McCartney wins big as BPMSI opens 2018 season

Devan McCartney was the big winner as Bushy Park Motor Sports Inc (BPMSI) launched its 2018 Championship season last Sunday (March 25). Although entries were lower than anticipated, the races produced some quality action, with track conditions changing throughout the afternoon. Driving his familiar orange Zephirins Bakery/C & A Autobody Repair Honda CRX, former bike racer McCartney won Group 1 Class 2 in all three races, taking an early lead in the BPMSI Champion Driver title chase . . . just as he did at last year’s opening round.

  The action started in Qualifying, with pole-sitter McCartney and 2015 Champion Driver Jermin Pope (Uniform Factory Outlet/Good Time Snacks/Glassesco/PEG Farms Honda Civic) separated by just 3/1000ths of a second; the Toyota Starlets of newcomer Verdon Innis (Rezult Auto Shop/C&C Trucking/Illusion Graphics) and Robert Gill (Maxxis Tyres/Rezult Auto/Percy King Auto Parts) sat on row two, ahead of Wayne Archer (Archers Hall Design Centre/Arrow Woodworking/Arrow Construction/RW Water/D & A Mechanical Engineering Peugeot 206) and Sacha Soodeen (Radisson BMW 318ti Compact).

  In the opening race, as a fast-starting Inniss was mixing it with Pope, Gill and Archer, McCartney steadily pulled away, never challenged for the victory, eventually winning by 5.4secs from Pope and impressive debutante Inniss. Group 2/Class 2 winner Mark Thompson (Glassesco/Automotive Art/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty Honda Civic) finished fourth overall, as all classes ran together, the ‘big boys’ held for half a lap after the Group 1 cars had set off.

  By the time the grid assembled for the second race, the wind had started to whip up and rain was on its way; despite the change in conditions, McCartney was again never headed, winning this time by 7.4secs, from Inniss, Archer and Soodeen; Pope had steadily slipped down the field and would not be seen again.

  In the day’s final race, with conditions still challenging, McCartney made it a hat-trick of class wins, although he finished second overall to Gp3/C3 winner Kurt Thompson (Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty Honda Civic); an impressive third overall was Justin Maloney, who was driving a mobile advertising hoarding for Bushy Park’s new rental programme for the former Suzuki Challenge Series Swift Sports. He had finished 11th in the opening race, fifth in the second, and enjoyed a good battle with Soodeen in the third. The top six in the final race was completed by Reigning Champion Driver Andre Walcott (Williams Industries/C & A Autobody/M-Grafix/SE Performance Suzuki Swift), who was alone in Gp1/C1, so scores reduced points, and Mark Maloney, at the wheel of another of the Swift Sports, after his Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados/Sign Station/Hilti Mazda RX-3 caught fire in Qualifying.

  Maloney was quick to praise the speedy response of marshals and other competitors, which he said prevented even greater damage to the car. His own quick response on seeing flames from under the bonnet also saved him from a potentially worse outcome; having brought the car safely to a halt at Shak-Shak, he was out of the driving seat very quickly, although he suffered some minor burns: “It was scary. My whole face was engulfed in flames and I had to get out. You really go into survival mode very quickly.”

  Later in the day, there was a further interruption to proceedings, when Champion Rider Terrance Ollivierre (Xhosa The Band/Demario’s Cycles/Kermitt’s Bar/CA Repairs/Sam’s Cycle Repair/Percy King Auto Parts Suzuki GSX-R600) tumbled on lap one of the first bike race, suffering a dislocated shoulder; Shirley Scantlebury (Ride Tech Track Rentals/El Palacio Property & Car Rentals/Imperial Car Rentals Suzuki GSX-R600) won the restarted race, but the deteriorating weather conditions put an end to further two-wheeled action, a disappointing outcome for the returning bikers.

BPMSI Championship 2018, round 1

March 25 - Results

Group 1/Class 1 – Race 1: 1st Andre Walcott (Williams Industries/CA Autobody/M-Grafix/SE Performance Suzuki Swift) Race 2: 1st Walcott Race 3: 1st Walcott Gp1/C2 – Race 1: 1st Devan McCartney (Zephirins Bakery/C & A Autobody Repair Honda CRX); 2nd Jermin Pope (Uniform Factory Outlet/Good Time Snacks/Glassesco/PEG Farms Honda Civic); 3rd Verdon Inniss (Rezult Auto Shop/C&C Trucking/Illusion Graphics Toyota Starlet); etc Race 2: 1st McCartney; 2nd Inniss; 3rd Wayne Archer (Archers Hall Design Centre/Arrow Woodworking/Arrow Construction/RW Water/D & A Mechanical Engineering Peugeot 206); etc Race 3: 1st McCartney; 2nd Justin Maloney (Bushy Park Driving Experiences Suzuki Swift Sport); 3rd Sacha Soodeen (Radisson BMW 318ti Compact); etc

Group 2/Class 1 – Race 1: 1st Junior Benskin (TB Pickling & Painting Services Nissan NX Coupe) Race 2: 1st Benskin Race 3: 1st Benskin Grp 2/C2 – Race 1: 1st Mark Thompson (Glassesco/Automotive Art/NKM Clothing/Bio Beauty Honda Civic); 2nd Darren Lashley (Full Line Racing Parts/Hilti/Turk Lashley Motorsport/C & A Autobody Repairs Acura Integra) Race 2: 1st M Thompson; 2nd Lashley Race 3: 1st Lashley

Group 3/Class 3 – Race 1: 1st Kurt Thompson (Glassesco/NKM Clothing/Bio-Beauty Honda Civic); 2nd Tyrone Martindale (Martindale Workshop/TB Pickling & Painting Services Honda CRX) Race 2: 1st K Thompson Race 3: 1st K Thompson; 2nd Martindale Grp4/4wd – Race 1: 1st Doug Maloney (Maloney Racing Team Audi A4 quattro) Race 2: no finishers Race 3: no starters

Superstock Bikes – Race 1: 1st Shirley Scantlebury (Ride Tech Track Rentals/El Palacio Property & Car Rentals/Imperial Car Rentals Suzuki GSX-R600); 2nd Kevin Bynoe (Suzuki GSX-R600); 3rd Lowrey Worrell (Johno’s Pizza Suzuki GSX-R600); 4th Steve Linton (Honda CBR-R600)