SOLODEX 5
Sunday 16, September 2007

Pictures

By Karen Pinheiro

Solodex V 2007

“It ain’t over till Kerwyn sings the Anthem”

With only one more points-paying event remaining after Solodex 5, class-leading competitors were hard at work trying to see if they could leave the event victorious, and take some pressure off their shoulders.

Going into Solodex 5, Sanjay Singh (GS), Scott Dopson (HS), Wayne Hutchinson (ES) and Vaughn Calendar (ESP) were chomping at the bit to leave Santa Rosa with their championship honors in hand.

With one of the hottest Sundays in recent memory, the stage was set.  Some competitors were seen lurking in the shade, while others dumped dry ice or sprayed cold water to keep their highly tuned and / or climatically challenged cars cool. 

Without fail, the Novice class (NE) was the biggest, as Solodex continues to attract new racers at every event.  First-timer Jody Ali came out with in fine fashion, with his ultra light, screaming yellow Mitsubishi Evo 7.  Jody finally got his stride on his fourth and final run, and clocked a respectable 99.841, eclipsing David Jaggernath, who earned a well deserved second place in his Suzuki Swift GTi.  Genevieve Singh rounded the top three in her Mitsubishi Mirage Cyborg.

The smallest class of the day was the SS class.  This class saw two competitors, SiR William Barrow and Narend Sooknarine sharing SiR Bill’s Honda S2000.  Bill was having too much fun making his Honda dance around the course, while Narend showed his skill at mastering any rear wheel drive machine thrown his way, taking first place.  The other super-fast class was EP, with the ongoing battle between Devi Nath and Ryan Pinheiro.  Devi scorched the track on his first run, with a 93.5 second time.  That time stood for the rest of the day, giving Devi the fastest time of the day, as well as first place.  Barry Mykoo pushed hard in his Mitsubishi Evo7 for a well deserved third place behind Ryan.

The ES class saw veterans Wayne Hutchinson and Shaun Mohammed square off in two very different machines.  Wayne pushed hard in his perennial Suzuki Baleno, and posted some very fast times, amid much fanfare and flashing of headlights by Wayne.  Unfortunately for Wayne, his celebrations were cut short as Shaun got to terms with the rear wheel drive of his home built Locost 7, and stole almost two seconds off of Wayne’s best time, for the win.  Kerwyn Charles rounded off the top three.

The HS and ESP classes saw three competitors each, with Scott Dopson once again taking the HS class victory, and Vaughn Callendar again showing fine form with his Rover 216 besting the ESP class.

Finally, the GS class, continued to be one of the fiercest classes, with Sanjay Singh, Kevin Singh (no relation) and Alan Rajkumar-Maharaj battling it out for first place.  Kevin scored his first win of the season, beating out Sanjay by a mere 0.5 seconds.  Sanjay’s second place was enough to give him the championship, much to his relief, as his engine began making expensive noises after his final run. 

With the day’s competition over and everybody fifteen shades darker……or pinker…… Sanjay Singh (GS), Scott Dopson (HS), Wayne Hutchinson (ES) and Vaughn Calendar (ESP) all left knowing they clinched their respective class titles (unless the maths was too hard and they are only now realizing after reading this!).  Solodex 6 will now be a battle for second place for the others, as well as a chance for the class winners to stamp their names firmly at the top.  Watch this space…..