Kelvin “Bird” Daniel has added St Vincent and the Grenadines to his list of records.
The Barbadian motorcycle ace, riding his Automotive Art/ Wow Displays/OP Garage/Keep InTouch Kawasaki ZX10R, clocked 9.227 seconds for the Deep Stage 1/4-mile trip to set the drag racing record during last weekend’s Everything Vincy, the Independence race meet at the newly acquired E. T. Joshua Raceway.
Daniel’s rise to the top started in 2015 at the Past Meets Present event organised by the Barbados Association of Drifters and Dragsters at Paragon, which attracted nearly 50 drivers of cars, trucks and cycles at the venue that was seeing action for the first time in 27 years.
He blasted his way to the new quarter-mile record with a time of 9.608 seconds of 150 miles per hour, and added it to the one-eighth of a mile record he set earlier the same year at Bushy Park.
His feat is the fastest overall time ever set at the Christ Church facility.
“Bird”, who was part of a three-man Barbados team that rode away with the top places, had high praise for the Vincentian drag strip, saying that the venue, the recently decommissioned Arnos Vale Airport, had the right infrastructure and was set for great things.
Terrence “Repsol” Ollivierre, competing at his first drag meet aboard his Xhosa BMW S1000, was hot on Daniel’s heels. He grabbed second place in a blazing career-best 9.250 seconds as the pair dominated the time sheets.
Ollivierre said he was very happy with the results.
“It is my first time dragging the ‘beemer’ and I can only expect better as I become more familiar with drag racing. I am looking forward to the next event,” he said.
St Vincent’s Mike Emmons, on board a Honda 1000RR, prevented a Barbados shut-out by snatching third place. He returned a time of 9.603 seconds, placing ahead of the other Barbadian rider, Sheridan Mohammed.
Riding his Black Knight Bikers Suzuki GSXR 1000, Mohammed took fourth place with a time of 9.665 seconds.
The St Vincent outing was the first invitational international quarter-mile to be hosted at the E. T. Joshua Raceway at Arnos Vale and attracted top competitors from St Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, Grenada and Barbados. (TT)
