MOST OF Jamaica's top performances in motorsport last year came from the younger competitors, says Errol Anderson, president of the Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club (JMMC) which is affiliated with the Federation of International Automobile (FIA). The FIA is the authority, which governs motorsport worldwide.

"We got off to a slow start last year, but did well to outclass the foreigners at the international events held at the Dover Raceway, Palisadoes International go kart track and Rally Jamaica 2008," said Anderson.

With the abundance of talent, the JMMC president believes that this could be the year Jamaica make a serious impression on the world scene in karting.

"Jamaica's future in karting looks very bright," commented Anderson.

unpopular drivers

Although some of the popular motorsport personalities like Gary Gregg, Jeffrey Panton, Colin Daley Jr, Doug Gore and others had a good season last year, it was some unpopular drivers who were crowned champions in the respective motorsport clubs.

In respect to the regional drivers' championship, Jamaica lost the individual title to Stuart Maloney of Barbados, but won the team title. In the first leg of the championship, David Summerbell established a new lap record at Dover and went on to set another record in Guyana.

Jamaica also won another regional team title, when Andrew Moss captured the Team Title Race, at the Regional Remote Control Championship. Jamaica's Gary Sailsman also finished third in the Off Road Buggy Race.

In the domestic championships, Thomas Hall was named the JMMC driver of the year, Gary Barrett, a Jamaican living in The Cayman Islands was the top driver at Dover Raceway, while Peter Moodie Jr was the Jamaica Karting Association driver of the year. Stefan Chin was the country's top motorcyclist.

no drag racing champions

Highly respected motorsport promoter/organiser, Larry Henriques, stressed that while Jamaica ended the year on a high note and good spirit, this year could be more challenging because of the global melt-down which might impact on some of the major sponsors.

"It was very challenging last year for the various motorsport clubs to organised the race meets. For them to successfully pull it off, it must have been a good year," said Henriques.

He made mention of the surprised performance of Chris Campbell at the Dover Raceway. Campbell was also a member of the team which participated in the regional championship. Deon Gardner was another outstanding performer, according to Henriques.