Williams: Drive clean

LOCAL two-wheel-drive lap-record holder Stuart Williams is calling on competitors to afford fans and supporters a clean day’s racing in the upcoming Digicel Williams International race meet of the Barbados Auto Racing League (BARL) at Bushy Park this weekend.He said too often a 12-car race is reduced to six cars as a result of drivers using any means possible to get through the first corner on the tight 0.8-mile circuit thereby robbing the public of the opportunity of seeing the best cars in competition.Getting to the checkered flag, Williams said, would dependent on how the guys got through the first corner and that would decide the outcome on the remainder of the races.Drive with care“The adrenalin is up and sometimes you forget that they are others around you and I am asking all drivers to be considerate of others and let’s have good clean racing for the enjoyment of ourselves and the public,” Williams told MIDWEEK SPORT.Preparation for all drivers entered is going on apace, but Williams, who holds the two-wheel-drive lap record of 41.5 seconds, thinks that it wiould be a tall order for anyone to post any new marks at the meet this weekend.But he expects drivers such as Mark Maloney in the RockStar/Royal Bank of Canada Mazda RX 3, Guyana’s Andrew King and Barry Mayers to be his biggest challenge. He, however, did not overlook Mark Vieira, but admitted that he did not have any good results in recent years and appeared to be struggling.Williams observed that the track was too dusty on the straight and on the ‘pit hill’ and unless some rubber got on the surface from the great degree of practice this week, coupled with qualifying, he thinks the track would favour better grip and the opportunity for better times would not materialise.“The track appears to be slower and I don’t see anyone doing 42 seconds or lower. It will not be easy for anyone to go faster and I do not see anyone setting any new times,” Williams said.Back in gearWilliams, who was forced out of the last meeting in July due to gearbox problems, said he and his ‘works team’ of Dennis Heath and Peter Hinkson had been working assiduously to get the Williams/Hilti Power Tools Lotus Elise ready for the demands of the day.“We have made some adjustments and corrected a problem we had during the last race meet and we think we now have it taken care of,” Williams said.A crack in the case of the gearbox had dumped oil on the clutch of the Lotus Elise causing Williams to retire, but he is satisfied the problems have been solved as they prepare for what is expected to be the biggest race meet in Barbados in recent years.Williams is a member of the five-man Barbados team to contest the second leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship (CMRC), the feature event of the international race meet on Sunday.