it seems that they didn’t have the power to stay with the big boys, having run only 1:33’s in qualifying. The car that caught my eye though was the canary yellow 82 Mitsubishi Lancer with the naturally aspirated 4G63. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it, I was bowled over win lose or draw.

Dover patrons could see the race much better as the organisers brought in a gigantic screen that had live race footage on display for all to see. Thanks to CPTC, there was action available from the Goodyear corner to the RAC esses. The JRDC seems to be moving from strength to strength, and their production of this event was second to none. The Teach himself was there and he brought along his family and the latest edition teach jnr, wonder if he’s gonna be better than his dad?

A few bikes were on hand also and although their numbers were small they did put on a good show. In the later part of the day the time got cool and the heavens opened up a bit and a few drops of rain came down and made things a bit interesting, as the track got slick. Being in the team Mobay camp Gore instructed his crew to get the rain tyres and the man put them on himself; out he went to see if he could win one over David ‘the FlowMaster!’ Summerbell. Previously, during the meet–your–driver parade  Gore challenged the Summerbell fans, whipping them into a frenzy and tossing team Mobay T-shirts into the crowd. But come this race he had his game face on and he and Summerbell had a bit of a showdown; Hollywood got the better of the Flowman by using his rally skills to out manoeuvre Summerbell and put a nose in front. Everyone was slipping and sliding all over the track which got the fans to a fever pitch.  Gore’s rain tires gave him all the edge he needed, pulling out as much as three seconds out of the proverbial hat and gaining a much needed win. He cut it a little close, though as his steed started expiring on the final lap and was pretty much dead as it crossed the finish line, with the Flowmaster in hot pursuit. Doug pulled over into the run off area just before the Goodyear corner.

His car was towed back to the paddock where he was greeted with smiles, cheers and applause. But the victory really put the hurt on the blue and yellow chariot; it failed to start and all subsequent efforts to start the steed were in vain, it was found out that he had blown the head gasket. Flowmaster went on to win the last race of the meet in fine style so on now to Barbados and the next meet will be on Heroes day. the Jamaican contingent will do well in ‘Bados. That Red Bull RX3 better watch out!

Tags: Dover, Jamaica, Motor Sports