Rae, the toast of Heroes of Speed

THE IMPROVED production class (IP-1,2,3) provided the bulk of the excitement at the Jamaica Race Drivers Club (JRDC) Heroes of Speed event on National Heroes Day, at Dover Raceway in St Ann.

Racing lovers got to see a master class from Sebastian Rae, who outmuscled all comers in the IP3 class.

Rae first dominated qualifying before putting pedal to the metal to claim the first race of the day.

Speaking to The Gleaner, Rae said his team worked hard on making the car reliable.

“We held up. If you fail to prepare then be prepared to fail. We got it right and today was our day. Everybody had issues, and it just worked in our favour,” Rae said.

Rae’s opponents challenged but spent the whole eight laps looking at the details of his brake lights.

In race two, where grid positions are determined by positions in race one, Rae produced another dominant performance although he did have to fend off a spirited challenge from Andrew Massias to win in 12.09.443 minutes with an average lap time of 1.28.788.

In the final race where the grid was reversed, Rae still outclassed the field, slicing his way to the front in his Mitsubishi Lancer 6 1/2 Tommi Mäkinen Edition.

In race three, Rae didn’t have it all his way, though, as he was closely tracked by Kevin Chok. However, as fate would have it, Chok’s Nissan lost power, giving Rae an easy time of the pole position he had worked to get to.

Rae was impressed with the way his car performed.

“It was hot and rough, especially before the race, I was sitting on the grid for 20 minutes, but other than that, the car had no issues. In addition, it is David Summerville’s old car, and we back-wired it and did some changes, so it has been doing good for us” added Rae.

Transitioning from Super Street Turbo (SST) to Modified Production Class 4 (MP4), last year’s rookie, Jonathon Addison, showed out in his green ‘Team Addi Racing’ 2000 Subaru. 2.5RS.

“It was a fulfilling experience, with my mother, sister, and nephew in attendance. Despite initial car issues, it was my first pole position and completing eight full laps for the first time. I won two races, love the competitive nature of racing and satisfied going up against tough opponents,” said Addison.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Zander Williams, last year’s MP2 champion, transitioned to MP3 and won three races.

Williams sees these races as beneficial for gaining recognition in the racing community.

“Bringing in all the fans and everything, it is a very good way to get exposed to the racing world in Jamaica. When you have sponsors wanting to show their brand to the fans, it is good to get known in the racing community,” said Williams

Twenty-five-year-old rookie Othneil Lawrence Jr, in the Super Street Normally Aspirated (SSN), had an impressive debut, winning two races.

“I feel overwhelmed with a lot of high and low expectations as it being my first time amongst driving manual. The victory was a very emotional run seeing my supporters coming out and those who doubted me,” said Lawrence Jr.