Catwells reign supreme at Bushy Park

The father and son duo of Gregory ‘Cheese’ Catwell and Tremaine Ford-Catwell dominated last weekend’s circuit racing action at Bushy Park, hosted by the Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL).

From a field of 30 entrants, Gregory in his Daihatsu Charmant took the top spot in circuit racing while Tremaine remains number one on the leader board for time attack with his Datsun 1200 4AGE 20 Valve Turbo, which made its debut at the St Philip Track last Sunday.

In the final circuit race, the father and son went up against each other, with the senior Catwell taking the honors.

In time attack, Ford-Catwell was defending his 2019 time in the race car class of 1:07.883 which he clocked then in the Daihatsu Charmant.

On Sunday he was able to shave off almost a full second in the Datsun with a final time of 1:06.830. Not far behind in the same class was Jason Harewood in the Toyota Starlet KP61 with a time of 1:14.062, followed by Danny Croney in the Toyota Starlet KP61 with a time of 1:14.970.

In the tuner class, Christopher McFarlane in the Megapower MG4 XPower who had thrown down the gauntlet even before the green flag was waved, won the event in a time of 1:12.893. In second place was Jamal Grant in the Honda EP3 with a time of 1:13.033, followed by Sean Merritt in the GT Turbo Starlet timing out at 1:13.924.

In merged Groups 2B and 2C there was a keen battle between Andre Walcott in the Suzuki Swift GT1 and David Small in the Toyota Starlet EP82.

While Walcott took the first two races on the day, Small put up a strong challenge to take the final race.

The day was however dominated by ‘Cheese’ Catwell taking all groups and overall race wins on the day.

The April 21 meet was the first time in four years BARL members were on the track. Though spectator turnout was low, enthusiasm from the drivers was high, with many of them looking forward to the next circuit events, slated for Sunday, July 07 and Sunday, October 27, back at Bushy Park.

Chairman of the League, Stefan Hinds said with two more circuit events to go, the first showing was encouraging.

“We had qualified and experienced drivers which made for good competition,” he said.

“We intend to match those glory days when the hill was full of spectators and the track was at capacity. It will take time and we are putting in the work. We were really heartened by the turnout from our members who stuck with us during the recent, challenging times. We are putting those days behind us, and we are moving forward.”

Next for BARL is an Acceleration Test in Bourbon. St Lucy, scheduled for Whit Monday, May 20.

(PR)