The King Has Spoken ! –Round 1 to Team Jamaica.

At first glance David Summerbell Jr. would not strike you as the world class driver he actually is. He is humble, sociable, accommodating, pleasant and a genuine laid back character who is usually seen smiling. All this, changes in a hurry whenever he ‘suits up’ and enters a race car. This transformation may be easily understood if you are used to the marvel comic characters such as Clarke Kent (Superman), Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and company who on a daily basis lead normal lives but when duty calls you see the normal person going behind a building and in a flash, a super hero returns appropriately attired with a battle hardened face, ready to save the world. David Summerbell Jr. is our super hero who becomes the ‘King’ when he jumps into his Nomex suit and enters the battle field behind the steering wheel of whichever car he chooses.

Team Barbados came to Jamaica for the first round of the 2009 Caribbean Motor Racing Championship, (CMRC) with their awesome machines, in a bid to upstage David Summerbell Jr and the rest of Team Jamaica (Douglas ‘Holllywood’ Gore, Christopher Campbell and Peter ‘Bull’ Thompson). Personally, I was of the view that if their cars, Mark Maloney’s Mazda RX3 and Stuart Maloney’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, performed on race day, without incident, Team Barbados would present a level of excitement unmatched by previous race events at Dover Raceway. This was based on the meticulous level of preparedness of Team Barbados and the obvious performance capabilities of their race-cars.

Team Jamaica was also prepared .On race day (25/05/09), King David sped away from the competition. The only way Stuart and Mark Maloney (Team Barbados) could tell what the front of David’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII looked like, was if they saw it in the pits ! They had a permanent view of the trunk and the intimidating rear spoiler structure. They were never in front of the AMS built speed demon. David won all three of the CMRC races to add to his blistering performance during qualifying, where he rewrote the record books by breaking the track record (that he held). David drove away with maximum points and as such is now in the best position possible for the remaining two rounds in Barbados and Guyana.

Credit must be given, however, to Team Barbados as they fought valiantly, gained a large number of Jamaican fans and left Dover Raceway with their pride intact. Stuart Maloney the defending champion of the series, finished second in two of the races and fourth in the other, while his brother Mark was third, second and fifth in the three races. As such, all is not lost for Team Barbados and they will have home advantage for the next round, which will be in Barbados.

Here is where I must say thanks to Team Barbados, for bringing those two cars to Jamaica. Every motor racing fan who was present at Dover will tell you, that to hear those cars opening up, during blast-off along the start-finish straight  creates a highly pleasurable if not intoxicating experience. If awards were being given for the best race car sounds, Team Barbados would have the ‘King’ and the rest of Team Jamaica soundly beaten. You can’t win them all ‘King David’ you simply can’t.

Round 1 to Team Jamaica !

Cecil Munroe, Gleaner Online Writer

What do you think are David’s chances of winning in Barbados and Guyana?