PRE-EVENT favourite Duane “Shabba” White survived a horrific spill as drivers of the Barbados Association of Dragsters and Drifters (BADD) settled the Tiny Harrison Race Day at Bushy Park last weekend.
The event, which is to be an annual affair, attracted 30 competitors to contest the day’s action in the race meet named in honour of the club’s founder, the late John “Tiny” Harrison, who died last year of cancer.
White, driving a Toyota Corolla, had been enjoying a comfortable run from official qualifying and had looked set to finish at the top of the stack in the Eight Seconds Class when the engine of the Corolla disintegrated, leaving him without control of the vehicle as it careened into the tyre barrier.
He emerged with minor bruises to the forehead, was treated by paramedics at the track, and took no further part in the day’s action.
White was at the time locked in a fierce battle with Steve Bruce in the Belleville Motor Oils Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III with one win each.
“I don’t know what happened . . .. I just realised that I had no control over the car, so I just kept my head down and braced myself for whatever was going to happen. But I am glad that it’s nothing worse,” he said after alighting from the mangled wreck.
Moments before he reached the finish line engine parts were seen flying from under the car, and mechanics looking at the car after the incident said that as the engine broke up it caused damage to brake and power lines rendering the vehicle uncontrollable.
After marshals had cleared the track, Bruce kept up his winning ways and drove away with the Eight Seconds Class in a final battle with Dwight Alleyne at the wheel of a Subaru WRX/STI, winning two of the three races allotted.
He posted the fastest time of 7.516 seconds.
But it was not all smooth sailing as he had to overcome clutch problems during the second meeting of the two.
Anthony-Ramon Archer, in a Nissan Pulsar, got the better of early pacesetter Andre Waithe in the Twist Mitsubishi Mirage and grabbed the Nine Seconds Class, while Benjamin Eastmond ended a good day winning the 10 Seconds Class driving a Diahatsu Charmant in a final duel with Paul Reece.
During the day good runs were also recorded by lone female competitor Jackie Linton in a Toyota Corolla in the 11 Seconds category.
She brushed aside a challenge from Julian Griffith-Scott in a Toyota RunX; Roger Lindo, Curtis Lee, Kemar Barrow, Andre Fergusson, William Goddard, Dwayne Clarke, Dale Hall, Harold “Doc” Morley, Ivor Cox, Noel Pilgrim, Danny Croney and David King.
The association’s new president, Nicholas Harrison, said he was satisfied with the way things had gone and that the next event tentatively set for April should see about 50 cars facing the starter.
“Except for the shunt suffered by “Shabba” White, the day was a good one and I want to thank all the drivers who helped to make it happen, as well as our sponsors Twist, Red Line Performance Parts, Barbados Today, Banks Breweries, Guinness, Blue Waters, Frutee, Ellco Rentals, Islandwide Ambulance Services and KG Enterprises for their support.
