Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

Veteran race driver, Peter Moodie Jr, is the Jamaica Karting Association's (JKA) Driver-of- The-Year. 'PJ', as he is affectionately called, walked away with the Abe Ziadie Memorial Trophy, following his good showing at the grand finale race meet, held at the Palisadoes International Raceway, Kingston, recently.

The son of motor racing legend, Peter 'Jacko' Moodie, won the title by amassing 1,421 points, eight points clear of his closest rival, Philip Myers. Third place went to Mario Mair who finished the season on 1,369 points. The younger Moodie completed a fine double by also winning the Shifter-Class title.

Among the winners of the classes were six-year-old Justin Sirgany who made his father, Steven, proud by winning the 50cc Baby Class. The 80cc Class went to Jonathan Law, who is looking forward to competing in the Rotax Mini-Max Class next year.

It was good year for Colin Daley Jr who, under the watchful eyes of Peter Moodie Sr, won the Rotax Mini-Max Class. All being well, he is expected to compete in the Rotax Junior Class at the next race meet, which is scheduled for the end of January.

Contender lost lead

Philip Myers, who was a strong contender for the Driver-of-The-Year title, led on points up to July, before he lost the lead to PJ Moodie in August. Myers held on to won the Rotax Junior Class. President of the JKA, Neil Williams, was overwhelmed with the success the sport had this year. "It was an excellent year for karting, we had a successful international race meet, plus we were able to renovate the track," boasted Williams. He stressed that the number of the competitors increased significantly and also the quality of their driving. "At our last race meet we had at least 43 competitors. This is a more than 20 per cent increase, when compared with the numbers last year," said Williams.